Predictably Unpredictable

Dhaka is becoming the most unpredictable city in the world. Say you are coming to Karwan Bazar from Uttara. This could be a two to three hour long journey or as short as half an hour. Meanwhile going to the other side of the street in a motorised vehicle could take well over an hour. With shortened work days during Ramadan, frenzied Eid shoppers all over the malls and people rushing to iftar at home, just when would be a good time to start, is anybody's guess.
The weird thing is that it doesn't matter where you start from and where you end. No matter where you are and where you intend to go, if you start at 5pm it will take you more than an hour, but if you go around 6:30pm it will take 15 minutes to go anywhere. If you are in Panthapath, however, it will always take you well over an hour.
The pockets of speedy travel, therefore, are quite random. VIPs, of course, make things even more interesting. If you are unlucky enough to reach a road where traffic is at a standstill because the police have stopped you so that some VIP can zoom off on the other side of the road divider, this could be a long haul. If it's the PM you won't be allowed to take even the footbridge. But if you happen to be at a point which is neither here nor there and the road needs to be cleared right away, chances are that you will be commanded to leave the spot immediately and you will reach your destination in five minutes.
Along with the traffic, customer service too, has become quite unexpected. You may be rushing to office and have somehow managed to reach the ATM for some emergency money. But for some inexplicable reason your ATM card, the only device that will give you cash (as you no longer use cheque books), has been eaten up by the machine. This is not because you pressed the wrong keys or typed in the wrong password – but because the machine has 'hung'. When you request the officer in the bank to retrieve the card for you he will tell you that there is nothing he can do 'outside the system' and so you will have to go to the main branch the next day after banking hours, that is after 3pm for Ramadan. It is useless to argue with him about such shoddy customer service or tell him that you need the money right now and might die in the next hour without it. The officer will be totally unmoved and keep repeating the 'can't do anything outside the system' like a scratched CD.
The next day when you actually go to the main branch the security guard who seems to be doing half the bank staff's work at no one's behest, will gleefully ask you to come the next day and please during office hours – didn't you know that we are closed by 3pm? He will add that it's no use anyway, as the batch of captured cards hasn't even come from the booth in question. The mixed feeling of disappointment, frustration and sheer rage at this point is hard to describe in words. 'Implosion' or 'internal combustion' would come close.
Here one is at a critical juncture. Should you gulp the bile and go away or should you demand to see a higher authority. Choose the latter as honestly you have nothing to lose. Surprises, surprise, when you show some hauteur, things suddenly start working. An officer will ask you to wait a few minutes, sign something and voila, he will give you the card and may even offer a little smile. Such unanticipated niceness may actually bring tears to the eyes, but control yourself, please.