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Can Dhaka have a club like
Ershad Khandker
5/19/2004
Noxious-Vapors is the name of a character in Asterix, the comic strip. Famous for the whimsical and wacky names of the villains and the villagers of Gaul, the name for olden France .The name comes to mind because the hapless residents of our area are wallowing in noxious vapors these days. Believe it or not, some six months ago, we saw a large part of the road turned into a giant garbage dump in which all the garbage of the entire area would be dumped. The prospect of a large portion of the approach road being turned into a huge pile of garbage is mind numbing in its absolute absurdness. One or two concerned persons tried to raise a signature campaign and submit a petition to the city corporation. One particular resident, M.D. of a survey company met the mayor. It appears that the city corporation has leased out the duty of collecting garbage to private parties. The fellow who has taken the contract of our area is a local toughie with connections to underworld and higher world. A fragmented group of residents were soon cowed down and the garbage dump remains in tact. The residential area has many influential persons. None them thought it best to try and get this dump removed. This is a clear illustration of the morale of the population of Dhaka City. You are benumbed into submission by reign of terror and frustrated and unable to act with courage. Those who do are cut down in their prime. Therefore it is wrong to pass judgment on good people who have so much to loose with hardly any possibility of justice to begin with or restitution if they fall victim to life threatening acts of vandalism. It is easy to be sanctimonious but human life is precious and if anyone is not ready to sacrifice or take risks then we should not condemn.
The name Grindlays of the now defunct bank was a fallacy, because the people who worked there vouch that it was anything but Grind-less! And there is nothing of standard size to be chartered from the Standard Chartered Bank that replaced Grindlays! How ever it is fruitless to go search for places to enjoy the fruits of your labour and that is not a misnomer. You shall not find any place to unwind in Dhaka. Don't talk to me about the restaurants. They only make you overweight. Sure there are clubs like Dhaka club and Uttara club, but then they are for the super rich. The tennis court and the swimming area is overbooked and at the end a club is just a club and the atmosphere is not quite right.
There is no place like the Tollygonj club in Kolkatta, an all purpose residential club built over a 100 years old, and facilities include a stable for horse riding, a full 18 hole golf course, provision for swimming, in house restaurants numbering three, a grocery mart, a clubhouse for light food, and a fully stocked gift and sports shop for apparels and sporting goods. The area is almost as big as a small town and the feel is the same. This place charges only Tk.150 for outsiders to go and play golf. This is like a dream considering that you need about 3000 to play in Kurmitola Golf Club! Anyway, you may indeed have the money to build a new golf course and all purpose user friendly place for professionals, but there is hardly a little space to the building. All this talk is only to build -up to the proposition that patrons from Dhaka visiting Kolkatta should stay in stay at Tollygonj Club for a dream holyday. Hopefully, some one would build such an affordable place in Dhaka or Chittagong and lure tourists from as far away as Japan. Golf is the magic word, build more courses and get golfing dollars, par for the course my friend. Until next week.
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