Following our musical triumph at ‘evening prayers’ last night, we had been invited to morning assembly at 6.30, but I don’t think anyone made it…

The morning was spent in a leisurely potter round the nearby village. Tangail is famous for its weaving, and everywhere we went there was someone working on one process or other associated with weaving. We started with a designer, creating designs for saris on graph paper, digitally encoding by hand, and then producing the punch card to drive the jacquard looms. These manually operated but programmable looms are little changed from when Joseph Jacquard revolutionised the weaving industry 200 years ago. Their ‘intermediate technology’ means the 30 year old looms can be maintained locally.

As well as the spinners and weavers, there were also an amazing variety of other skills in evidence, from preparing the warp through to starching the finished saris. Within this community had developed considerable specialisation of skills, plus mechanisms to ensure everyone received their share of the eventual wholesale price of around 1400 Tk.

It was a lovely morning, with a comfortable climate, and tremendous friendliness from all the people. I’m sure I will remember this day for a long time. The kids were ready to burst into laughter at the slightest provocation – and the sight of a gang of Europeans was pretty strong provocation. One young lad – early teens? – used his English on a native English speaker for the first time to tell us he wanted to work in America…

We left UBINIG after lunch for a long afternoon’s drive. It would be easy to dismiss UBINIG as yet another attempt to recreate a lost romantic idyll in the countryside, which will sooner or later end in tears. I found the arguments of Mazhar and his disciples less than convincing. However, it was more difficult to argue against the hard-headed village farmers who were living the reality of what UBINIG preached, and the weaving community in Tangail seemed to be surviving despite what appeared to us to be a ridiculously tiny income for their skilled work.

In their very different ways, both BRAC and UBINIG are trying to bring Bangladesh to a certain level of economic development and then stop the clock. It remains to be seen whether the people living under their regimes will agree with them, or whether they will still hope that their children will end up as accountants and barristers with big incomes and big houses, ideally in the USA. Based on the little lad still dreaming the American dream despite living in this ‘model community’, UBINIG has a long way to go to win the battle for the hearts and minds of the next generation.

I will make no further comment on the driving in this country. We arrived in Rangpur. The Bangladesh Parjatan Motel was one of a chain set up by the national tourism board to provide accommodation for a wave of tourists. The building was laid out in three blocks in extensive garden grounds. Unfortunately, the wave of tourists never arrived – we appeared to be the only visitors in this large and just slightly decaying motel.

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