Things

Well. I've failed to maintain a daily blog. Why? For a start the repetition would drive me mad. I can't bring myself to write a daily list of complaints about the traffic, bureaucratic incompetence, xenophobia, poverty and so on. The more things change the more they stay the same. Although I love the vitality of Dhaka and the sheer goodwill of the people I can't help but depressed much of the time as the poor and disadvantaged are screwed more and more and the kleptomaniacs prosper. Money was allocated to provide generators for the 256 water and sewerage pumps that provide an essential service to the city. None has been purchased for 'technical reasons'. And so it goes.

The traffic does remain a problem. You can never judge how long a trip between Dhanmondi, where I live, and Gulshan, the expatriate and diplomatic area, will take. The other night I though the driver of the car in front was consulting his GPS, mounted on his dashboard. I look more closely and realised that he was watching a DVD player as he drove! Only in Dhaka, as they say.

One of the real pleasures of this trip has been meeting up with past students. They are doing so well out there in the 'real world'. Their decision to study Media Studies and Journalism was considered to be at best brave and at worst foolish. Where are the job prospects their parents asked? Well it seems the gang of 2004 - 2007 are ding very well pulling in salaries way above their BBA counterparts in the burgeoning Dhaka small media and multimedia industries. This is cause for optimism.

Finally today, a return to something that has concerned me for a few years; the slaughter of Bangladeshis by the Indian Border Security Forces (BSF). Thirteen so far this year and 836 since 2000. This is scandalous but how to end?