Practically All-Inclusive Day

Dhaka University- Faculty of Fine Arts

A colleague from GCC (Morshed) invited me and a visiting intern from Japan (Atsu) to see parts of Dhaka on the first day of the weekend (being an Islamic country, weekends are Friday and Saturday, just like Qatar). I took a 'CNG' (nickname for 3-wheeled auto-rickshaw that by law runs only on compressed natural gas) for 20 minutes to the National Museum (100 taka or $1.45). The museum had changed its hours (even Lonely Planet had listed it opened), so in the meanwhile we (and 2 other Bangladeshi friends of my colleague) toured the campus of part of nearby Dhaka University, including the library, fine arts, and language. School was in its one-month summer vacation and the first day of the weekend but students still chilled about.

While briefly watching a cricket match, I received a nasty ant bite that basically for the rest of the day made the top of my foot feel as if someone had step on it with a stiletto. (I'll see how it is tomorrow). We then grabbed a CNG to a local 9 story-mall so one friend could buy a punjabi top for a wedding he would attend this afternoon. Afterwards we grabbed a snack- I had a mango lassi (yogurt & mango drink), Bangladeshi bread with turmeric veggies and we shared another Bangladeshi dish of some sort of crispy shell with chickpeas and veggies, covered in yogurt.


Tasty Bangladeshi Dish

Our hosts had to go pray the Friday Islamic prayer (Jumu'ah) and Atsu and I entertained ourselves for a while. We checked out the numerous music and movie shops selling cheap (70-100 taka or $1.00-$1.45) copies. Star Trek and other recent releases were amongst the titles. We then went to see a Bangladeshi movie in the top-floor cinema, a romantic drama about an impossible (perhaps Romeo and Juliet?) type relationship set in rural Bangladesh (BD). Of course it was all in Bangla but we got the big picture. Prior to the film there was a homemade (but well-done) video plea to donate taka to raise money for a med student who was recently diagnosed with lukemia and needed a 70 take charo(?) (10 million) bone marrow transplant in India to save her life. The ad, played twice, implored the audience to stop her tears, restore her dreams and not let a future doctor die. Numerous signs and folks with donation boxes with also outside the mall for the same cause. Few other interesting observations: video of flag and the BD national anthem played before the film and everyone stood (but no singing), phones whipped out to record the major songs of the film, the man next to us shared his popcorn with us and the 3 hour film had a 5-10 minute intermission.

We needed a policeman to translate our destination to the CNG driver afterward (tourism is not big here at all- so major destinations are not well known by their English names) and we met Murshed at the National Museum. It highlighted many cultural facts, habits, resources and history of BD, including birds, fruits, handicrafts, arts, Language Day and the Liberation War from Pakistan. Atsu and I were somewhat on display as well, as folks stared, followed and may have taken pictures.

It poured while we were in the museum and had to take off our shoes to wade across the driveway museum entrance to the street. We finally found a rickshaw driver to take us to Murshed's apartment (triple the price, as everyone waited for the rain to end and wanted to get home at the same time- 30 taka or 43 cents). Atsu and I met Morshed's wife, sister, cousin, baby and we had juice and mango. His sister then went with us to have 'a snack'- really a 9 pm biryani (rice, chicken and hard boiled egg) dinner for Atsu and I and nothing for Bangladeshis- they normally ate at 10:30/11pm with family. Atsu and I then shared the 150 taka ($2.17) 30 minute pollution filled CNG ride home. 

And of all this day- the only thing I paid for were 2 CNG rides- 200 taka or $2.90. That's it. Bangladeshi culture is that if you are invited to anything, your host pays for everything. I kept inviting them to visit me in Chicago or Michigan, so I can pay them the same outstanding courtesy and generosity they showed me today.


Atsu and I with Morshed's family

I'll take the local breakfast...

Photo above is 6 pm view outside the front of my hotel in Dhaka.

No updates on the project, as we haven't actually discussed my work. Today was figuring out the shower, discovering breakfast (local breakfast equals roti-like bread with turmeric potatoes and peas, fried egg, and milk/sugar chai), ATM, getting to Grameen Bank main office, meeting folks & the GCC team, experiencing power outages*, walking outside the office for lunch, crossing the street (no easy feat and they drive on the British side of the road), walking home, purchasing a shalwar kameez (3 piece Indian sub-continent suit), working out in the USSR-era workout room and discovering Bangladeshi censorship of YouTube (I can't even Google the word). We discuss my involvement in the GCC project tomorrow.

*I'm staying at the Grand Prince Hotel in Dhaka and while it's no Ritz, it's clean, cheap, safe and works for my needs. The only review I could find prior to arriving in Bangladesh was one disgruntled person who complained that each day, 3 times a day, the power would go off, then on and then the AC couldn't be used for an hour. He thought it was ludicrous and just the hotel trying to save money.

Well...actually- it's not that uncommon. And yes, people are more aware that electricity costs money here. Yesterday as my friend Naumi (well, her driver) drove me to dinner she told me that shops close at 8ish to save power. Today in my meeting with the Managing Director of GC the power went out but after a moment the lights flicked on. As she opened the windows, she explained that the building has a generator for lights and computers (but not for AC) and that the city redistributes the available power throughout the city throughout the day, resulting in periodic power loses. The city can only supply electricity about 70% of the time and in the rural villages electricity is about 30% of the time. I haven't confirmed if the computers stay on or lose data each time. About half an hour later the AC kicked back on and everyone closed their windows. I was in the changing room at the store connected to the hotel with a top over my head when the entire place went dark. We hung out in darkness for about 30 seconds before the generators started up and the lights flicked back on. True to form, my room-AC wasn't working when I got back to my room 30 minutes later and it started up another 20 minutes later. So to Mr./Ms. Reviewer- it's a developing country. Deal. And think about all this next time you flip a switch in the US or Europe or anywhere else power isn't a visible issue...

Welcome to Dhaka

My location and life have changed dramatically since I've last blogged. (I read recently in the >NYTimes of how blogs now fail at a higher rate than restaurants- and I had to agree- that's me). So here's my update of life since then.

I've been to Egypt, UAE and Turkey. I wrapped up teaching 2 courses and completed my time at Carnegie Mellon Qatar. I got into 2 business schools, waitlisted at 1, rejected at 2 and ultimately decided to go to University of Michigan for a Master of Science. A relationship ended and another...? And now I'm in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Why Bangladesh? Why come to apparently one of the least livable cities in the world?* I like the concept of Base of the Pyramid (BoP) business solutions to develop sustainable living and poverty alleviation solutions. And I'd like to get into the Ross School of Business at Michigan when I reapply this fall. Ross' C.K. Prahalad is known for his BoP teaching and I'm currently registered for a fall BoP course.

I started looking into some sort of sustainable development/BoP internship in India and even applied for one at d.light. But then I contacted a connection I made at the ICTD conference at Carnegie Mellon Qatar (where I was 1 metre from Bill Gates) with Global Communication Center (GCC), an NGO relative of Grameen Communications (GC) and Grameen Bank. Grameen is a microfinance bank that won its founder- Dr. Muhammad Yunus- a Nobel Peace Prize in 2006.

One thing led to another and here I am in Dhaka for one month to consult with GCC. More on the project later after my first day is done.

*My Bangladeshi friend and former colleague Faheem worried about me citing this data-crunching survey from the 'global north' re: Dhaka right from the get-go, as it could color the impressions I give others. I'll have 33 days to make my own conclusion and hope to document those observations here.

Two Swords Found

You know you're not in America anymore when the University's receptionist sends an email out announcing that two swords had been turned into the lost and found and could Mr. Saleh please pick them up today. 

Just thought I'd share.