I missed today's tour of the city. My host joked that it was to be a traffic tour, and from what I heard the guys indeed spent nearly 2/3 of the time fighting traffic. Driving in Dhaka is wild. The streets are narrow and packed with everything from luxury vehicles to green "mini cabs" that look like motorized cages. The rickshaws compete for road space, too, and no one in cars seems the least bit concerned about cutting them off. Going against the flow of traffic is not unusual. Our host Waseque is quite the expert driver. He says if you can drive in Dhaka you can drive anywhere and it's got to be true. I have to admit I've enjoyed our wild rides with him, complete with the tightest turnarounds I've ever seen. The rickshaws seem mostly to carry working men, who are usually on their cell phones during the ride.
When stopped in a line of traffic, beggars rap on the car windows. The women usually carry babies and hold them up to make sure you see. One adorable boy, about 12 with a killer smile, was hawking a stack of new books. His selection included "The Namesake" and "Mein Kampf." I'm not sure how the rest of my team feels about these interactions so far. I asked Kevin's host - a dynamic and generous Rotarian woman - if people actually give them money. She said sometimes, if you have some spare change, but in general there is a movement towards establishing vocational programs for the poor that will truly help solve the problem. And we are often reminded that the children who wander and beg the busy streets are usually on someone's payroll. These are the conversations we have with our hosts. This is part of how we learn about the culture, the realities of this nation.
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