Photographic evidence.

When I woke up on September 23rd and logged into Facebook my news feed was flooded with a barrage of “Dexter/Michael C. Hall-is-in-Dhaka” posts.
Now I may not be the biggest Dexter fan, (well, not after the fourth season anyway) but him being in city and me not even making an attempt to meet him would just not go down well with my “dark passenger”.
So I followed a few simple steps which I bet you could too, if you want to meet the next big star that comes to town.
Step 1: Finding the right hotel/location
So I set about calling all the relevant people I knew that had put up these statuses of Michael C. Hall being in Dhaka.
Luckily I managed to find out that he had come here for a documentary on global warming and a few projects of USAID; yes, the serial-killer that we all are so familiar with and come to love on TV, happens to be a tree-hugger in real life.
Turns out, he was staying at Ruposhi Bangla, or so I had been (mis)informed. I loitered there for over an hour before finally being told that he was staying at Sonargaon -- to where I immediately rushed off.
Step 2: Keeping a low profile
Waiting for Dexter for a few hours wasn't an issue because it's perhaps a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and because I had company -- my friend Nusmila -- and decent (though overpriced) hotel lobby food.
Even though Sonargaon was burning an ocean-sized hole through my wallet I pretended to act posh for just the few hours I was there, waiting eagerly.
Also constant Facebook updates about every intricate detail of the stake-out was a big no-no.
Step 3: Luck (I'm talking just about enough)
I had run into an acquaintance at Sonargaon and it seemed quite obvious that the acquaintance was here for exactly the same reason.
Instead of spilling the beans I waited for the acquaintance to confirm that the acquaintance's ex-boss was working with the man himself and had guaranteed a meet-and-greet.
Cue to the part where I had to quietly agree with the acquaintance ramble about leaving no stone unturned to meet Mr. Hall. That included her pretending like we're absolute strangers, among other questionable actions, to make sure the acquaintance's chances of the meet-and-greet are not hampered.
Step 4: Luck (because acquaintances are acquaintances)
I ran into a friend's father with whom I chatted for about 10 minutes -- a happy distraction, you'd think. To my horror, that distraction saw the acquaintance come from the other side of the lobby lounge.
She explained to me how awesome the meet-and-greet was and it was not possible for me and my friend to meet. I asked, “So exactly where did you meet him?” She replied, “Umm, I don't know!”
Well, that was the last straw: I walked over from the lobby through to the only place I had not checked on the ground floor of the hotel -- the “Jharna” restaurant -- and saw the man in flesh, having dinner with a few other people.
Step 5: More Luck  (plan B)
I was stopped by the manager upon trying to interrupt the man's dinner in a moment of brain-freeze. So I went back and Tamanna -- Nusmila's close friend, who had by now come to join us -- explained, we could eat at Jharna and they shouldn't have any problem with that.
We had just enough cash left to order desserts. So we went back and asked the manager if we could have dinner there. He agreed!
So we took the table next to Mr. Hall and before we could start, he was done. So we walked up to him, said hello, talked, took pictures, shook hands but didn't take autographs because pictures are better (okay so maybe we forgot).
When asked about Dexter, he replied, “No man, that's over.” Yes, something that he doesn't want to be affiliated with: perhaps owing to the fact that it did not end as well as it started.
In the end it must be said that it took a lot of luck to meet him but the effort was there and I'm sure if you follow these simple steps, you can do it too. I'd previously met the South African cricket team following similar steps/means so perhaps there is a method underneath all the luck. Certainly one of the most memorable days.