Dhaka

Finally in Dhaka....

Riding from the Korunamoyee bus terminal in Calcutta yesterday, I was still not sure of reaching Dhaka. I dont know why but there was a fear in my mind of what was about to happen, I was a tad nervous as well.

As the bus lumbered along, slowly making its way out of Calcutta, I started to realise that I was perhaps actually getting to Dhaka and was filled with anticipation and joy. Once the bus stopped for breakfast and reached the Indian customs and immigration post at around 10. It was a 84 km ride from Calcutta.

As I left the bus to go complete the immigration procedures, I was swarmped by a horde of agents all offering to change Indian currency for Bangladeshi takas or offering to speed up my path through immigration. I declined and made it to the long line at the counter.

As I had dreaded, my Nepali passport brought with it a more stringent checking and asking o questions as to why I was going to Bangladesh, what was my profession and where I studied and all of that. Thankfully , it all got over soon and it was time for me to clear my baggage through customs.

I was apprehensive because I had around 20 US dollars that I had bought from a money changer and I did not want it to be caught without any proper recipt on my part. So reluctanlty I paid a guy hundred takas to get me through customs. However again upon seeing my Nepali passport, the customs people asked me to open my bags and checked one of them. Thankfully, the bag in which I had the dollars were not checked.

So glad that half the process was over, I went back to the bus which crossed over to the Bangladeshi side. Here, it was customs first and immigration later.And to my dismay, there seemed to be no agents to see me through customs for a price. so with a bit of fear in my mind, I went for the checking.

At first, there seemed to be no cause for my worry.There was a cursory check through my baggage and I was relieved. However the relief was really short lived. Another man, this time a military guy started going through my baggage. And he opened the baggage where I had the dollars. o be specific he took out the book where I had kept the dollars; Avtar Singh's "Indian Contract Act 1872".

As I watched with dread and fear, somehow he managed to not find my dollars despite being right there. As he gave my baggage back, I mut have given him a really big thank you because he looked back at me and smiled warmly too. I was so so relieved. After that the Bangladeshi immigration part was not so difficult and finally I was sure that I was going to Dhaka after all.

After that journey had some other good moments as well. I had proper rice and dal after about a week and the food felt so really good. Then the bus was transported along the Buri ganga river on a ferry. It was my first experience on a ferry, in fact on a boat so it felt really great. especially with the sun setting in the background and the breeze in my face, it all felt too good to be true.

Finally I arrived in Dhaka at around 7 30 in the evening. Looking around I realised that I had travelled on a train, bus and a ferry to reach here and finally I had arrived. It took a while for the feeling to sink in, and when it did, it was such a happy and joyous feeling.

Now looking forward to the next few days in Dhaka and possibly elsewhere too...