Zero Point, Shari River, Sylhet. (the hills are India)
Shari River, Sylhet. March 2014
[from FB post: March 30, 2014]
This is one of two places that really impacted on me in Bangladesh. All of these guys could have been models in the Western sense. They all had six packs and were super muscular. They work hard all day for very little money and eat a very lean diet. So what do you think they thought when they saw me, some fat white guy in a boat? " Oh look at him, he doesn't go to the gym...he doesn't have a six pack"? Maybe they say to each other, "hey how many times did you lift sand out of the water today... your abs are looking great!" It really made me think just how ridiculous some things are in this world. Nothing wrong with staying in shape, but everything wrong with worshipping a body type. These guys get it for free... would you trade places?
Body mass - is that the word for it? Who decides the "perfect form"? It has changed over time, most certainly. The days of laughing at Bollywood actors for being a little chubby are certainly over - Indian actors now have lovely shapes à la Hollywood. Nevertheless, in some parts of the world, being a little bit fat is still just shoving in the average person's face - "I am rich enough to do this". In the West we continue to look to Greek and Roman statuary for perfection. Botero and Rubens must have been inspired by wealthy Saudis, South Asians, and Filipinos. In the end, just like the randomness of an international border [see Jaflong: Bangladesh-India border], an ideal body type is just as arbitrary. The calorie starved hot body in Bangladesh is just as unhealthy as the obese body in the West, yet they admire each other. How perverse.
I still see guys here in Bangladesh who perform backbreaking labor with incredible physiques. They are not getting enough calories and basically all their body mass is converted to muscle. If they walked into any Western gym, they would probably get a job as a trainer on the spot. They are literally killing themselves with their work and the payoff is a body that in developed countries would be the envy of all. It defies understanding, truly.
In a place as imbalanced as Bangladesh, I wish I could donate calories and fat as well as cash. I can afford to give some away and a lot of people here are eager to give up their gym-fit six-packs. The world can be so ....disobliging.