Stormy weather
Quote from 'Importance of being Earnest' -
Gwendolyn: "Don't talk to me about the weather, Mr Worthing. When people talk to me about the weather, I'm quite certain they mean something else... And that makes me so nervous."
Say! She's Gwen too!
Anyway, she's quite wrong in this case, I'm really talking about the weather...
It's summer now... So it's really HOT! Got under the weather a bit... With some headaches and stuff... But I don't feel too bad being in Bangladesh... I heard that home is equally hot... =) And we don't even get the nice cold spells of winter like over here...
For a while though, we were getting quite a nice relief from the heat... There was a short season of rain... Hmm... Rain is putting it nicely... We were getting some pretty exciting thunderstorms...
Back home, we lived in the water catchment area... (Read: Rain 24/7) And I loved watching the storms from my room window or inside the car... (the safe places)... listening to the sound of the rain hitting my window... Lightning is especially facinating to watch... The funny patterns that come up against the backdrop of the darkened sky... Just beautiful... Some would be so near that it would light up the entire house! Of cos, there were the days when I would be caught outside with no umbrella... And I'd walk up the steep slope to get home... Sometimes I'd sing and dance and drink in the surroundings... Other times, I just sloshed my way back, savouring a bad mood... But I'd always arrive at my doorstep, completely soaked to the bone...
It was nice to experience thunderstorms again...
Over here, the winds get really strong and tosses everything around... Like the dustbin on the roof of Pathshala... Feels as though it could almost lift me up and blow me away... Sometimes the sand gets swept up on the road and we gotta cover our faces... It's very terrible for rickshaw wallahs... If they have passengers, they can't stop and find shelter... they have to continue riding while closing their eyes... Good thing they don't get into any accidents... Or at least not as far as I've heard...
When the rain comes, the whole place just changes... Traffic reduces to a trickle... Everything slows down... For me, I leave the door open and let the smell of the rain and the cool breeze get into the room... Sometimes, I just stop what I'm doing and just stare at the rain... Rain always gives me that lovely lazy feeling...
Ironically, the most interesting storm that I’d experienced here isn’t a thunderstorm… It was a hailstorm… It was raining at that time… I was at work… And I started hearing a very strange sound coming from the rain… It sounded like someone throwing stones… Atiq came to get me and Jess to go see…
It was raining little ice pieces! Each piece was about the size of a 20 cent coin… (Sing dollar)… They looked very special too… Not your normal ice cube… They were round for one thing… they all had nice small spherical dense little centres… And the sides were more translucent… I ate one… Tastes just like ice… =)
Jess & I got really excited seeing the hail that we ran up to the rooftop to get a better view… We didn’t go out to the open though… Didn’t want to get wet… Besides, we both knew that if we got hit by one of those hailstones, it would hurt a lot…
Someone in office didn’t bother though… Just ran out in the rain like a madman picking up the hail stones… For the record, I didn’t call him a madman… The other people in office called him that… “Pagol!” I agree though… He didn’t have any change of clothing… So he had to wrap himself up in a blanket for the rest of the day to keep from getting a cold… Bekub…
Hate to sound judgemental but I really don’t like people doing things like that… Playing in rain when everyone is around… For one thing, you’re supposed to be working… For another, you just look like you’re trying too hard to prove that you are being spontaneous and stuff… I say… If you wanna play in the rain… Do it when no one is around…
The bad news of all this is, Jess suspects that we’ve just experienced the last of the good rainy weather… Which means, all we’re gonna get now is the plain ol’ hot humid topical weather… Sigh…
Tribute To The Pranksters...
Lately I've been getting some rather amusing calls and smses on my Dhaka number... No... Actually it's just one amusing call... I get more amusing smses... Haha!
It all started during the new year... I was out with Jess, Darren, Topu, Danny & all their friends... Suddenly I got a call...
"Hi, this is... (Couldn't catch the name. Anyway, that's not important.) Is this Gwen?"
"Yes. Where do I know you from?"
"I got your number from Islam."
"Islam?"
(Who on earth is Islam? I thought that was a religion! The question must have caught the guy offguard and that was the first word he could come up with... Not smooth, not smooth...)
"Yes, you know Islam?"
"You mean Insan?"
(Insan is a rather egotistical photographer who has had his work up on the walls of Cafe Mango for months, apparently as a critique of Chobi Mela. But they are so incoherent that no one has any idea what his point is. Besides that, he has several self portraits in the mix... And that's plain creepy. So if it were him that the guy on the phone was talking about, everyone would know where to find him. I had a name card. Then I realized I was always smart enough not to give Insan my number.)
"No, Islam."
(Oh well.)
The rest of the conversation involved getting the weird guy to talk to every single one of my guy friends just to scare him off, and find out what he wanted from me... Apparently, he needed to meet up with me and talk about something personal... (Right... I barely remember where I've known him and he's got something personal to talk to me about? Get outta here...) We even tried to fake that I had a boyfriend and discourage him... Finally, we got bored of him and just hung up....
He never called again... Which is a bit of a surprise and relief really... But I got some other strange smses...
These three came that same day... Same number... So I assume the same guy...
"Handsome, sweet, intelligent, spontaneous, good looking, nice friend, charming, funny, well........ it is enough about me, what about u?"
Good thing he didn't say humble... That would be plain lying...
"***Shuvo Noboborsho*** Faysal"
Rather nice of him to leave a name actually....
"Have gone out today..&..have u seen the setting sun, which is telling u by forver ur sorrows. Just wait for the next sun which is blessing u ***Shuvo Noboborsho***"
I know he's trying to be philosophical and poetic and all that... But I really don't understand what he's saying... Think my arty farty Nightbird could give him a pointer or two... No... An intensive course in English and Poetry is due....
I showed all my friends those smses... And they all think it's funny... Apparently, this sort of thing happens a lot over here... Jess asked if I was worried or scared or anything... I said no... The guy doesn't know me... Just my number... What's to worry about? Even if they knew my name, it just means they're resourceful... But they wouldn't be able to recognise me even if I was standing right in front of them... Besides, if they tried to make trouble, I'd get Pathshala Topu to scold them... He's really fierce...
Here's the latest one I got... On 23 April 2005 @ 1.20pm...
"Guen, 1st day I saw u on the street felt that life is beautiful. 2nd time saw u smilin with eyes of the bluest sky so knew that life is Blah.... I luv u. John"
I'm really sorry to offend 'John' but I can't help laughing everytime I read this... It's the bad english, the pathetic attempt to be romantic and poetic, the even more pathetic attempt to profess his love for a complete stranger when he got her name wrong... And the fact that I don't have blue eyes! Gee, I'm real sorry man... You got the wrong Guen...
People might think I'm weird, keeping those smses and writing about it... Truth is, I kept the smses to write about it... Not for any other weird reasons... But just to pass the joke around... I'm sure someone else will get quite a good laugh out of these too... And it's kind of interesting to see how these pranksters work... Adds a little humour to every routine day I must say...
If you find yourself caught in love...
Everytime I hear the Belle & Sabastian song "If you find yourself caught in love", I'm reminded of the most romantic event I'd taken part in this year... Nope, it's not a Valentine's day thingy... (If you remember, I had quite a bad Valentine's Day...)... It's not a very good romantic movie... (They don't show foreign shows in the cinemas here...) It's not even a good romantic novel... (Never been big on romance romance books...)
It was my sister's wedding... =)
The webgallery for their wedding day finally came out last week... www.36frames.com/webgallery/ycyh ... and I spent the entire day looking at their pictures... It left me in tears at times… It was a really really beautiful event...
We did the usual things… The Groom goes to pick up the bride and brings her home… They give tea to the parents and relatives… The bride changes… Then they go back to the bride’s home to give her relatives tea… And everybody eats a lot… Of cos… No one ever makes it easy for the groom to get to his bride…
My dear brother (think it’s easier to call him that than brother-in-law) got a mini Amazing Race… (One of their favourite shows… It’s a good thing they didn’t do Fear Factor though…) He had to go to Jalan Kayu to buy breakfast… Imitate a Shah Rukh Khan MTV… Recite an original poem in 7 steps… And, we pulled a “Runaway Bride” trick… My sister was placed in the loft… (And not in our room, where she was supposed to be…)
The actual solemnization and wedding was held at the Ritz Carlton… So you can imagine… The glitz… The glamour… It was a dizzy, dazzling place… A place you can really call “Romantic”… 90 tables… 900 guests… Theme of Tiffany’s turquoise… White feathers… White roses… A luscious warmly lit banquet hall… Soft music… Gives you the mood of being in love all over again…
I was pretty swept up by the whole event too… That evening, I was wearing a pretty strapless pink dress with a poofy skirt… 3 inch heels… An elegant purple crystal bracelet and necklace to match… Made by my mum’s dear friend Aunt Lay Kian… My hair was swept up in a pretty bun with braids at the top, and white flowers pinned in it… My nails were manicured… My eyebrows were plucked, and my lashes curled and laced with mascara… The make up was put on like an elaborate painting… (yup, I felt like a canvas…) I could hardly recognize myself in the mirror… The Nightbirds met me that night and they were stunned… Ivan said that was Gwen as he had never seen before…Mark asked me how it felt to be a woman…
The VIP table was the largest I’d ever seen actually… Think there were 19 people… My brother’s family is pretty big… He has three sisters who are all married… One of them with a little toddler called Ethan… My uncle and aunt from China were there with us as well… But even though the table was so big, most of the time, everyone was missing… My sister-who-was-getting-married and my brother were missing most of the time… As expected… They had to enter and leave the hall time and time again… (I still don’t get that bit… but they were very cool… They came in on Segways at one entry…) Then there were the other little things they had to do, like make their rounds at all the tables… Pop the champagne… Cut the wedding cake… Make speeches…
The emcees for the evening were my brother’s 3rd sister and her husband… So they were kept busy writing their lines down and scuttling between the table and the stage… My sister-who-wasn’t-getting-married was the main organizer of the whole wedding… the hotel personnel were all taking their cue from her… She had hurt herself that afternoon, but that didn’t quite stop her from moving around… Just slowed her down a teeny bit… (I think she should have used the segway too…) The parents have their own parenty things to do too… Mingle with their guests and the relatives… I’m really not sure what parents do at weddings… Maybe it’s the mixed feelings… they are happy cos one of their kids is no longer under their charge… and they are sad cos one of their kids is no longer under their charge… It must be a very awkward transition…
My job for the evening was to perform a short item… It’s quite an easy job compared to the rest… Save for the nerves that came up before it was my turn… (I was even worried that I might trip over my heels on the way up the stage…) I had intended to write an original song for my sister… But I couldn’t quite fit words into a melody I wrote… So I just stole a melody and fitted in my own words… That was the English song… I also prepared a Chinese song for the benefit of the older crowd… Didn’t want them to be too bored…
Here’s a little information on the Photographer who prepared the web gallery… His name is Rueyloon… And he took really good pictures… He had some very artistic and unique perspectives… and has a knack for making a very chaotic situation look so peaceful… He captures all the little moments... And that makes it special... In his pictures, everything looked so quiet and orderly… It was exactly how I wanted to remember it… Even Jessica was very impressed by his pictures… She was amazed that anyone could take such pictures at a wedding…
The problem about being in the photography circle is, when you show people pictures of your sister’s wedding, you get silly arrogant frens insisting that they can do a better job… In fact, they start fantasizing about going to Singapore to do wedding photography to make it big… For the benefit of all of these dreamer photographers, here’s the facts of the matter…
Exchange rate: S$1 – TK36
The cost of hiring a photographer for 1 Day’s work, inclusive of a coffee table book and web hosting = S$1200
Expenses: (Covered by photographer)
Air Ticket: S$800
Accomodation: S$200
Book: S$50
F&B: S$200
Total Expenses: S$1250
Profit: - S$50/=
If they are interested in doing studio shoots as well, (maybe to earn more?)… Studio shoots range from SGD $1500 to SGD $2500. That is inclusive of the studio with equipment and the final product. The rental of studio and equipment must all be covered by the photographer.
Conclusion: Don’t quit your day job, dude…
Interestingly, the most poignant moment of the wedding was not captured in the web gallery… In fact, it could not have been captured by Rueyloon nor anyone else… It was a private moment when I saw my sister and my new brother cry as I sang for them… and in a magical instance, (as if they suddenly realized that this was the start of their new lives together…) they kissed… No camera could have caught that moment… I was the only person in the position to see it… because I was on stage… and it was so loving and tender… It would never ever be erased from my mind…
It’s strange… That in such a big and elaborate event, it is the small quiet moments that make it truly special… And I think, even if I ever decided to embark on a career as a performer (under the probing of the audience that evening who are convinced I’m gonna be the next big thing… It’s the alcohol really…) No other experience would ever give me more satisfaction than having created that moment for them… =)
Shuvo Noboborsho (Happy New Year)
14th April: Bengali New Year
Wake up at 7.30am… Put on sari that I bought with Jess… Head off to Romna Park to see the classical performances… Then head to arts college to see the rally… have lunch… and then see other happenings elsewhere…
Well, that was the plan… Got up at 7.30am to put on the new sari I bought with Jess… Jess & Darren woke up late… And by the time we both got our saris all done, it was 9… too late to see the classical performances… Opps…
So we headed down to the arts college… The weather was extremely hot! Nono… It was sweltering… Not really the best day to wear a lot of cloth I can tell you… I was sweating under my sari… good thing the blouse is like a midriff thing… when the wind blows, my torso is cooled… at least… Mind you, I never wear midriffs… Ever… so this sari thing is quite an adventure… I couldn’t walk right too… cos I was afraid that I would step on the skirt and it would come undone… apparently it couldn’t… after all I pinned it all down… but the worry was there… And I was walking really slowly… taking really tiny steps… sheesh… for the beginning part, jess & I didn’t even feel like taking our cameras out… but we decided not to waste the day…
There was such a lot of people! Lots of women wearing red and white… macam Singapore National day… That gives me an idea actually… Think I’ll wear my red sari with a white blouse next time on National Day… Haha! (I can almost hear Mark and Ivan complaining right now...)
The 3 of us decided to venture out onto the road where the rally was moving by... It was a bit too hot and too crowded for us to follow the rally... We stayed around the area... Then we got caught in a terrible stampede. There was a concert held in the middle of the road and that totally blocked up the traffic…People started pushing and shoving and we nearly got stuck in a little section in the road completely immobile... Good thing there were some kind hearted people who helped us get back into the moving lane and we go out of the crowd... It was really scary... Many times, we could have been squeezed to the point where we couldn't breathe... (Trick: Keep your arms in front of you... so that you will always have breathing room...)
Ended up at a carnival across the road from the art college… eating fuchkas and taking pictures of two very darling kids…The little one was so shy... I took his picture and showed it to him... When he saw himself, he was so excited... The older one was very cool... Kept trying to look serious... But most of the time, he couldn't keep his laughter in... Their mother is very pretty I must say... And such a good natured lady...
In every event, what is one thing that Gwen must do? Shopping! Bought some local toys… a little drummy thing and an ektara... Even a silver toy cooking set…As Jess says, I'm forever buying useless shiny things…
Lunch was very nice… proper briyani… It's a good thing we arrived at the restaurant quickly... because soon after we got our seats, the crowds came in and there was no room left... To get away from the crowds at the art college, we took a van to accommodate all of us, Danny, Topu and their frens... and the 3 of us… Vans are a type of vehicle that looks like a cart attached to a bicycle... Mostly used for goods in Dhaka... The van wallah had actually been selling coconuts on his van... but he finished selling them so we could hire it to sit... everyone was staring at us… cos no one takes vans except in the village areas…
After lunch, it was back to our rooms to relax... Topu and Danny came to visit later that evening... And they were really tired... So they each took one end of my bed and laid there to rest... Poor tired guys...
15th April: Bengali New Year Again…Shong Kranti
Well well… I had no idea that there was a continuation of the new year… but we stumbled upon it anyway…
We just wanted to have a relaxing offday.. (for me at least.. Jess is on leave… the lucky girl…) It was another scorching hot day... We emerged from our aircon rooms at about 1… to have lunch at Best Fried Chicken… had an Ice Cream at Rainbow Italian Restaurant… then back to Pathshala to rest somemore… it’s the heat… makes one so tired and uncomfortable… went out again at 5pm… to go down to Buriganga…
We visited Jessica’s family… the family she photographed the last time i mean... they’re really sweet… the girl is very pretty… got the most beautiful eyes I’ve ever seen… but she looks so old for a nine year old… almost grown up… the baby is really shy… Darren offered cigarettes to the crowd that had gathered around us... And before he knew it, most of the pack was gone... But the people were quite happy to get the gift...
Then we went on the river… I really really love the motion of the boat… the best thing in Dhaka if you ask me… I could be on the river all day if possible...
Then we decided to visit Hindu street Shangkari Bazaar. It is really nice… The whole street was very elaborately decorated... I've never seen Hindu Street this crowded and lively before... There were some big speakers set up at one part of the street and some of the younger people were dancing to it... The places of worship were totally crowded... They also set up some altars in the middle of the road... Think we would have stayed longer and enjoyed ourselves better if the weather had been colder... we were subsisting on cold cokes all the way... But still, nothing stops Gwen from shopping... I bought kites! 5 of them... and the cool big thingy to hold the string with... Very nice… Next time I’m buying a tablah.. or the drums… And some more local instruments...
(I'm seriously considering shipping... Otherwise, Mark is going to help me bring back some of my stuff... I'll never make it back on my own... )
The best thing about our trip to Old Dhaka was the amazing rickshaw wallah we got on the way back… We were actually intending to get a CNG... but this guy said no, he can take us... We told him where we were going, and that it would be 3 people... He was completely unfazed... And He tooks us for Tk50... (To some it's expensive, but we thought it was ok since it is really far for anyone to cycle that distance with us in tow.)
He was so much fun! He was weaving thru traffic with such a lot of ease and we estimate he was going at 50kmh... haha! At one point he turned around with a big grin on his face and asked us... "CNG good or rickshaw good?" Duh? Rickshaw la! It was a really really cool ride... He asked about us, if we were siblings... We said no, just friends... We asked if he had children... he has 3 girls! (Doesn't that sound vaguely familiar?) And he thinks I look like one of his girls... Cool!
But as we expected, he started to get tired... We asked him if he wanted to have some tea... He declined... We just stopped him... And bought him tea and Darren offered him a cigarette... We finished the rest of the trip... He was pleasantly surprised when we gave him another Tk20 on top of the agreed amount... Just for being such a sport... and for not extorting more than was originally agreed... He shook all our hands before we left...
It's all about give and take, I guess... If there were more wallahs like him, I would gladly give more to them... The kind who are honest, and really take pride in their job and have such a positive outlook... Cos he made our day, we wanted to do the same for him... After all, it is the New Year!
Interesting Fact: I learnt how to spell "Shuvo Noboborsho" because some prankster got hold of my mobile number and started sending me smses... He was trying to introduce himself to me and make some clever conversation... I ignored it... But I made use of this particular phrase... =)
3 Singaporeans
Quip of the week:
"No, we don't have Tiger beer... Do you want Elephant?"
Must be wondering why Gwen's talking about beer right? Don't worry... I'm still teetotal...
Let me explain...
Jessica's boyfriend just arrived at Dhaka two days ago and we'd all been going out... They are really funny to hang out with... I haven't spoken that much Singlish in a long long time! I mean, Jess & I do speak it... But it's just more dynamic with Darren around now... Cos he talks really fast and has a very quirky sense of humour... (I didn't say that... Jess did...) It is a very interesting feeling when you can talk using a little bit of dialect here and there, throw in some chinese and malay into the sentence... and EVERYONE UNDERSTANDS... It's a real first...
First day he arrived, we all went to Elephant road and bought saris.. Jess bought 2... I bought 1... (Mine cost Tk400! Unbelievably cheap... Jess' was even cheaper... But oh well... ) When the couple talks, it sounds like they are arguing... But really... They're just having fun! And it's really amusing to watch them...
Last night, we went to have dinner at Bar-B-Q Tonight. It's a strange place... But not in the way you'd think....We have meals out in the open... In their courtyard... Which is good... But everytime we go there, we'd end up getting very badly stared at and laughed at... Good thing it wasn't like that yesterday...
The people there didn't notice us much... The waiter was a little grumpy at first... Until he started noticing that we were speaking bangla... And then he was so amazed that he praised us for it... He wore a smile for the rest of the evening... =) The food is nice... But i've decided never to get that beef I ordered yesterday ever again... It's a beef patty minced with chilli and chilli seeds... It's really really hot... I had to get 2 lassis to get it down... Phew!
After dinner we saw a naked man sitting at the side of the road... Reminded me of this one incident, days before that, of another woman who wasn't wearing anything.. According to Rajiv, who took pictures of the entire event, she had taken off her clothes and thrown them away... Jess & I saw her sitting at Road 32 with only paper to cover herself... Rajiv told us that many women had come by and tried to give her clothes to put on... But she refused them and chased them away.... Later on, she came near Pathshala and Jess ran to give her old sari... Only it was Zaid who actually offered it to her... He looked the most gentle of all of us... And she accepted it! She put on the sari very very quickly... Much faster than Jess & I ever could...
Ok... Back from the sidetrack...
We decided to go to Peacock... An underground bar... Jess & Darren wanted to get some beer... I just wanted to see what the place was like... It's in a small alley... Near a Peacock Restaurant and Peacock Hotel... It looks like a long room with curtained windows and doors on one side... No lights on the inside... Save for some small red bulbs.... Zaid said that the idea was that no one can see your face from the next table... (But that did not stop some strange guy in the next table from asking us... "Your country?") And no a/c either... Just fans... And bad music... It's just a place to drink and leave... No atmosphere whatsoever... I found it rather interesting though... It just seemed like such a candestine affair... Haha...
Good thing Zaid came along... He helped us from getting ripped off by the waiters... (Ok, not really us... I didn't buy anything at all...) Jess was saying... "For someone who doesn't smoke or drink, you are really hanging out a lot with us..." Haha! She was slightly high at that point... She only had one can of Heineken... But being the first one in 3 months... It might as well have been vodka...
Okok.... Now, where does that strange quip come from then?
See, Jess & Darren ordered Heineken... Then they saw an anchor logo somewhere... And decided to try their luck at getting Tiger Beer... So they asked the waiter for Tiger... The guy had no idea and went to the kitchen to find out... After a while, he came back and said...
"No, we don't have Tiger beer... Do you want Elephant?"
Darren started laughing! Until he realized that the guy was dead serious....
Just makes us wonder... What exactly is Elephant beer anyway?
Like awaiting the birth of a child
It's taken Months of waiting... Weeks of uploading... Days of preparation... But guess what?
The first pictures are finally out!
Yup...
To view the pictures, just click on either the thumbnail picture or the title of the album... (They are on the right side of the website) Either way gets you to the pictures...
Feel free to leave comments for the pictures... But as always... Leave a proper nickname so that I'll know whether to take your comment seriously or just kick you out... Makes my job a little easier....
Because, unlike alot of weird bored people in this world (many of whom read this blog)...
I have a job...
Cheers!
Joke of the Day
I'd recently posted some new pictures on my friendster... One of me in a Salwar Kameez... Another of me in "Escape from Shanghai"... (The one on my profile)
Days later, I got a very excited message from a particular Mr-Soh-Soon... The subject was "wwwaaahaahhaahaha"... And he was gushing about how funny and how cute the pictures were... Even wanted me to keep it up...
So I sent him this picture...
Funny?
Well, I'm quite sure Mr-Soh-Soon is rolling on the floor laughing now...
Gwen Buddhi Barcche... (Gwen's getting clever...)
Just completed a crash course in digital photography... "The Digital Survival Kit" organised by Ikon Photo and conducted by my very own BIG BOSS... Mind you... It was a very good workshop...
In two days, I cleared up all my doubts about resolution and pixels and bits and all that annoying microscopic thingys that every digital-using person needs to know but that no one ever bothers to figure out... I'm proud to say that I finally got it all sorted out... Not without much consternation and frustration of cos...
Don't worry... I'm not about to bore anyone with any of the specifics... But if you wanna know... Email me...
If you don't have my email... Drop me an email and I'll give it to you... =)
The only problem with the workshop was... I was the only non-bangla speaking person in the room and that meant that Boss had to speak in bangla most of the time... On the first day, I was trying my best to follow what he was saying with whatever pathetic knowledge of Bangla I had... I was quite lost... But Boss was good... He'd notice when I had a pained look on my face, the look i had when i was completely clueless, and translate into English for me... Next day, I knew better... I sat right in front of Boss... So he could see my pained look immediately... And... I kept asking him to translate not only what he said but what other people in class had asked... Plus, I'd ask questions about things from his notes that I didn't understand...
It pays to be inquisitive in this case...
So after several hours of sitting in the Ikon Photo Studio, feverishly taking down notes and trying very hard to digest every bit of information being thrown out... I now have a little notebook with all the information given during the workshop and an official certificate of participation to show for it... So proud of myself!
Final Note: Nightbirds, our long overdue photos from the outing we had while I was in SG is finally out! Check it out here... Password Hint: Name of Gwen's favourite Initial D character... If you're dyslexic and can't spell, it's your problem...
Nothing ever happens around here
People are starting to say that I don’t blog about the things happening here anymore… Well, the reason is, nothing ever happens here… =)
For instance, nothing ever happens in Drik…
We wake up at about 9 every morning, reach work at 10+ (that’s late btw… but we don’t really care to be on time since there’s nothing for us to do here…), and we set up our laptops and start surfing the internet… I’ve been uploading my pictures everyday but it’s not finished yet because of all that backlog from the past 3 months… (Anyway, I suspect one of my rolls of film is missing or isn’t scanned yet…) Otherwise, I’m setting up my blog for when the photos are ready… There’s not much work, except that I just got two books yesterday to write summary scripts for…
There’s this group of models who rent the Gallery to rehearse for their performance at some snazzy hotel for the Bengali New Year coming up on the 14th… Not sure I like them much… I’m sure they’re expert models… but dancing?... And besides, they’ve been leaving behind a mess everyday and poor Azirha has to clean up after them in the mornings… Think that’s pretty irresponsible…
Drik’s been having a massive change in employment… Abir is leaving for another good job at the European Photo Agency… Tutul and Amin have been shipped off to Drik India for an exchange program for 4 months… We are having a new operations manager who starts work today… No idea what his name is… We had two new people at Multimedia, to work on our human rights portal www.banglarights.net ... Two more people to help out at AV… And I’m sure there are other new people around that I just haven’t met yet…
Big Boss got upset one day cos he discovered that everyone wasn’t working… Myself included… He found some of them watching cricket, playing games on the computer…. And he was completely disillusioned… I feel bad for him… Everyone knew everyone else was slacking off… And it isn’t really their fault… There isn’t much to do during off peak periods anyway… But Big Boss didn’t know that… And his face was blacker than coal all that day… His assistant was relating the whole story of that day to us after work… It was quite ridiculously funny actually… Even though we were all in disgrace...
Yup… Nothing ever happens at Drik. Heck! Nothing ever happens at lunch time either…
Jess & I recently discovered two nice little eating places… One of them is a branch of Mango Café called “Escape From Shanghai”. The picture in my profile was taken there… And the place really looks like that… Very pink and dreamy… We were just trying out my camera and Jess happened to get a very good moment when the waiter walked by… We edited it to make the colour richer and I cropped it to get the movie effect… Giving it a very ‘In the mood for love’ feel… (We’re crazy about the show… heh!)
We also discovered “Shwarma Palace”… A shwarma looks like a mos rice burger… Only the bread isn’t rice… It’s filled with very nice bits of beef or chicken and it’s topped with shredded cucumber and sour cream… And you eat it with their own chilli sauce… Very good… And the best part? For less than Tk100, you get a shwarma and a lassi (sweet yoghurt drink) and you actually feel quite full. No worries of overeating there…
After work is even worse…
The weather has gone rather wonky nowadays… Kinda like Singapore weather… One minute it’s extremely hot, and the next minute, it’s raining cats and dogs… Once, Jess & I and Jo (She’s this exchange student from Bolton, called Joanna, but we call her Jo… She has 3 kids… 14yr old Isabelle, 12yr old Sophie and 9yr old Anna… and says ’bloke’ all the time) decided to go to Rifles Square… It suddenly started raining and Jo & I got drenched in the rickshaw… It was the funniest thing when we arrived at rifles sopping wet! Everyone was staring at us… (But don’t worry, Mom… I didn’t fall sick… )
Last week, we went to a meeting of Shadhus and Bauls. They are spiritual gurus and musicians. They play very traditional music using the local instruments like the ektara and the banjo and other things that I don’t know the names of… It was a really beautiful night… No rain there… There was a stage set up for all of them to sit and perform… At times, there would be individual performances… The music is so dreamy at times… And I must say, the light was fantastic… A large majority of the audience were photographers from the local papers, and the Pathshala students… They were having a real field day cos the stage was so well lit… And the organizers, my friend Zaid was one of them, were going around burning a strong that produced a lot of smoke, and creating a really dreamy mood in the entire place… *Pictures coming soon*
Jess went to a dentist here to get her teeth cleaned… And she said it’s the most ‘worse’ (she must say it so it sounds like ‘wuursse?’) experience she ever had in a dental clinic… For one thing, one of the thingys that they stuck in her mouth got spray all over her face and made the sides of her mouth sore for days… On top of that, they chipped her teeth… Good grief… But she took it quite ok… Said she’ll get dentures in future… Cos her mum got them and her smile looks fantastic now…
We got invited to Big Boss’ home last night, and Big Boss’ wife is the sweetest, most darling lady I’ve ever met… She looks really classy and all… But is still very motherly and hospitable… (She and my big boss are so so so in love!) She considers us like her own children… And she said that her home is our home in Bangladesh… When I mentioned how much I liked her place, she excitedly showed me around…
It is the coziest and loveliest apartment place here… They don’t use white light… only yellow lights… (Except in their work rooms..) The living room has nice carpets and cushions so that we can sit on the floor comfortably… It’s also filled with lots of little trinkets from all over the world… And tons of really interesting books… They even have this really lovely filing cabinet that they got made and they even hired a rickshaw artist to come and paint rickshaw designs on each drawer! It’s the coolest thing I’ve ever seen! The food was great too… And my lady boss would never claim credit for preparing the food herself, she would tell us that it was because of their nice cook that we get such good food… I overate… again…
Don’t even talk about Pathshala… Nothing ever happens there…
When I got back from Singapore, I couldn’t open my closet for 3 days because the keys were locked in the office and Joseph, who has the keys to the office, was on leave… I panicked and did some emergency shopping… heheh… Good thing I left some clothes out to dry before I left and I could wear those as well… The problem was, I had a lot of food from Singapore but I couldn’t cook them because my kettle was in the closet… Irony…
The mangoes on the mango tree had started to grow and everyone has been picking them… They’re all very small and hard… I tried one and it was quite sour… but very crunchy… Thing is, Noyon’s gotten into the habit of calling Jess & I to pick mangoes for him whenever he wants to eat them.. cos he’s too short to get them from the tree… Sometimes, we just pretend we don’t know what he’s talking about…
Abbas and Koli have arrived back in Dhaka to stay for good… And Noyon has a playmate again… I’m not sure if that’s a good thing… cos they make so much noise! But Abbas is cute… He’s actually younger than Noyon but he’s much bigger than Noyon… I think he’s even gotten taller since the last time he was here… Must be because his dad is big… (His dad is Malu, if you have forgotten… A really annoying bloke… )
There’s this other little girl who comes round on Fridays as well… Called Medha… I have no idea who she is and who’s she is… But she’s really cute and drew a nice little picture and gave it to me… I think Abbas and Noyon like her too. Haha…
As for me? Nothing ever happens to me also…
When I arrived back at Dhaka, the first welcome I got was a hit on the head by a luggage that fell from the overhead compartment as one of the passengers was getting his luggage... It smarted at that moment... But the guy was so apologetic, and I didn't want the other passengers to chide him for his mistake... So I just smiled and told him I was ok... While secretly rubbing the bump on my head... No loss though... Not much IQ points to lose.. haha! Strangely enough, maybe because of the way I dress, people have started to mistake me for a local... From the tribal areas... The people from the Chittagong Hill Tracts look like Thai... and they look like us... One guy at the Airport spoke to me in Bangla, offering to help me with my luggage... until his fren told him that he didn't think I was local... Then the guy turned back and said "bangladeshi na?" And I said "Na..." That cleared it up...
My sister got me a CD to learn Bengali from Singapore… Haven’t started using it… But am seriously planning to… And continue learning the language… Took a break when I went home… Hmm… sounds like what I tell myself when it comes to that teach-yourself-guitar book that I have here… somewhere in my closet…
My new laptop started to crack up the last two days when some of the buttons suddenly stopped working… But I prayed about it, and asked God to fix it for me because I was at a complete loss… After that, it miraculously started working again! As though it never had the problem! Praise God!
I just signed up for a digital photography workshop at Ikon Photo… It’s taught by my Big Boss and costs Tk1200… I’m planning to really make it worthwhile for me… I’m gonna really try to learn a lot from it… Even though danny thinks I won’t because I’m “not that much intelligent”. I’m giving him the cold shoulder treatment for saying that… *evil grin*
Next month, I’m going to sign up for the basic photography course organized by Pathshala… Cost: Tk1800… To improve my techniques and my basic knowledge in photography… Never been very strong at it… And I’ve only started photography what… 6 months ago? Anything would help…
I also signed up for a module in school that just might allow me to go Sri Lanka to do a reportage… But I probably won’t get it… Which doesn’t matter too much to me either… I’m gonna be traveling around Bangladesh and maybe Calcutta after the internship anyway… My fellow Nightbird, Mark is thinking of joining me… If any of my frens is interested to travel… Please let me know… and we can try to arrange something for a bigger group…
Oh… I also might have a chance of getting my pictures published… If the journalist who needs pictures will just call me back or something… oh well… It’s a slim chance… *fingers crossed*
So, you see… There’s nothing much that I can say… Nothing ever happens around here… =)
OFF THE RECORD: Please forgive me for this long blog again... I squeezed in weeks of stories in one entry...
Fade Out...
Time:9.30pm
Location: Rooftop of Pathshala
I’m wondering “Why is it that the only time I ever sit down to write my blog is either in the wee hours of morning or when the power is out?”
(If you haven’t got it by now, it’s the latter.)
Either I’m so busy with the little mundane things of my life or I just don’t like thinking of the massive task of penning down all the little things that happen to me…
Lots of little things = large mountain of little blog entries to be written…
And I wonder why I never felt like writing my blog for so long…
Right now, I’m just trying to figure out how to break down all the little things into bite sized blog entries… Unlike that horrible hunk of a blog I wrote for Ampfest… Terrible excuse of a piece of written literature… If I may say so myself… All I needed to do, was throw in some photos and a lot of it can be thrown out the window…
*I promise I promise the pictures are coming*
Ok… I’ve decided to take things slowly… So the blog stories are coming one little piece at a time… Maybe together with the pictures…
The power has gone screwy now… We’ve all gotten so used to power cuts that today’s situation was really quite bizarre…
A power cut is just that… A cut.
The lights, the fans, the TV, the computer, everything gets cut so that you are suddenly plunged into a sea of darkness and momentary immobility. Kind of like a funny bone sensation. But this one only because you can’t see and not because the pain at your arm just shot thru your entire body…
But today… It was more like a power fade out… (Any sound engineers out there?)
Seriously! The lights and fans just faded out and back up…Time and time again… Jess & I were watching a show on some queer channel… Hmmm… Wait… Think I’ll back up here… Come to think of it, lots of queer things were happening today… The microwave sounded a whole lot louder today than it normally did… (Jess couldn’t tell the difference, but she admitted she never ever listened to the microwave) The tv channels got scrambled up so Star World was now on channel 3 and not 30… AXN, Discovery, and Cartoon Network were now within the channel 1 – 15 range when it used to be in the 17 - 25 range… HBO had gone missing… Yikes!
Then the power faded out. (conveniently leaving the TV and computer on so that Jess & I could keep on watching our movie-on-the-weird-channel) Shortly after, the power came on again….Then it faded out again… And came on again…
And the computer monitor caught fire…
It just started smoking! Jess saw some flames I think… And we started to worry! We ran out to find Mothi and look for an extinguisher… We found Mothi… But no extinguisher… Good thing the fire just died out…
After that, it became evident that the power fade outs were potentially quite dangerous…
Sidetrack: Just saw a huge mouse running across courtyard of Pathshala… I swear it’s the same one in my room last time…. It’s really big now… Probably 4inches long… But rather cute running around… Think some people might find it gross… But I’ve always been a rodent type of person…
So back to the strange power fade out…
We switched everything off… I had left my aircon on in my room and it survived thru the entire episode… But it wasn’t safe to leave it on any longer… After I had switched it off, a strange Styrofoam type smell came into my room a little later… It was quite evident that the power was weird… Cos when my fan was switched on at low speed, it was going much more like it would at high speed… And some of the bulbs are looking extremely and unnaturally bright…
Yup… Think I was prepared to be perspiring in my sleep all night…
In the meantime, I needed to cool off and I came up to the rooftop to type… My baby (the laptop) can last for about 2.5hrs without a power source… Good enough I think… To do some decent writing… And once that died? I would switch to practicing my guit… No batteries required… heh heh…
Survival? I rather not think that way… In the whole scheme of things, a power failure is really not that big a deal… As long as there’s no fire or anything to burn my room down… I’m quite happy…
Things are looking up though… The unnaturally bright bulb suddenly dimmed… And the lights have come back on in the rest of Pathshala… Probably safe now to go back into my room and have the lights and fans on…
So there you go… One blog story down… A zillion more to go… If I don’t figure out a more effective way to write the rest of my stories, my baby is going to go to bed and I’ll never muster up the energy to write ever again until the next power cut…. And that entry would also probably be about… a power cut… *good grief*
