Dhaka customs

When I was going through customs in Dhaka, they were giving me a very hard time. They were suspecting me because of my 70-pound weight.

I opened the case and I showed the man what was inside. Then I took the weight out of the case. But they were still suspicious and tried to find something inside the weight.

I said, “I want to speak to the highest authority, whoever is in charge.”

He said, “I am the highest authority.”

I said, “You can’t see that there is nothing inside? You need a little more wisdom.”

We were talking in Bengali. He got mad at me and said, “How do I know you are telling the truth?”

It went on like this for some time. Finally I said, “If you suspect me, then bring someone who can find something inside it, since you can’t find anything yourself.”

So he was harassing me, and I was harassing him.

Finally he allowed me to go through customs.

— 1 March 1986