Penny Wise, Euro Foolish

The mighty British pound falls like a pound of bricks. Hey, it's not called ounce, is it?

But this gives me hope. After a month of consuming nothing but greasy food during iftar, I can now drop a few pounds by going on the Brexit diet.

Brexit – to be penny wise, euro foolish or to be euro wise, pound foolish.

But the 'stay' camp had become complacent. After all, Europe is Hotel California – "you can check-out anytime you like, but you can never leave". But when Boris Johnson begins to sound and even look like Donald Trump, Brexit opponents realise that Europe is Colgate Toothpaste – you can squeeze it out anytime you like, but you can never go back in.

Panic bells start to ring. Even I get an email (ok, a mass one) from British MP Rushanara Ali urging ME, someone who can barely walk through Heathrow Immigration unscathed, to vote for 'stay'.

The outcome of the referendum reflects the passion of the average Brit – "Care for a cup of tea with Brexit?"

It's no cup of tea though to carry out the divorce proceedings after what the world and especially many British voters thought as the unthinkable Titanic.

Europe tells Britain: "Leave as soon as possible!" I picture Zee Bangla drama serial's repeated scene of the head darting from right to left with the sound of thunder as background music.

Hey, stop rushing! It'll take time for British Airways to retrofit its aircrafts with emergency Brexit doors while many a British voter completes Googling 'EU'.

Britain and Europe perhaps have always made strange bed fellows. What will be stranger though is Britain now going back to its bed at home, only to discover that Scotland is in bed with Europe.

But the psyche of the average voter gives Donald Trump immense hope. Perhaps Brexit is a preview of the movie 2016 US Presidential Elections, which in itself is a sequel to the movie, Enter the Cameron, Brexit the Tiger.

Speaking of the star who started it all, David Cameron announces from Drowning, er, Downing Street that he'll leave by October instead of saying he will correct the situation and needs another 45 years in office to do that.

The euphoric Boris Johnson says it's a battle won without firing a shot. Tragically, a shot WAS fired at Jo Cox…

London's Mayor Mr. Sadiq (they've got one with that name too?) wants the cosmopolitan London to remain in EU as the new Lesotho.

And finally comedian Naveed Mahbub's reaction: I wish the Eurosceptics were around in 1757 after the fateful Plassey Battle.

But the writing has been on the wall for quite some time. Remember 'Biscuit' – Britain's exit from direct air cargo flights originating in Bangladesh? Never underestimate what happens in this little country of ours. For that matter, I hope there is no referendum here on Sylhet, called, uhm, never mind, because I already always have to tell my tell my half-Sylheti wife, "Thank you for travelling all the way from Sylhet to Bangladesh."

The writer is an engineer at Ford & Qualcomm USA and CEO of IBM & Nokia Siemens Networks Bangladesh turned comedian (by choice), the host of ABC Radio's Good Morning Bangladesh and the founder of Naveed's Comedy Club. E-mail: naveed@naveedmahbub.com