Random hits on the keyboard

As I was running along the long sea beach this morning, I remembered my Geography teacher from school. We were generally good at Geography. We understood the Earth’s rotation and revolution, the Tropic of Cancer, the seasons, all the respectable parts of the subject. But one chapter haunted the entire class: tides. Our teacher tried his best. He spoke about ships waiting patiently on the shore for high tide, about the water level rising and falling twice a day, and the special high tides twice a month because of the Moon. It was fiction to us. The classroom collectively surrendered. Back then, there were no YouTube tutorials nor ChatGPT to explain it better, so the chapter quietly passed without much discussion. We memorised it word for word, line by line, and never questioned it again. Today I stand in Cox's Bazar , and tides are no longer a textbook chapter. I saw that the water level was higher this morning. The running route that I took a few days ago was under waves today. I w...

Before I touched down in Dhaka, my Google searches sketched an impression of the city for me. Some random YouTubers nicely explained the city as 'chaotic' but lively. The images that popped up in Google searches were a blur of rickshaws, endless sea crowds, and traffic jams across the city. A continuous hunk of vehicles adds an extra layer to the existing chaos.  And then I landed. The first surprise came at the airport. The exit procedures felt strangely comforting. I am used to with the confusing airport procedure, but everyone is happy to explain it to you. That's very similar to Kathmandu airport - manual systems, handwritten checks, officers talking to you instead of at you. It reminded me so much of Kathmandu Airport. Something is reassuring about organised imperfection. The hospitality was immediate. I felt that I knew the context, and I have a familiarity with the environment. Outside, my taxi took me to Gulshan 2. We took a toll road. A toll road! For someone from...