rana
October 10, 2009 at 05:32 PM

My fellow mates often tell me that I get good grades, in fact very good... Flattering ... huh? Even I sometimes felt this to be a bit flattering as well ;-). But trust me, I never even thought of visiting one of the true natural beauties of Bangladesh just to get an 'A' in one of my MBA courses... Anyway, I did it maybe because I couldn't say ‘NO’ to Pranjal (one of my friends who accompanied me in the journey) or maybe I was eager to get out of the hectic life of Dhaka city for a while!
Prior visiting therein the only thing I had in mind is the typical American accent of Dr. Mahbubur Rahman, our course instructor of Strategic Management. To be more specific, I was in some intense thought about BANGLADESH STEEL INDUSTRY: THE TOP PLAYERS AND THEIR BUSINESS STRATEGIES. Just imagine! I am evaluating their strategies;-).
We were to visit BSRM (Bangladesh Steel Re-Rolling Mills Ltd.), located in the outer part of Chittagong, to see how well they do the overall manufacturing and definitely to find any glitches in their strategies (if we could find any :-)). It took around an hour to reach BSRM from the guest house we checked in early in the morning. One of my problems is I can't express my thoughts or can't even speak sometimes, when I am in front of some extreme beauty. I started having this feeling when the dawn broke out at around 6 A.M. in the bus. The comfort in the bus would have been warmer if the headphones and the massaging kits were working in the two exclusive front seats of Shohagh Paribahan, for which they charged more money :-(. I wish I could teach some strategies to them :-)
Anyway, we found one of our friends Ershad working in BSRM who took us inside the factory. Man it is a giant... simply a giant factory. For a moment, it seemed the football world cup can easily take place inside the free space of BSRM factory! :-) I wish FIFA had known about this ;-). See... I am a good strategist.... ;-) :-P
Then we started with the yellow CAB that we had hired towards Patenga Beach, but ended up in Foy's Lake!!! ;-(. I had absolutely no wish to visit there because my previous bitter experience. 'Man this is no good place to spend time and money', was what popped into my mind. But thanks to my friend Pranjal and his wife Shoma, I had to change my mind just after stepping in there. Foy's Lake has gone through a total change both in terms of service and aesthetics. Most importantly, foreign tourists now have one more place that is a must visit ;-). There were four of us who got into a tiny little boat. We spend around 150 to 200 taka (sorry I don't remember the exact figure!) and had a trip for about 15 minutes through out the true fragrance of nature. Unlike the essays that we used to read in early school days, this is a ‘Journey by Boat’ (engine boat though…) that you would definitely admire. At least it could fade my severe headache away in an instant, which 3 aspirins could not even do in the last 5 hours. Having a bad chronic headache lately? Just visit Foy's Lake and have a short boat trip. It'll just go away... ;-P
With more refreshed vigor (especially me without the headache), we then drove for around an hour I guess, to reach Patenga Beach. Once again a stunning refreshing look of nature has made me thoughtful in front of the endless sea! It's greatness just washed BSRM (maybe strategic management as well....) out of my mind.
Anyway, we waited there till sunset and then got back to the home of Liton Uncle (where all four of us stayed for the night to give them immense pain ;-)). We are lucky that we had Liton uncle over there and we didn't have to think about any accommodation facilities :-). This is another place that I would like to visit again and again. It’s a well protected colony, full of green and fresh air which instantly makes you a younger fellow. One can easily spend the whole night in the middle of the roads simply by looking at the sky with often glittering stars and slightly shining moon.
After spending a sleepless night we got into the very same Bus (but this time not in the exclusive seats anymore…) in the very next morning to start for Dhaka. Around two hours later, I went into a deep sleep trying to ignore the headache which came back to me just after we got into the bus.
Lastly, when we were saying good bye to each other in the bus stand at Malibagh, it suddenly popped in my mind that, I will definitely regret if I can’t get an A in the course, but I’d regret more if I missed such a nice tour. Thanks to Dr. Mahbub who indirectly persuaded us to visit a steel manufacturing company and Pranjal to finish the line. Now I am done with the course, in fact the whole MBA Program! (BTW, I got an A in that course:-D) But still I remember those nicely woven memories. Within very short period, I’m planning to visit Cox’s Bazaar with a night long stoppage in the home of Liton Uncle. ;-)