Since I last wrote (and I can’t remember when I was last online!) I have visited Dinajpur, Rangpur, Bogra, Bagha, and come back to Rajshahi. The Bengali New Year is on Thursday, so after many repeated requests I have agreed to stay in town, and I have cancelled my plan to visit Dhaka again before it’s closer to my time to leave.
Yesterday I spent half the day with my friend Imran. We went for breakfast (Arif came along as well - they both work in the hotel I stay at), visited Arif’s family village, visited Imran’s father’s restaurant stall (and had some yummy snacks!) and then went to the nearby technical high school where we met his friend Rocky. Rocky is the local Taekwondo champion, he was just in Korea competing for something and at the end of it after he managed to win “something” he also had injured his arm, so he’s in a sling in the Bangladesh heat - yuck!
The three of us (Arif had to go back to work for something) went to the amusement park so they could take a billion pictures with and of me (you’ll be punished with that through Flickr later if you chooose!). From there Rocky left us and I briefly saw my little brother Shahed (he was working and he drove the army truck over so his friend could meet me). Imran and I went from there to his home and I spent the rest of the afternoon with his family. It was such a nice day.
At his family’s house I visited with his mom and sisters and the neighbourhood kids pretty much just taking pictures and smiling and laughing together, as nobody but Imran spoke much English, but I was perfectly happy. The odd neighbour dropped by here and there and introduced themselves, and then around 2 we had lunch… fish, hardboiled eggs in curry, some fried veggie snacks, “salad” (salad here has no lettuce, ever… this one was thinly cut tomatoes in a light dressing it was very nice!), and of course a quadruple serving of rice. I ate way too much because they insisted on refilling my plate and poking me into eating, it was very good. Through pretty much the whole meal Imran’s sister Jasmine fanned me with a big bamboo fan… the electricity was down in the village to since the overhead fan wasn’t working she took it upon herself to become the fan, lol…
I couldn’t get comfortable with it at first and kept telling her it was okay, just to sit and visit with us (only Imran and I were eating together), but she happily sat there and fanned away while she visited and repeatedly dropped more food into my dish.
After lunch we sat outside in the yard in the shade of a giant old mango tree and I played with the kids making videos and taking pictures while we all got a little dozy. At 230 we left to go back to the hotel; Imran had to work and I needed a break from all the people!
I had a nap in my hotel room for a couple of hours (almost unheard of from me to sleep during the day) and woke feeling a little groggy and a bit nauseous. I had planned to meet my friend Waresh in the afternoon so I texted him to tell him I was free if he wanted to get together. We met up at the nearby new market and I found my way to a shop selling cold bottles of pepsi - pepsi, I have decided, is the cure for most things that ail my stomach. I drank the coldest pepsi I’ve had since coming to Bangladesh and then we headed off by Rickshaw to find coconuts… Waresh had the idea that I was probably overheated from being outside in the afternoon sun too much, and the common cure for that here is coconut water - people believe it cools the body when you’ve had too much sun, so off we went!
We went from one market to the next until we came across a vendor, and we hopped down from the rickshaw to each get one. Coconut in hand we jumped back into the rickshaw and headed for the riverside. The sun was starting to set and it is well known in these parts that I’m a sunset fan so Waresh wanted to take me down to the spot by the river where it’s best to watch the sun go down. We got there a little too late (our rickshaw wallah kinda took a few wrong turns) and I watched the sunset from the rickshaw (just as happily, I might add, lol), while Waresh fretted - he is a fretter, he couldn’t help it.
We spent about an hour by the river… we walked across the famous Ganges in the place where the water has gotten so low that you can make it all the way from one side to the other and I took some pictures in the dimming light. When it was becoming more dark than light I told Waresh I wanted to be back on the side with all the people and the lights, so we made our way back. We sat and chatted in nearby chairs that are put out just for people who come down to watch the sun and had some snack made with chickpeas and fresh vegetables (I’ve forgotten the name) and it was quite lovely.
In the dim light of the moon I watched as a farmer moved his water buffalo across the river bed, it was so cool watching their dark shapes shifting through the dark beneath me. About 10 minutes later after they were long out of my sight a man came up and hunkered down in the chair next to me, and he happened to be that same farmer, his name is Jan Mohammed. Jan chatted with us awhile (with Waresh translating all the while) and said to him, “you listen to everything she says and use her wisdom in your life; she has had a chance to live a much different life than we can live, and God has given you the gift of time to learn from her, so do not waste it.”
I didn’t really say much to that, other than to smile and nod my head in Jan’s direction. God gives us all time to learn from others around us if we take the opportunity to do so. Though I didn’t say as much to them at the time, every day in Bangladesh I have learned something new about myself or the world that I didn’t know before through interacting with a new stranger or a friend, and ever night I go to bed grateful for every second I’ve had in the day that has passed.
After the river we came back to the area around the hotel for a cup of tea before I bid Waresh goodnight and headed for my room. By that time it was about 1030 and I was long since ready for sleep after a great day. I really love visiting Rajshahi!
Yesterday I spent half the day with my friend Imran. We went for breakfast (Arif came along as well - they both work in the hotel I stay at), visited Arif’s family village, visited Imran’s father’s restaurant stall (and had some yummy snacks!) and then went to the nearby technical high school where we met his friend Rocky. Rocky is the local Taekwondo champion, he was just in Korea competing for something and at the end of it after he managed to win “something” he also had injured his arm, so he’s in a sling in the Bangladesh heat - yuck!
The three of us (Arif had to go back to work for something) went to the amusement park so they could take a billion pictures with and of me (you’ll be punished with that through Flickr later if you chooose!). From there Rocky left us and I briefly saw my little brother Shahed (he was working and he drove the army truck over so his friend could meet me). Imran and I went from there to his home and I spent the rest of the afternoon with his family. It was such a nice day.
At his family’s house I visited with his mom and sisters and the neighbourhood kids pretty much just taking pictures and smiling and laughing together, as nobody but Imran spoke much English, but I was perfectly happy. The odd neighbour dropped by here and there and introduced themselves, and then around 2 we had lunch… fish, hardboiled eggs in curry, some fried veggie snacks, “salad” (salad here has no lettuce, ever… this one was thinly cut tomatoes in a light dressing it was very nice!), and of course a quadruple serving of rice. I ate way too much because they insisted on refilling my plate and poking me into eating, it was very good. Through pretty much the whole meal Imran’s sister Jasmine fanned me with a big bamboo fan… the electricity was down in the village to since the overhead fan wasn’t working she took it upon herself to become the fan, lol…
I couldn’t get comfortable with it at first and kept telling her it was okay, just to sit and visit with us (only Imran and I were eating together), but she happily sat there and fanned away while she visited and repeatedly dropped more food into my dish.
After lunch we sat outside in the yard in the shade of a giant old mango tree and I played with the kids making videos and taking pictures while we all got a little dozy. At 230 we left to go back to the hotel; Imran had to work and I needed a break from all the people!
I had a nap in my hotel room for a couple of hours (almost unheard of from me to sleep during the day) and woke feeling a little groggy and a bit nauseous. I had planned to meet my friend Waresh in the afternoon so I texted him to tell him I was free if he wanted to get together. We met up at the nearby new market and I found my way to a shop selling cold bottles of pepsi - pepsi, I have decided, is the cure for most things that ail my stomach. I drank the coldest pepsi I’ve had since coming to Bangladesh and then we headed off by Rickshaw to find coconuts… Waresh had the idea that I was probably overheated from being outside in the afternoon sun too much, and the common cure for that here is coconut water - people believe it cools the body when you’ve had too much sun, so off we went!
We went from one market to the next until we came across a vendor, and we hopped down from the rickshaw to each get one. Coconut in hand we jumped back into the rickshaw and headed for the riverside. The sun was starting to set and it is well known in these parts that I’m a sunset fan so Waresh wanted to take me down to the spot by the river where it’s best to watch the sun go down. We got there a little too late (our rickshaw wallah kinda took a few wrong turns) and I watched the sunset from the rickshaw (just as happily, I might add, lol), while Waresh fretted - he is a fretter, he couldn’t help it.
We spent about an hour by the river… we walked across the famous Ganges in the place where the water has gotten so low that you can make it all the way from one side to the other and I took some pictures in the dimming light. When it was becoming more dark than light I told Waresh I wanted to be back on the side with all the people and the lights, so we made our way back. We sat and chatted in nearby chairs that are put out just for people who come down to watch the sun and had some snack made with chickpeas and fresh vegetables (I’ve forgotten the name) and it was quite lovely.
In the dim light of the moon I watched as a farmer moved his water buffalo across the river bed, it was so cool watching their dark shapes shifting through the dark beneath me. About 10 minutes later after they were long out of my sight a man came up and hunkered down in the chair next to me, and he happened to be that same farmer, his name is Jan Mohammed. Jan chatted with us awhile (with Waresh translating all the while) and said to him, “you listen to everything she says and use her wisdom in your life; she has had a chance to live a much different life than we can live, and God has given you the gift of time to learn from her, so do not waste it.”
I didn’t really say much to that, other than to smile and nod my head in Jan’s direction. God gives us all time to learn from others around us if we take the opportunity to do so. Though I didn’t say as much to them at the time, every day in Bangladesh I have learned something new about myself or the world that I didn’t know before through interacting with a new stranger or a friend, and ever night I go to bed grateful for every second I’ve had in the day that has passed.
After the river we came back to the area around the hotel for a cup of tea before I bid Waresh goodnight and headed for my room. By that time it was about 1030 and I was long since ready for sleep after a great day. I really love visiting Rajshahi!
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