Greetings from planet Bangladesh

Here's a slice of my world: I came back and was looking forward to the monsoon rains, but was also feeling guilty about enjoying the rains due to the bad flood situash, and thought I would plunge into relief work once my paperwork and other chores subsided. I had to submit an application to 'resume duties' immediately as my leave had already run out. However my chairperson, being the paragon of bureaucracy, decided that the application had to be approved by an academic committee and until that I was not to take any classes. So I was to wait until an academic committee was formed (which depended on when various faculty members responded to the proposal of forming one for the aforesaid agenda). You have to love these government-run institutions and their convoluted web of red tape. In the meantime some senior teachers (who have long-standing issues of animosity with the chairperson) got whiff of all the unnecessary paperwork and decided to make my issue the crux of their political battles. And the battle raged for one and a half weeks while I sat in the sidelines and watched people yell at each other where my name was mentioned in every second syllable. However, by Saturday, things had been sorted out and I started planning the rest of this semester, in hopes of finishing my syllabus. Sunday I started classes and Tuesday they were to start full swing. Tuesday morning, I wake up to find in big bold letters in the morning paper: 'Dhaka University classes called off due to indefinite strike'. Apparently on Monday there was some petty skirmish between students and army personnel at a football match where the students were beaten up. This then led to riots and processions on campus whereby students and teachers clashed with the army and police. The Pro-VC and the proctor along with a huge number of students were injured and this led to further rioting all through Monday night. On Tuesday the riots escalated and spread throughout the country as students from other universities joined in the protest and all educational institutions had to be closed down. On Wednesday all the masses joined in and it became a free-for-all protest against the army all over the country to the extent that a country-wide indefinite curfew has been called. So I'm stuck at home on a forced paid leave, which is kind of nice because I need the break, but kind of claustrophobic as well. But what's really bothering me is the impediment to the flood relief work, as it is we're not being able to reach every one. For the sake of the flood-affected, I just hope all of this gets sorted out quickly although I don't see how. Tomorrow is going to be an interesting day for the country... (Yes, yes I do come from a different world.)