We all know about the good ole "pain in the a**" but have you all ever heard about being a pain in the leg?
If you haven't, then you better stick around...
The day started off "early" at 11AM; yes, that is early, because this little walk and bumpy adventure took place on a Saturday.
The job was to get my mouse fixed, the buttons haven't been working and I had a pair of replacement switches hanging around for quite a while now. Problem was that this mouse is one of toughest to repair, thanks to all the thingamajigs that come in the way when it comes to tearing it down. And that is why I really didn't want to and couldn't, risk messing up my precious little mouse, while trying to fix it on my own.
Thus, a long and "bumpy" journey towards Multiplan Elephant Road was the only option for me.
Handing over my mouse to someone more experienced sitting behind the desks at The Fixer seemed like the best and fastest option. I really couldn't leave my mouse at any other shop for repairs, because I had no extra mice lying around, which I could use while my main mouse got fixed.
That is why The Fixer was and still is the one and only option to get these peripherals fixed in a jiffy, especially if you're someone who lives far away from this area and can't afford, or don't want to take a second trip.
I wanted to get the job done on Friday, but they're closed on Fridays, so Saturday was the only option, because on Friday's and Saturday's I'm mostly "work free" and have to stress a little less.
So, I got up as early as I could, called up The Fixer to see if they're open and available for the task in hand.
They mentioned that they were working on renovations at the moment and couldn't really promise anything from their side, but I urged them to take a look at the mouse, saying it would be a quick and easy fix, for them of course, not for a guy like me. Thankfully, they agreed, and understood my "troublesome" situation. As soon as I got the "light" green signal, I got ready in a jiffy and was on my way.
Luckily, I didn't have to spend much time looking for transport either, I landed a solid deal with a kind CNG driver who was actually headed that way. I then hopped on and were maneuvering through the very pretty and empty streets of Dhaka, and about 40 minutes later I had reached my destination.
After climbing up and maneuvering through a huge flight of steps and pedestrians, I had finally reached the very busy line of people standing in front of the elevator, at Multiplan. This elevator alone is enough to keep me away from this place haha, this thing takes forever, and the crowd just love to pack in together and squeeze the shit out of each other lol.
Yet, I had no other option, because this shop I mentioned was on the 14th floor, and no way in hell was I taking the stairs, best I can do right now is probably eight stories haha.
After a few stops at a few different floors, we had finally reached the top, but I still had to climb two more floors, because the elevator only goes up to the 12th floor. When I reached the floor I also had to scour the whole floor for the shop I was looking for, for some reason I couldn't find it, they had to signboards on, because of all the renovation work. But after a quick little call, I managed to locate the shop quite easily, realizing that I had already walked passed the entry twice lol.
As you may have guessed or imagined, yes, I was sweating like a pig after all that walking, looking and asking around. On top of that, just when I reached the store, the electricity went out, it was the result of some regular load-shedding I guess. I don't know why, but every time I enter this place it seems to get upset, and the electricity just runs away for some reason, it went exactly the same way the last time I was here, funny actually, quite funny.
Fortunately and unfortunately, the men at the repair shop asked for about 3 to 4 hours from me, they had to sort out some things first before repairing my mouse. They suggested me to come over another day to pick up the mouse, but that wasn't an option, because then I would be left "mouse-less". So, I told them about the urgency and the importance this little mouse; they really understood my side of the story and asked for a few extra hours, so I agreed and handed over the mouse and switches, no questions asked, just a receipt was handed over to me that I would have to show when collecting the mouse.
After that it was just a matter of killing some time. I had about 2 to 3 options at that moment, all of them being in the same category; the options being me, crashing at some friend's house who lived nearby, or to wait for 3 to 4 hours at a restaurant(which would hold the risk of me getting kicked out soon after lol)
So? The first options it was.
I then called up an old friend, who was in some deep sleep at that moment, and he only woke up and answered the call on the third try(the third call probably would've been my last call and chance to book some time at his place) he picked up and told me to come over and I was on my way.
Sadly, like I mentioned earlier, the electricity was gone in that building at that time, so the elevator wasn't working, and that is why I had to climb down from the 14th floor to the 1st lol. Wasn't that tough, it's just that the stairs were not really built that well, it had some huge drops and because it was dark, it was tough to keep a solid footing.
Next to, I had about 2 kilometers to cover, so I decided to walk, and after another few flights of steps on a few foot-over bridges, I just couldn't keep up, so I decided to take a rickshaw around halfway.
Yet, there was another obstacle laid out in my path, the street that lead to my friends house was all dug up for some drainage work. So, whether it be a rickshaw or even a cycle, you really couldn't paddle through. The only option was to walk through a VERY bumpy nd "hilly" street, which almost felt like a little inner-city trek, on some miniature man-made rubble and concrete mountains haha.
Trust me, it was challenging little hike, because one step to the left or right, and you'd find yourself in the drain or on someone else's lap lol. I'm not even joking, the path was that narrow, 90% of the streets were all dug up to about 5 to 6 feet deep, that's also the reason for which I couldn't really take any pictures, couldn't risk getting "drained" gedditt?
After walking through quite an obstacle, suddenly some scenes from the show American Ninja Warrior popped up in my head, it felt like I had accomplished something of that calibre. However, instead of winning a prize at the end of the course, I'd soon enough end up with some very sore and sensitive legs, especially the one on the right.
However, it has been a few days now and the pain is almost gone. For now it's lesson learned and few calories burned haha. Next time I'll keep in mind to ask if the streets are well paved or still hilly and dangerous like the obstacles we see on Takeshi's Castle lol.
I used to have these sorta problems before if I walked a whole lot, but nowadays I try to walk as much as I can afford to. I walk at least 3-4 kilometres everyday so, I've unlocked that stage I guess where walking about 6-8 kilometres doesn’t pain me like it used to before.
The problems isn't the distance, never was, it's mostly the unpaved and uneven grounds that create the problems. A 5 kilometer walk a day, on and off, is easy to pull off, especially when treading on a well paved path and when not having to maneuver and drift through a ton of pedestrians. Those days feel like a blessing to me.
This time the issue was a badly dug up street with small hilly areas of mud and concrete, and a little path that was only a foot in width, and was somewhat "walkable". On top of that we had a ton people walking through that street, one little bump and the person with bad footing balance would end up in a 6 foot drop towards the drain pipes haha. So we surely had to tighten up and keep our feet locked on heavily.
After that it was a lot of climbing up and down through multiple stories, thanks to some "well timed" load shedding; if combined, then I probably covered over 20 stories that day, both up and down.
okay now that's much more chaos than I'd willingly sign up for on a normal day 😂
OH HELL YEAHH, Dhaka at its best, or should I say worst... 🤔😂
I'd say that's just Dhaka being, "Dhaka" hahaha. Fortunately I live in a small town so walks are far less chaotic and much more enjoyable around here. 😁🙌
a harmless selfie from one of those random afternoons
You can keep on walking for miles in green and scenic areas like that; I surely have a lot of memories from the countryside, mostly from the usual nanu and dadu bari visits, it's just so peaceful.
In Dhaka you have to fight your way out when you're out on the streets, whether it be on streets, on a bus or even in corporate buildings or shopping malls. I guess that's why I know prefer to stay at home instead, I'd rather get my share of "peace" from some indoor activities. 😂