To Egypt and Back 3: From Dubai To Cairo

Dubai airport is huge. In fact huge is a big understatement. It's so big that you can spend a whole day just moving from one end to another. We had two options. We could spend the 8 hour transit in side the airport, or we could go to a hotel. Hotel accommodation is offered free of charge for such transit passengers. However, I didn't get a room in the hotel where my colleagues would be staying, and once I reach the hotel, there's nothing much to do. Moreover, if we had to go to the hotel, we had to leave the airport instantly. But the famous duty free shops of the airport looked really tantalizing to me, and together we decided not to take the hotel facility. Instead we checked ourselves in to the business lounge.

Inside the business lounge there are lots of comfortable sofas. Also, food and drink supply is abundant. When we reached the lounge, it was pretty late. But still the lounge was live with many transit passengers from different countries, and the food corner was well laden with all sorts of delicacies including but not limited to salami sandwiches, salads, croissants, bread, curry, meat dishes, all sorts of liquors, juices, soft drinks, tonic water, fizzy water, good old cappuccino, latte, cakes, pastries, whiskey, tomatoes and what not. Unfortunately, I couldn't eat much due to the somewhat heavy dinner I had in the aircraft.

After settling down for a while and having a coke, we went out to see the duty free shops. We already got some view of the shops while searching for the business lounge, but this time we went inside the shops to see what goodies are available for the shopoholic. I am not really a shopping freak, but I do enjoy browsing certain items of interest. There was this big electronics store where we spent a lot of time. It had different sections for DVDs, Audio CDs, different electronic gadgets and many other things. I really liked the toy store where there were some monkey and turtle dolls. Whenever someone touches the monkey's tail, it makes some very cute "kichir michir" sound and starts wiggling back and forth.

After skimming through most of the shops, we returned for a late night snack. We got ourselves something to eat, and then we brought out our individual laptops and got connected to the internet using the free wireless access point of the business lounge. After biting some chumps and checking gazillion emails, I and Raihan went out for a walk. Dubai airport is huge, but we wanted to conquer it. We started walking from one end to another. We kept on going. The walk became easier due to the existence of walk ways.

A walk way is basically a flat version of escalators. You stand on a walkway, and you are automatically moving ahead. While we were very relaxed, we found people zooming through the walkway, running. At the beginning, this behavior was really surprising to me. However, quickly I realized that these people are just running to catch their next flight. I saw people from different countries, ages and races. I recognized some good looking Malaysians girls playing Scrabble, and I even managed to figure out a word for a player (yeah, I could see her scrabble tiles from a far) before I moved ahead on the walkway. The walkway trip was like a tour of the world's cultures. I saw Europeans, Asians, Africans, Indians, Japanese, Chinese, Americans, French, Germans, Koreans--and Bangladeshis!

After what seemed like eternity, the walkway came to an end. Me and my colleague realized that we might have to run back to the business lounge, if we are to get our belongings and board the plane on time. So we did. We brought humor to others, just like others gave us humor almost two hours ago, and ran through the "walk" ways and finally reached the lounge again.

However, reaching there, I found out that there is still significant time left till the plane ascends again. I indulged in yet another luxurious relaxation only to be bemused by a loud commotion created by some people outside the lounge. I went out, and found a medium sized mob shouting in Bangla. Apparently someone got pick pocketed by someone else, and everyone in the vicinity seemed to be from Bangladesh. Wherever we go, we make our mark, and it was good seeing everyone getting united and confronting the thief.

The flight towards Cairo from Dubai was quite pleasant. After the ample rest, good food and the long walk, I was in a cheerful and refreshed mood. I didn't notice how time flew by. I watched and listened a bit more, had breakfast, and finally at around 1 PM local time, I landed in Egypt.

Desert very near to the Hotel

It was a beautiful Saturday noon and the temperature was 24 degrees Celsius. We found someone from the hotel holding a placard with our names written on it. The guy was smart and hence we didn't have to spend too much time in the immigration. Soon we were aboard a microbus and on our way towards the hotel. That was the first time when I brought out my camera and took some snaps of Egyptian landscape.

The hotel JW Marriot is situated in the outskirts of the city of Cairo. There is another Marriot hotel in the heart of the city which is built upon the river Nile. JW Marriot is more of a resort than a hotel. It has an artificial sea beach, a golf course, a large swimming pool, a children's water park and a pool side podium for hosting cultural programs (read belly dances) and weddings.

Egyptian Sun

We met two delegates from the hosts of the conference. One of them I already met in Dhaka airport, and this other gentleman from India was also not a stranger; we met sometime back in banglalink office during a presentation.

Before going in to my room, I talked to the guys in the reception about any possible shuttle buses towards the Cairo museum. At first I thought about going to the pyramids. I didn't want to waste any time as I was not sure whether I'd be able to go places during the conference days. However, I came to know that Giza plateau gates are closed by 5 PM, and it even if I can start out at 2 (which was quite unlikely), I won't be able to reach there before 3 PM. 2 hours is not enough time. Giza is a town on the west bank of the Nile river; some 20 km southwest of central Cairo. Giza is most famous as the location of the Giza Plateau: the site of some of the most impressive ancient monuments in the world, including a complex of ancient Egyptian royal mortuary and sacred structures, including the Great Sphinx, the Great Pyramid of Giza, and a number of other large pyramids and temples (credits Wiki).

Thus instead of going to Giza, we asked to arrange for a car that'd take us to the Cairo Museum. We asked the hotel people to make the car available by 2 PM, and rushed towards our rooms. The room was not different from any other 5 star hotel rooms. It had a large bed, two bed side tables, a sofa, a reading table, couple of lamps, a big cabinet holding a large TV and the private bar. The bathroom was also nice; complete with a shower and a bathtub. Disappointingly, there was no plasma or HD TV. Last year I had a plasma TV in my room in Taj hotel in Delhi, which was too good to watch.

The bed with accessories scattered on it

I really wanted to take a hot water bubble bath in side the tub, but I knew if I did that I'd miss the trip. I took a quick shower (kaak gosol in Bangla) and then went to the verandah for taking some random snaps. After taking some random snaps from the verandah and changing, I went downstairs to the Grill restaurant to have lunch.

Swimming Pool view from the verandah

My colleagues and the Bangladeshi delegate were already there. The Indian delegate already excused himself saying that he already had his lunch. This was the most popular (or so it seemed) restaurant in the hotel, because it is very near to the hotel lobby and also the elevators. The hotel is divided in to two plazas, which are not connected sideways from the 1st floor upwards. This means you will find two sets of elevators with each having 1st to 8th floor buttons. I was staying in the 4th floor of the left plaza. Once I made the mistake of taking the other lift, and I ended up coming down 4 floors, walking some distance, and again taking the elevator to my room.

The food was really good. The pleasant weather and the long journey made us really hungry. I ordered a mixed grill which contained pieces of grilled Lamb and Beef, served with exotic sauces and boiled vegetables. It was really tasty, but it took while to arrive. Eventually we got a bit late and boarded the microbus at around 2:45 PM.

The journey towards the Museum was nothing special. I noticed one thing--there were almost no Toyota cars on the streets. Instead, I saw Corvettes, Fords, Nissan and other cars. The hotel microbus was a Toyota, but there were very few other Toyotas out there. Also there were the trademark black Egyptian cabs. I thought our cabs were the worst in the whole world, but the Egyptians ones beat us in that area by a long shot. I prayed to God so that I didn't end up in a situation where I had to get in to one of those black cabs!

Random Mosque is Cairo

A jolly guide was assigned to go with us. His name was Omar. He was a nice and big fellow. His English was excellent, which we later on came to know was a rarity amongst the mass. We reached the museum at around 4 PM. The museum looked a bit like the old buildings erected by the East India Company in Bangladesh. I was disappointed to know that camera's are not allowed inside the museum. I had to submit the camera to a veil clad lady at the gate. She gave me a token. However, before submitting, I took some snaps and Omar also took a few for us.

Me and the cute Sphinx replica

Museum Entrance (Curzon hall???)

There were two book and souvenir stores at the left side of the entrance. The line at the entrance wasn't that long, as it was almost closing time and most tourists have already visited the museum. The museum is a two storied building. In the first floor, there are hundreds of earthen, stoned, marbled, alabaster, gold and bronze made statues. This floor shows a chronology of ancient Egyptian history. If you walk clockwise, you will get to see statutes of important persons, gods and other significant testaments of Egyptian culture, from ancient times to a certain period dating back 3000 years. While most statues are of ancient Egypt, many of them are also from the Rome occupied Egypt era. Those statutes are quite different from the rest. You get to see people stoned in Julius Caesar like attire as well as the standard statutes of Anubis, Ra, Neffertiti and others.

Omar told us that the 2nd floor has a better view, as it has all the viewable artifacts recovered from the pyramids. So we decided that he'd give us a 1 hour tour of 2nd floor, and afterwards we can see whatever we like for the rest of the duration of our stay. So we quickly ascended the 2nd floor through the stoned stairs. The sight in the second floor was breathtaking. There were so many hot chicks from so many continents and cultures, that I was in a dilemma as to what I actually wanted to see more, the artifacts or the people! Jokes apart, the initial view thrilled me beyond anything. I was feeling like Indiana Jones, ready to enter a tomb for recovering the Holy Grail or some other important historical item.

Famed Mask of Tutankhamun

The highlight of the museum is Tutankhamun's tomb. I don't want to go too much in to historical facts. The Wiki page has more than enough in it. So instead I'd concentrate on describing my experience. Tutankhamun was a very young pharaoh. He died when he was 19. Tutankhamun's tomb was one of the few tombs that were discovered in tact. The actual tomb is in Luxor, the valley of kings. That place is quite far away from Cairo, and I didn't get to go there. There were three other tombs above Tutankhamun's. Contrary to popular belief, the tombs are not always inside the pyramids. They are often below the pyramid. Thus the pyramids actually act as hats or you can say covers for hiding or protecting the tombs of the kings.

Tutankhamun's tomb is very famous because it is perhaps the most un-ravaged tomb of all. All other tombs were attacked by robbers, time to time, and most of the Pharaoh kings treasures were melt and sold as regular gold by these miscreants. However, in Tutankhamun's tomb, the following portions were discovered intact:

The tomb layout

• Staircase
• Entrance Corridor
• Antechamber
• Burial Chamber
• Sarcophagus of Tutankhamun

I saw many everyday items that were used by the king. The kings swords, eating glass, plates, undergarments(!), shoes and sandals (both made of gold), his chairs and thrones, war chariots, the sarcophagus and what not. The most remarkable sight was Tutankhamun's golden mask. They say the mask was created by using the finest of Gold and the inner most sarcophagi was created by 110 KG gold. Tutankhamun's mummy is not in Cairo Museum, it is stored in Luxor.

Okay, the concept of a Sarcophagus is kind of tricky. The mummy is stored inside box like coffins, one after another. It's like the box thing. You keep on opening boxes to discover smaller boxes inside. The sarcophagus of a mummy contains at least 3 smaller sarcophagi. I hope the picture is clear. For further details, you can always browse it out.

In a corridor, three large chariots were on display. I wondered how these huge things were stored inside the tomb! Tutankhamun used to lead his soldiers by riding one of these chariots. There was a very nice looking beach couch and chair. Omar told us that the young king was a lover of scenic beauty and he, often accompanied by his young wife, would sunbath (!) in the banks of the river Nile. There was also a huge umbrella, which looked quite similar to what we use today for protecting ourselves from sun and rain. However, this particular umbrella was created just about 3,000 years ago!!

Interestingly, all the chairs Tutankhamun used has a foothold with the four human figures representing the four enemies of Pharaoh empire-- the Nubians, Itiopians (Ethiopians), Foreigners and Egyptian traitors. The foothold gave an impression that all the kings enemies are under his feet, all the time. Also, nice Hieroglyphs are always painted on the king's treasures. There were guardian birds and gods, each having distinct meanings. Omar took his time in passionately describing all these. There were also other sarcophagi and items used by other Pharaoh Kings, but they were not much fascinating. Tutankhamun's mask and sarcophagus is kept inside a room, unlike the other items that were organized in long corridors. Too many people are not allowed to enter these rooms at the same time, and it is heavily guarded. Tutankhamun's mask is kept in a large glass box, which is situated on top of another square like glass box. Inside the square box, there are hundreds of small jewellery items that were owned by Tutankhamun and his wife. There were also bows and knives, and at the other end, there lied the 110 kg golden sarcophagi, which was a sight that I won't forget in a long while. Once again, the cutest of tourists could be found in this room..hehe.

At the end of the tour, Omar told us that we have about an hour left till the museum, and we can do whatever we want in this one hour. There is a mummy chamber, which you can enter by paying additional 50 Egyptian pounds (the original entry fee was another 200 pound, if I remember well). I decided to get in, along with my colleague.

The mummy room is a medium sized room; a dark and gloomy one. Surprisingly, there were more ladies than guys in this room, and oh boy! Brave they were. I consider myself to be a very fearless kind of person when it comes to being afraid of ghosts, mummies, haunted souls and stuff. To me, these are just stories. But I couldn't walk around with ease in that room. It was appearing to me that the 10-15 mummies in that room might wake up and chase me out of the room for disturbing their slumber. There were mummies of fallen Pharaoh kings and queens, and most of them were very tall while they were alive. These are mummies without the fancy coffin. 3000 year old dead bodies kept intact through mummification. Only the blackened face was exposed while the entire body wrapped in a sack like dress. I heard an English lady with her typical accent chanting "This guy here had really bad teeth"!

So I was looking at the once great dead men and women and I exclaimed to myself "I wouldn't want these guys haunting me in my nightmares tonight; they are so frightening". Two ladies overheard me and we shared a good laughter. The interesting thing about the Egyptian culture is that even the slightest of actions have deep meanings. As an example, if a Pharaoh had his two arms folded and rested over his chest; it means he was a king and he died in honor. If there is a weapon in his hand, then it means he died in war. If his hands are not folded, that means he was either a traitor or not a king. Also there is this flute kind of thing which denotes nobility. So a Pharaoh having both a flute and a bow means he was a great warrior and a noble ruler. All the mummies were closed in side glass boxes with a small white sticker placed at the top right or left side. The sticker usually contained some vital information like the name of the dead person, who he was, how and when he died, etc. The most interesting finding was a lady who was killed under suspicion that she was a witch.

After spending about twenty mystified minutes inside the mummy chamber, I came out and started walking towards the other mummy chamber. If the last one was creepy, this chamber was definitely bone chillingly frightening. Here I saw different animals mummified. These were sometimes beloved pets of the fallen Pharaohs, or sometimes they were supposed to wake up and provide food or companionship to the Pharaohs. I think we all know that the Pharaohs believed in an afterlife where they would wake from their sleep and resume their normal life. That is the main reason for keeping so many things inside their tombs. Items included, but were not limited to servants (!), food, flowers, weapons, jewellery, money, animals, etc. There was this huge freakish alligator mommy, a bison, a large eagle, ducks and chickens, cats, mice, dog, lizard, large fishes, cows and goats and other animals. Some were also fake mummies, e.g. mummy like statues of imaginary animals and birds. As I am writing this description, I am having the feeling of needles piercing my whole body.

Will you call the Pharaoh's cruel for all this? Think about it.

Afterwards I came downstairs and spend another 30 minutes or so glancing through the different statutes of great Egyptian people. It was a nice walk, and there were very few people at that time. Eventually we did our rendezvous with Omar at the entrance, and went inside the souvenir shop. I bought a book containing photographs and descriptions of everything that is there inside the museum, which I can show you when you visit my home next.

I collected my camera and went out. It was around 6:30 PM then. Omar told us that we can visit the other souvenir shop outside the museum till the driver comes back with the car. This shop was nice; it had many interesting books, collectibles and CDs. However, most of them were very expensive and we decided not to buy anything. We already heard that there's a place like Bonbobazar where you can buy all sorts of souvenirs at a very cheap place. It's a bargainer's heaven and items are plenty. I will talk about Khan El Khalil later.

My colleague inquired about the availability of a Cartouche. Omar was wearing one, which was made of Gold and silver. A Cartouche is basically a small piece of metal with the wearer's name inscribed in Hieroglyphics on it. The maximum capacity is 6 to 8 letters, and if you give the maker some time, he will inscribe the words you like. We visited a shop where Cartouches were available, but due to time constraint, we did not buy one.

We came back to the hotel in about an hour, got refreshed and went to the hotel's Italian restaurant to have dinner. That was a unique experience....To Be Continued

(I am actually in a hurry to finish writing this portion now, so I will mention the dinner experience in my next entry. Happy New Year!)

To Egypt and Back 2: Airport Drama and Towards Dubai

Fridays are always lazy. I always feel like sleeping till 12 PM on Fridays. But I never manage to do so due to my dad. He always wakes me up at around 9 AM, and asks me to join the family for breakfast. In most cases I have to comply, but on this particular Friday, nobody called me. I myself woke up at around 10 AM. Both my mom and sis (inspired by mom) started to tell me that I really should get a hair cut before traveling. I was feeling lazy and had no intention of doing so, which created a domestic chaos. Eventually, out of sheer irritation and boredom, I went out to get a haircut.

Actually the haircut felt good, and I was also saved from shaving on my own. Once again it was proved that parents are almost always right (!).

I wanted to reach the airport by 5:30 PM, but I actually managed to reach there by 6:15 PM. I said goodbye to my mom, sis and dad; all of them came to drop me at the airport. I didn't feel emotional at all. I seldom do.

Anyway, I was lucky enough to meet my companions at the Emirates business class queue. There are usually two queues for business class passengers, but that day one of them was totally occupied by a handful of Army personnel. Some defence big shot was traveling to Dubai, and hence one queue was blocked by them. As a result of this, a big rush was present in the other queue managed by a pretty young lady. Well, what more can you expect when "they are the boss"?

My colleagues checked in faster, as they stood in the line before I arrived. Seeing me, the "ticketing" lady started saying "This queue is only for business class passengers. Economy class passengers please go to the other queue". I pretended not to hear her. She repeated the same, but I didn't leave. She wasn't actually saying this to me. It was a general announcement. Eventually everyone in front of me checked in, and I handed over the business class e-ticket to her. I will never forget the embarrassed look she gave after seeing the ticket. She couldn't believe that a business class passenger can actually show up wearing t-shirt and jeans. She was desperately trying to avoid eye contact with me. I could've, and probably should've insulted her badly for judging people by their attire. There's no dress code for business class passengers, and many people travel in casual ware.

She looked like a haughty English medium student (no offence to my friends of the same background), who has little or no idea about social etiquette. Probably she didn't tackle so many passengers before; and to be honest, I was least bothered. I just wanted to get done with the formalities and get inside the departure lounge. As I've written before, I was really tensed and an unwanted commotion was the last thing I'd like to create. The good part is that me and my colleagues had a big laugh after this drama was over and the lady had to hear it all. Our laughter must have pierced her like arrows from a bow. That was better than any trivial insult that I could impose on her by filing a complaint.

Couldn't have started the journey in a better way!

After getting our boarding passes, we went to the business lounge. En route we met the Bangladeshi contact person from the hosts of the conference. He was traveling in the economy class, and hence he couldn't join us in the lounge. This was my third visit to the business lounge in Zia International Airport. The arrangements are pretty good, I must say. You get food and drinks for free. However, alcohol refills aren't given--just for the record! We had some snacks and soft drinks till our aircraft started boarding the passengers.

Once the boarding call was announced, we grabbed our stuff and headed towards the departure gate. I once again encountered that same lady whilst boarding the plane. She again avoided eye contact. Oh well--as soon as I boarded the aircraft, thoughts of an unknown, arrogant flight attendant disappeared fast, and the unpleasant images were replaced by thoughts of excitement and anticipation.

It didn't take me too much time to find out my seat in the business class. Surprisingly enough, I found an elderly woman sitting beside me. I have got used to traveling alone. I did not have a companion in my last two international flights in the business class. However, this time around, I had to share the flight with this woman. She was sick and had a weak tone in her voice. I inquired and found out that she is going to the states for treatment purposes. After a while she started looking for her son and daughter in law. None of them were to be seen. I assumed they have taken economy class tickets.

Seating Plan in an Emirates Flight

Initially I was sitting in the left column (right in the pic), fourth row, and my colleagues were sitting in the right column. After the aircraft took off, I found that the mid column business class seats were empty. So I relocated myself near to my colleagues. This is a common phenomenon; business class seats are often empty on outbound flights from Dhaka. I've found empty seats in my last two travels as well. At first I was feeling a bit guilty for leaving the elderly woman alone. In fact I was planning to go back to my seat. However, soon her daughter in law and son came, and the daughter in law sat beside her for the remainder of the journey. It was kind of like an abuse, as she held an economy class ticket. But as the elderly lady needed assistance, the flight attendants couldn't say anything. I saw her enjoying all the added benefits of the business class with pleasure and ease. And yes, business class does have its share of benefits. I realized that when I had to take an economy class flight on my way back. Will be told in due time!

There was a small TV inside the side rest of the seat. The seat had full reclining facility.

Business class seat

In the pic, the TV is being shown as an attachment to the front seat. But this is not the case anymore for business class passengers--this is just a google pic I downloaded. The TV resides in the side rest, and it can be rotated and moved in different locations for convenient viewing. The TV has touch screen facility, and there are hundreds of movies, TV series, albums, radio stations, cartoons, games, etc. for entertainment purpose. There is also a small remote control, which can be used as a gamepad for playing the games, and it can also work as an ordinary remote, if you're fingers are too sore for the touch screen controls! There is also a movable reading light attached with the seat. That can be used when all other lights are turned off.

Soon after I relocated, an air hostess came and gave me the beverage and dinner menu. A colleague of mine recently traveled via Emirates. He asked me to try out the Bloody Mary drink. So without thinking, I asked for it. I also ordered a "mixed grill", which was the only "non-Indian" dinner choice of that night. I wasn't really up for an Indian meal at that moment. The Bloody Mary was soon served. It's basically vodka with tomato juice. I really like this drink. It's one of my favorite cocktails. Probably due to lack of skill on the air hostess's part, the drink didn't taste good at all. The success of this drink totally depends on the right mixing of vodka and tomato juice, and she got it all wrong. The mixed grill was pretty good, with medium pieces of beef and lamb served with vegetable and sauces.

I had my dinner, and spent the remainder of the flight experimenting with the entertainment box, aka TV. At first I fiddled with the hundreds of music CDs they offered. I listened to Led Zeppelin, Frank Sinatra, Doors, Beatles and some other random artists. Then I started watching my favorite TV series, friends. They had 7 episodes of Friends, from different seasons. I watched them all. I also saw three episodes of Joey and two of Scrubs. I liked scrubs; maybe I'll buy the DVDs some time.

After long, tedious six hour flight, we landed in Dubai airport. The airport looked awesome from outside. Although it was almost an eight hour transit, we decided that instead of going to the hotel, we will spend the night in the business lounge of Emirates, which will enable us to look through the duty free shops of the airport.

Me, R and S were traveling together. I and R had lots of fun walking around the airport. It really is a magnificently built one. It was long past midnight, and I'll talk about it in my next entry.

To Egypt and Back 1: Last Working Day and Prelude

Egypt--the land of mummies and pyramids. Did I ever want to go there? Of course I did. I guess many of us did, at some point of our lives. For me, Egypt was never too far away. I spent a significant portion of my childhood in Saudi Arabia. You must be wondering what's KSA got to do with Egypt? Well, we had this Egyptian couple as neighbors, and I have many memories regarding them which still gives me a feeling that I kind of grew up with Egyptians! So Mr. Abu Bakkar (Abu Bakkar Uncle for me) and his wife were really idiosyncratic people. They were infamous for washing fish using detergent before cooking (yuck!). I remember visiting their home a lot. Sometimes the Abu Bakkar auntie would give me raisins and fruits. During my childhood, I was very fond of small matchbox cars. I had many of them in my collection. I used to keep those cars in a leather bag. That bag was gifted by the Bakkar family. It had pictures of some ancient Egyptian people. e.g. "Lady Anhalla" and also some images of gods.

Sphinx and one of the three Pyramids in Giza

So I always felt connected to Egypt. Thus it really didn't come to me as a surprise when my boss told me that he suggested my name for a 2 day conference on messaging in Cairo. Well of course I am joking; it was a big pleasant surprise for me. There was always a possibility of going to Cairo, as Banglalink is a part of the Egypt based telecom giant Orascom, but I didn't think that opportunity would come so soon.

So the stage was set. Initially my boss, and then his boss were supposed to accompany me. But at the end, only I and two others from the technical department managed to book them for the event. Our flight was on 9th November, 11: 10 PM from Dhaka International Airport. We stop over at Dubai for an 8 hour transit, and finally we'd reach Cairo at around 2 PM local time on 10th November, Saturday. The conference was on 11th and 12th. Our return flight was set at 13th November, 7:15 PM.

I completed the 4th year of my job life on 6th November. This made November 2007 a very special month for me. The Egypt trip made it even better. After a long, long time I was actually prepared; mentally and physically for this trip. I struggled to sleep the day before. At office, I was absent minded. I had the pressure of handing over my responsibilities to my juniors, and I also had to get done with a number of pending works--to add icing to the cake, I had a makeup class at NSU.

Let me remind me of the things I did on that last day at office. I collected my visa and passport, converted taka to US Dollars, opened access to my UCB international credit card, attended three meetings, wrote 10-20 emails, and some other stuff which are too non-memorable for the time being.

After the hard days work at office, I dragged my tired body to SPZ 403, a very small classroom in NSU. The subject is very interesting, but the teacher isn't. I did the same consumer behavior (now it's called buyer behavior in MBA) course with JK in BBA, and now I have to do it with such a pathetic faculty. It's really sad, actually.

I came back home, but I didn't pack anything at all. I sat in front of the PC and did the usual--facebooking and stuff. Went to bed real late, and still struggled to get a proper sleep.

I was really tensed. So many things could go wrong; so many things could prevent me from going to Cairo. A small, useless list (yeah, I thought about these things):

1. I may not be able to pack in time
2. My passport might get lost
3. My dollars might get rain soaked (thought they were securely stored)
4. The airport authority may refuse to admit me
5. My VISA may not be authentic
6. My car might run out of gas whilst I am going to the airport
7. I may lose my baggage
8. My car might break down
9. I might miss the flight
10. I might have been dreaming all this time (lol)

I am not really a paranoid type of person, but this time I was really tensed. I woke up in the morning and found out that it was a bright sunny day.... (To be continued)

My Sachalayatan Links

I've been blogging as a guest writer in Sachalayatan. Here are the links to what I've written till date:

Humayunnama
Load Shedding Ebong BTV
Besto Din, Besto Shohor


The site uses a referral system for taking new members. And hence one has to keep on writing and commenting till he's accepted as a new member. Painful system, but I must say it's a good thing to ensure quality writings and writers.

If you can't see Bangla properly, check out this link:

http://sachalayatan.com/faq

Ciao for now. Not much to write or update. Turned one year older, and it's been more than 3 years since I wrote my first blog entry.

Aar koto?

Pizza Huts Ramadan Offer: My Experience

Yesterday we had a get together kind of thing @ pizza hut, Dhaka. Ever since the world famous chain opened its branch in Bangladesh, I've been a loyal customer. I can't really remember how many times I've been there with my friends and colleagues, over the last 3 years or so. This is my third straight year of availing the ever popular "Ramadan Offer" of Pizza Hut. The offer is basically "eat as much as you can" in exchange of Tk 400 (approx). The offer includes 4 variants of pizza (though only 2 were served) and pepsi.

I was really looking forward to meeting up with old buddies and having a pleasant iftar. However, the quality of the pizzas this year where really bad. I won't say it was terrible, but it's way inferior in comparison to their usual offerings, and also the pizzas that were served last year during Ramadan. It seemed to me as if they hired a consultant to figure out ways of forcing people to not eat enough and reach the break even point (6 pieces, as calculated by a prudent friend). Things they did:

1. Pizzas are moist and the bread isn't tasty enough.
2. The topping primarily consists of onion and chili; with very small amount of beef and chicken.
3. Ketchup was being manually served
4. Pepsi was served in longer gaps.
5. The same variant of pizzas were arriving repeatedly.
6. Few waiters were serving.
7. No garlic bread.
8. Crappy, cramped sitting arrangement (serving over capacity)
9. Overall treatment of customers (it had a flood relief kind of feeling)

We all know that drinks and ketchup are must have companions for devouring pizza; which is mostly a dry food. So they cleverly dried up our throats so that we could not eat much. The pizzas lacked proper topping, and hence it tasted like a piece of bread with a little bit of beef.

I agree, food prices have gone up and profit margins are thin. But for me (as well as many others), quality comes first when I am going to somewhere like pizza hut. The way they were treating the customers were not decent. I heard a waiter telling someone to finish his glass of pepsi before asking for a refill. Also, they were not serving additional slices unless the plate was empty.

Even if it's a value meal offer, pizza hut should not treat the customers like flood relief seekers, nor should they compromise the quality of pizza. If they cannot provide a quality offer at the said price, they should discontinue it.

This is coming from a big (maybe ex now) pizza hut fan:

If you are planning to buy your family or friends a pleasant iftar meal, avoid Pizza Hut. There are other better alternatives scattered all around Gulshan, and the cost is not higher. The value for money isn't there, and the time you'll spend there won't be memorable at all.

Who's Few (Curfew)?

I was a bit confused about the actual spelling of the word curfew. Now I know it's curfew, not carfew. Actually I haven't really felt the need to use this word in my whole life, because there has not been too many curfews in the places I lived and visited. Enough said, despite of all the "beating up of students" and "sufferings of the poor masses", the only feeling I have about the current state of the nation is "annoyance". I am not a very selfish person, and I have all the sympathy for the people who are being mistreated, but this is also true that the crime of igniting private property and raising unrest in a very peaceful, political activity free environment was not desirable at all.

Yeah, I know this government is not letting other politicians to do politics and the freedom of speech and blah blah blah is being hampered; some would even go to such heights as to say that Bangladesh is being ruled by the military. As of know, it's nothing more than a conspiracy theory. The government definitely has the support of the army, and the army probably is also influencing their decisions to some extent.

But the bottom line is "Are we worse off than how we used to be during the regime of Khaleda, Hasina, Ershad?"

I am up for freedom of speech and civil rights. But what point is there in rights if people are not educated enough to exercise their rights in a proper way? Do you call demolishing 3rd party insured cars a right? God knows how I'd feel if someone broke our family car which we bought few months ago with a major portion of my life time savings!

By the way, 3rd party insurance means if someone is injured by my car, that someone will get something from the insurance company. But if something happens to my car, I get nothing. So this is just an eyewash kind of insurance policy that helps the car owners to abide by with the government regulations.

It was just a day ago; that fateful day, when I was sitting in front of my laptop at office and looking forward to a meeting in less than 15 minutes, which was supposed to solve some issues and rekindle old proceedings. In order to hasten the clock, I went one floor down to chit chat with my colleagues in the technical department. Suddenly a call comes from another colleague. I came to know that the director has asked everyone to evacuate office as a curfew was to be imposed shortly. Went out, took a rickshaw and came home. Cost me 45 taka for a rickshaw ride, which was not that much. The usual fare is TK 30.

Anyway, tomorrow's a Friday, and now it's 22:07. It's a weekend and I am still not sure whether I will be able to go out of home or not. This totally sucks. Throughout the week I look forward to the weekends for channeling out the evil corporate aura. Looks like this week the aura will stick with me.

Bangladesh is such a beautiful country, the people are/were so brave, we have so much energy and enthusiasm and intelligence--why does it have to be like this?

Why do we love axing our own feet so much? Sigh, this is perhaps a question that I'll have to ponder over for a long, long time.

Money Talk

Once you start earning, you get a fixed amount of money at the end of each month. When I was in GP, I used to get my salary on the 26th of each month, but it's the 28th for banglalink. It took me a while to get used to the lost(!) 2 days initially, and I still feel nostalgic and bluesy on the 26th day of each month.

Every year, we have to go through the painful ritual of paying income tax. Someone who never paid a tax will possibly think that it's a rightful duty of a concerned citizen to pay his taxes on time, and with accuracy. However, only the affected one knows how it feels to see a 5k or 6k deduction from his payslip due to income tax! In order to alleviate the pain of paying the hefty tax amounts, our Government (just like many other governments) have a policy whereby if one does a certain amount of investment in government savings schemes, he or she can file an income tax refund claim.

Sounds easy, right? Invest, and claim refunds. Actually it's not simple at all. The last date within a fiscal year (June to June) for doing this investment is 30th June. This year, fortunately(!) 29th and 30th June decided to be Friday and Saturday; consecutively. Me being one of the most active person's alive, realized on the 26th day that something needs to be done about this investment amount. So I went to the HR department and inquired about the tax amount. They informed me that I have to invest xx amount of Taka. So thunder struck me--I didn't have that much cash in my account, and pay day was still 2 days away. On 27th I thought it was already too late to encash a FDR, to submit the cheque to Standard Chartered Bank, to withdraw the amount as cash or pay order and to buy the shonchoypotro. So I kind of gave up on the whole idea of doing the investment and claiming refund.

However, someone told me that I can save around 20K if I can do the investment. I weighted the possibilities--"taking a hell lot of hassle and attempting the investment" and "doing nothing".
In my whole life, I always hated; or to be more precise, feared doing nothing. I hate to give up. A very old friend of mine gave me a testimonial on Orkut that I never give up. So in order to honor his statement, I decided to give it a try. Ray of hope for me was that I heard a rumor that banks might remain open on Friday and Saturday as per a "yet to be released" government circular.

I was going to take a leave; an annual leave starting from Thursday and continuing till Monday. So I chose Thursday to be my investment day. However, there was one problem. I had a mid term exam on the same day, at 6 PM, and I could not study a bit due to the chaos caused by the arrival of my khala, khalu and cousins from the united states of America. I can go in to that story, but that'd deviate us from money talk.

Even in the morning, I was partly undecided about going through the apparently torturous ritual of investment. I talked to a friend of mine who was working in IDLC. He assured me that my FDR could be encashed via a cheque in favor of SCB, and with his assurance, I started towards IDLC at around 11. Though I was told to go earlier, I failed to do so because the car was not available and I, too, spent a lot of time sorting options.

However, luck decided to go against me. I found out that the car was almost out of gasoline, and hence I had to go to a CNG filling station near the komolapur stadium! Why did I go there? My driver told me that it's the closest filling station en route to Motijheel. So me and you and the dog named boo..err. I mean me, the car and the driver went there. It was really hot that day, and I was sweating all over. I brought the presentation slides and the book with me, but the unbearable heat and constant flow of sweat prevented me from studying. I couldn't turn on the air conditioner in fear of being stranded in the queue without being able to move ahead. After a while I developed a bad headache.

At around 12 PM, I managed to get my car's gas tank filled. I reached motijheel within 45 minutes, but it took me another 15 minutes to find out Hadi Mansion, the place where IDLC is situated.

When I managed to get a SCB check, it was too late to submit it in the bank. It was 3:05 PM, and the bank is supposed to be closed by 3 PM. The guard wouldn't let me enter through the front gate. However, I managed to sneak through the rear entrance.

By then, I was totally exhausted and hungry like hell. I saw there was a huge queue in the line where I could stand and deposit my cheque. I asked an official whether bank will be open the next day, and he gave me a positive answer. I left the bank, boarded the car and came back home.

I had my lunch, and felt totally exhausted. I turned on the PC and started playing my favorite Acoustic Alchemy tunes. I felt drowsy, and I took a mini nap. I thought about studying a bit, but I rejected the idea. Our teacher had an idea of taking the exam, and then taking a 2 hour class. I entered the room 10 minutes late. I was busy drinking tea till 5:15, and hence I got a bit delayed. I realized that the exam hasn't started yet.

I got the question paper, and hesitated a bit regarding 2 questions. But in general, the exam was quite easy, and I managed to answer all of'em before the time ended. I didn't attend the class. I headed towards Dhanmondi instead; where all of us cousins were supposed to meet up in Chicken King and have dinner. I had a good time with all the picchis. There were 11 of us, only 3 mami's and 8 cousins (!), age ranging from 2 years to 27 years...lolz. No, I am not the oldest one, there's another cousin who's a bit older than me.

I had to drop back few of the attendees to our nanir bari at Mohammadpur, and then I brought the three American cousins, another cousin and my sister to home. When I finally reached home at around 11:30 PM, the extremely long day almost came to an end. But no, God had different plans. I came to know that I had to sleep elsewhere; not in my room. So when I finally found a place to lie down, it was 12:38 AM.

I slept, and I slept, and I slept....a very sound sleep in a long, long time.

Meanwhile, anticipating the need, I ordered to reprint 10 copies of my photograph on Wednesday. I was supposed to collect them after 8 PM, but realizing that I won't be able to collect them, I wanted to leave the receipt with mom, so she could collect the photos. I knew I ran out of photographs, and I also knew that I'd need them for this investment ritual. Alas! I forgot to leave the receipt with mom, and little did I know what disaster that was going to cause!

On Friday, I went to SCB and deposited the cheque to be encashed against my account. I also collected a form for the shonchoypotro from SCB. They were directly selling it, and SCB informed me that it was the last chance for me to invest, as they won't be collecting shonchoypotro forms from the next day onwards. I came back home, and found only one good photograph of mine. I searched, searched and searched, and eventually found another photo. But this one had a NSU seal on it, and the SCB guys mildly grudged about it.

However, luck was on my side this time, and it worked fine. They accepted the form, and I was done with the investment bit by 1 PM.

Life is beautiful as long as you refuse to give up!

Little Pleasures of Life

I was watching a movie today--"Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift". I've been trying to watch this movie for quite some time. I borrowed the DVD from a colleague, a long, long time ago. At the beginning, I was pissed off at the poor print, and lack of correct subtitles. Then I kinda stopped watching movies as a whole, and the DVD was gathering dust whilst remaining stationed in my rack.

Today, after getting heart broken by the incident of graphics card destroyal, I decided to quit playing games with my computer! She gave me a lot of pain and financial losses, and now I've started to believe that my game freakiness has definitely got a role to play in that. Anyways, after watching the movie for around 15-20 minutes, mom called me for taking the afternoon snacks. I went there, took the food, ate it fast and returned to watch the remainder. I was prepared to spend a boring, or in other words, quiet afternoon plus evening at home being a couch potato.

But I noticed that a buddy tried calling me, and the cell is displaying 1 missed call. So I called him, and found out that a hangout sessions has been arranged for, and all the participants are on the verge of reaching the destination.

So I sped off, ignoring the homies. I reached the adda place within a very short time frame. When I got back, it was 9:30 PM. I started watching the movie again, only to be interrupted again within 45 minutes for dinner. After dinner, I couldn't watch more as the electricity went off at 11 PM. The electricity was off for 1 hour. During this time, I read the book that I borrowed from Sujit today.

It's called "Himur Aaj Biye". I wasn't really expecting an extraordinary story, or an intriguing tale--all I wanted was a decent Himu story. To many of us (belonging to an ageing generation), the characters Himu and Misir Ali are very dear. No matter how crappy Humayun Ahmed has become, no matter how many times he employs Shaon in his natoks and cinemas, we still can't put away a new Himu or a Misir Ali book when they come near to our visible area.

Unsurprisingly, it's the same plot involving Himu playing cat and mouse games with the police, confusing his Khala and Khalu, shamelessly flirting with a girl only to create a situation where she can marry the person she loves (or get married to someone who really loves her).

However, I liked one part of the book. There's this character called "Khur Aslam" who's a deft criminal who's good with the shaving tool called khur. Apparently he stabs people and robs them. Anyways, he was saying that getting beaten is actually a good thing, because you know that good times are coming ahead. Once the beating is over, you feel pleasant and happiness surrounds you.

This is actually true. Life would not be so good if it was all rosy and stuff. When I was sweating from the lack of electricity and the presence of a pathetic generator powered slow revolving fan, the only hope that kept me reading on was that after an hour, I will go to my room with a glass of Virgin cola with 3 ice cubes, I will turn on the AC and set it to the lowest temperature, and I will finish watching the movie.

As the book was an easy reading, it kept me engaged for the whole 1 hour. Surprisingly, I finished reading the book at 11:58 PM, and the electricity came back at 12.

Nice way to end a vacation in the middle of the week. I'm happy.

Pohela Boishakh

For the first time in my life, I celebrated Pohela Boishakh with a blast. I went out early in the morning; approximately around 5:15 AM. I met up with my pals, and had lots of fun throughout the day. When I started writing this entry, I thought I would describe the days events. But right now I don't really feel like talking about that day.

Yesterday I watched Bangladesh getting crushed by Ireland in the world cup encounter. It was really sad watching the team get beaten--and to add insult to injury, I actually lost a bet regarding the match. I was stupid enough to bet on Bangladesh team, even after watching the first half's play.

I feel so, so down and miserable that I will cease writing now.

2007 Is Here!

Last year, I was at a friend's on 31st. This year, I was at home, and at exactly 12 AM, I was having dinner with my family. The next day was Eid Ul Azha day, so all of use were at our respective homes, preparing for Eid, and guess what, for our big huge trip to Bandorbon! I will write about the tour separately. But for the time being, let me get back to last year's resolution list once again. I'll remove the old status messages, and replace with new ones. Next thing will be to create a new list for this year. Some of the things in last year's list will be carried over, I guess.

# I’ll learn swimming

I started, but never finished. It's really sad, because I was really enthusiastic about learning to swim. Now it's so bitterly cold that even imagining about getting inside the water makes me scared. I can swim short distances, but I haven't yet learned the trick of breathing under water.

# I’ll go visit Rangamati

Didn't happen. However, I went to Bandorbon instead.

# I’ll propose someone (?!?!)

:-)

# I’ll drink Cognac (!)

I did. The experience was really nice. It's totally different from any other drink I've had so far.


# I’ll start my MBA

I started, and one semester is over. I really had a tough time balancing work, MBA and other stuff.

# I’ll try going abroad

I went to India on a business trip. No imminent plans for permanent departure, though.

# I’ll try to be nicer to my friends

Am I really trying? I don't think so. Actually I've been acting very mean and weird towards my friends lately. If this goes on, I'll be losing a lot of friends in near future. Sad, really sad.

# I’ll be a better child for my parents

I've become an indifferent child. I don't usually face my parents much. I'm either at office, or hanging out with friends, or I'm hiding in my room spending time chatting, listening to music or playing games.

# I’ll become a millionaire (this I believe, will not be possible at all)

lol..what a joke! It's still a joke.

# I’ll buy a car (if I try doing this, number 9 will not happen)

Not this year; not now. Too little too early.

# I’ll get out of my game addiction

Succeeded to a great extent. I can spend days without playing games, and not feeling distressed.

# I’ll be more honest and truthful

Others might be able to tell.

# I’ll write 2/3 more stories

I kinda gave up writing :(

# I’ll read all the books from Harry Potter series

This is done. The first resolution to be completed.

# I’ll try to have a 3.8+ CGPA in my MBA

I dunno, haven't yet checked the grades. Will be damn challenging.

# I'll lose some weight and I'll do regular exercise

Didn't happen. Will it ever happen? I lost many things due to this, and I hear the most comments about me being bulky.

I did lose some weight, but no regular exercising

# No more procrastination!

This thing never gets away totally. I can only minimize it to some extent.

I am quite happy with this year. I am very surprised to see that I didn't have any work related resolutions (apart from the procrastination one) in the list. Interestingly, many good things happened to me through work this year. I launched three major projects; which are not only major for me, but also very important for the company I am working in. My boss once showed me an email from the CEO which listed the top 5 priority projects for the company, and the first 4 projects were mine! I let go of one project, but the other 3 was launched successfully.

I shouldn't be bragging, but I think I am a very important member of the Marketing team now. I also received the "Marketer of the Month Award" in December for my achievements. This award is given out to someone from the team every month. All the members of the marketing team casts their votes, and the winner is decided on the basis of total votes.

Many of my IBA friends got married this year. In fact, most of them are married now. These are the people who are at par with me in terms of career advancement. Some of them are ahead, some are behind, some are at par. So I should compare my life with them more, instead of doing so with my school and college friends, whom passed a lot later than me, and a few of them just started working.

So I guess I should start thinking about getting married, too. I know I can delay this for a couple of more years, but do I really need to? From the looks of things, I might very well need to resort to the classic arranged marriage thingy.

Let's see what happens. I'll soon post my 2007 resolution list, and I'll start writing the tour blog as soon as I can get hold of the pictures.

Till next time, adios!