Cox's Bazar Carnival: Making the impossible happen
Bangladesh Vespa Community is a prominent group of Vespa enthusiasts. People of different ages with a love of scooters and vespas have been brought together by the group. Founded by Didarul Islam Sujan, the group is known for their eventful meetups and rallies.
Till now, the group has been on various inter-city rallies, but this time they decided to take it up a notch - A 800 km road trip from Dhaka to Cox's bazar, and back to Coxs. Three years in the making, it finally turned into a reality when the group started on 21 December after postponing the plan multiple times due to the pandemic.
This rally, with 150 participants, was named Cox's Bazar Carnival. Members of Chittagong Vespa Club, Honda Roadmaster Club of Chattogram, Piaggio Bro's, VW club of Bangladesh joined the rally as well. There were a variety of two wheelers and four wheelers, including some magnificently restored classic Volkswagen Beetles, and not exclusively Vespas only.
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In total, there were 65+ Vespas, 10 VW beetles and some other variety of bikes. The organisers arranged four safety cars to carry the luggage of the riders, so they don't have to carry all that weight on themselves during this long drive. They also had one ambulance on standby for any emergency.
The rally started early in the morning from Curzon Hall, Dhaka University area. From Dhaka, the group came to Chattogram for a day off, to unite with the co-host of the rally - Chattogram Vespa Club - and head towards Cox's Bazar the next morning.
At 7am the next day, 22 December, they started their next phase of the journey towards the longest natural beach of the world. With a tea and fuel break, they reached the main city of Cox's Bazar at 1pm. The place chosen by the organisers to stay during the trip was Campin Cox, a camp-based sports activity resort about six km from the city.
At the resort, the participants got some well deserved rest and later enjoyed a special lunch planned by the organisers. The second day was more eventful, as in the early morning the group went to Inani beach for beach cleaning.
Later that day they gave away 300 winter mattresses and planted one tree on behalf of each participant. They plan on distributing 700 more mattresses in other cities. They ended the day with a raffle draw where they chose 18 winners who won exciting prizes. The next day was the day of departure; they started their journey at 10am and reached Chattogram at 3pm.
Md Didarul Islam Sujan was the mastermind behind this rally. He is a very well known name in the vespa community, as well as the classic car community.
"BVC is a family and to strengthen the bond of the family this trip had to happen. People laughed at my plan saying it's impossible to do with such a large number of participants."
And yet, despite all the setbacks, Sujan and all the disciplined participants completed the rally.
