LANKA BANGLA HASH
LANKA BANGLA HASH
SPIRIT OF HASHING
Jaffna, Batticaloa, Kilinochchi, along with Oslo, have, painfully, become everyday words in the world media with the terrible fratricidal war going on in Sri Lanka. In this milieu, the Colombo Hash House Harriers has survived for twenty-six years. Similarly, Bangladesh has had its share of world media attention due to floods, cyclones, strikes, political unrest, street battles, bombs, corruption, seduction, rape, plunder, cricket and other disasters. But in spite of these, the Dhaka hashers have kept on running regularly and spilling scarce amber liquid in the countryside for the last twenty-nine years. To honour this indomitable spirit of hashing, and to commemorate the 1000th Run of “Spiderman” of Colombo and “Rail Jerker” of Dhaka, the joint Lanka Bangla Hash was organized, as a post-lube of Interhash.
The Colombo event was an outstation weekend at the Kukuleganga Holiday Resort, two hours drive from Colombo, on 11 and 12 November 2006, in the midst of tea and rubber plantations with a water falls nearby. The run in Dhaka was on Saturday, 25 November at Little Italy, an authentic pizza restaurant in the countryside on the outskirts of the city.
HASHTORY
Colombo H3 is a men’s chapter running on Mondays; the Harriettes run on Wednesdays. On an occasion such as this one they combine. Rob “RTC” Cantley is the GM of CH3 and Dinar “Half Pint” Boddin of the Harriettes. RTC has been contesting in beer-drinking at the World Interhashes: in Goa and Cardiff he came second, and in Chiang Mai he came first jointly with another hasher. Surprisingly, he does not have a beer belly. Colombo H3 was founded in 1980 by Franklin “Darjeeling” Pate. He was named “Darjeeling” to give an aura of the British Raj. In 1999, he was one of twenty-six of us on the 8-day Great Dravidian Rail Jerk organized from Hyderabad by Digit and TNT. Since then he and my ‘son’ John “Poison Pen” Anderson (of Rome hash fame) seem to have vanished from the hash scene.
At Manmad junction, White Trash with his knowledge of Hindi took great pains to procure beer and ice (free) earning him the dubious title of Pride of Scotland from Digit. In this convivial mood, Darjeeling and I discovered that we shared an uncanny coincidence involving our parents. It turned out that half a century ago; my father had died of heart attack, figuratively speaking, on the arms of his Sri Lankan mother. He was a VIP patient, and she the Matron at Jinnah Hospital in Karachi. The senior Pate was a Brit, Hon’ble Justice Pate.
THE SPONSOR
Ronobi, a renowned cartoonist of Bangladesh, did the design on the t-shirt, which was sponsored by BRAC and one of its affiliate, Brac Bank. BRAC is the largest NGO in the world engaged in micro-credit and rural development. Since the tsunami, it is working in Sri Lanka also. Brac has joined hands with Bill Gates; or rather Bill has dipped his hand in his pocket, to set up a school in Dhaka for graduate education in public health. Recently, at a conference in New York, Bill Clinton took his hands out of his pockets; and helped Brac with $250m to expand its activities to some African countries to help the poor to help themselves! A press clipping was included in the t-shirt packet showing Clinton handing over the cheque, with the remark, “Now I can visit Brac schools anywhere in the world”.
CLINTON AND HASH
Incidentally, did you know that Bill Clinton once ran with the Little Rock HHH in Arkansas? The story was narrated by a harriette, Yo Adrian, and recorded by Stu “The Colonel” Lloyd in his book Hare of the Dog thus:
On August 2 1992, just before his election to the White House in November, Bill Clinton was jogging down Cantrell Rd with two secret service agents. Hillary and Chelsea were following on mountain bikes, en route to a family BBQ at Hillary’s parents’ house. “The Little Rock Hash emerged from a wooded area … in all their glory to find Mr. Clinton on the same r*nning trail,” says Yo Adrian. “He joined the r*n for about six blocks, and was accompanied by many secret service vehicles. After speaking to old high school friend, Lunchbox, he assured his secret service agents that the Hash ‘posed no real threat’ to himself or his family.” They reminisced about her auntie’s apple pies and how he should call her and get her to make some. The Hash invited him to the ‘On On’ in the parking lot of the Cajun’s Wharf (a local restaurant) on the river. Mr. Clinton said he’d love to, rather than go to dinner with his out-laws, but declined due to family commitment. “However, the secret service agents were not above a good time and joined the Hash for the On On after trying to follow the trail in four-wheel-drive vehicles,” says Yo Adrian. A t-shirt was made to commemorate the r*n: “Clinton did Hash, but didn’t inhale!”
“NEVER AGAIN”
Yo Adrian is settled in Perth, Western Australia. I had the privilege of enjoying her pleasant company and working with her and her husband Lofty, for a few weeks in Goa, mismanaging Interhash2002. Their experience, particularly on trails and logistics; and, of course, first-aid, Yo being a senior nurse, will, no doubt, contribute to the success of Interhash2008 Perth.
Just a few days before the event, Lofty insisted on providing the hares with ‘flare bombs’ to signal rescue helicopters from the thick of the forest in case of a serious injury to a hasher. The Coast Guards agreed to provide a helicopter in case of an emergency, but not the ‘bombs’. As in-charge of Medical and Safety, it fell on my shoulders. The time was a year after 9/11; and I, a circumcised Muslim, a foreigner in India. Locating an obscure marine supplier who turned out to have a Muslim name, likely circumcised, too, and traveling alone at night with a sack-full of explosives in the boot of a taxi, from the northernmost tip of Goa to the southernmost, was probably a bit unwise on my part. It was a worthy venture; but, “No, Lofty, never again.”
A small hash world! Twenty-one years, a thousand runs - a thousand memories!
Juned “Rail Jerker” Choudhury
http://railjerkersdiary.blogspot.com
Labels: LANKA BANGLA HASH
posted by Calcutta Hash Walks @ 11:43 PM
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