South Asia Trip (Sept - Dec 2002)

Week #5 Update

Hello people,

I am still in Dhaka enjoying myself a lot.  The weather here is hot (>25 degrees) but not as humid as Mumbai so it is a welcome change.  The only discomfort is the mosquitoes at night; spend all night scratching my body and waking up every few hrs; I guess the mosquito net is not that effective.  But after trying many different things, I now apply bug repellent over my hands and legs before I sleep! 

There are 5 Canadian interns here: Nadia, Nadia (yes 2 Nadias), Vien, Christoph and Jeremy.  Mostly I hang out with the two Nadias and the three of us go out with a different group almost every night so when I say 'we' I mean the 3 of us.   Dhaka has been more of a party scene for me than a sight seeing place.  The interns that I am living with (especially the two Nadias) are well connected with the expatriate community as well as the upper class local Bangladeshi people.  I have so far met Jim (31 yr old American who works at the embassy), Sani (32 yr old from Niger), Dania (23 yr old half American half Bangladeshi), Tabith (23 yr old extremely wealthy local), Saad (23 yr old extremely wealthy local) and a bunch of other local Bangladeshi guys and girls that are friends of Tabith and Saad.  Went out for dinner with Jim and the 5 Canadian interns here for my birthday at this place called Kebab-e-q!  Pretty funky name I thought.  On Monday I went bowling with the 5 interns, Jim and Sani; Tuesdays is movie night at Jim's place so the 2 Nadias, Jim and myself watched 'The Way of the Gun'; Wednesday we went to the international club bbq (where all the expatriates and other local members socialize) with Tabith and Saad.  On Thursday we celebrated Jeremy's b-day with a house party where the interns invited everyone they know so it was a very international crowd.  Went to a night club called Privilege but there was a problem that night as the owners thought the place was going to be raided by the military police.  So then we decided to go to Tabith's place.  He has his own little apartment in the mansion that him and his family reside in.  So we hung out there till 4 AM just hanging out and listening to our favorite English, Arabic and Hindi songs.

Friday is equivalent to Sunday here and Saturday is the same although most people work 6 days a week.  So on Friday we just hung out and relaxed as we were going to the annual United Nations ball.  Huge fund raising event within the expatriate community ($50 ticket).  Went with The Nadias and Jim and met up with Rehana (Gujarati), Rumina (Ethiopian) and Nez (Bangladeshi).  The age group was high so after dinner and a bit of dancing, we left and went to a marine party!  That's right; the 5 US marines that are stationed in Dhaka to guard the US embassy live in a huge mansion so they have parties every now and then. 

On Saturday, The Nadias, Jim and I went sightseeing to a nearby village called Dhamrai.  It is a small Hindu community and in particular there is one family that has been there for 100 years and they still make Hindu god and goddess metal statues in the old fashioned way so Jim had ordered one and we went to pick it up - there are only several places in the world that make the statues in the traditional way.  The drive was good as we got to get out of congested, polluted and noisy Dhaka and see the country side.  The picture I have attached is me crossing a bamboo bridge across a river (Bangladeshi engineering at its finest).  On the way back we stopped at an Italian restaurant run by a Bangladeshi who has lived in Rome for 20 years.  So the restaurant (Little Italy) is reputed to be the most authentic Italian restaurant in Bangladesh!   The same night Nadia and I went to see a friend of my sister's in Dhaka and had chai and papaya for an hour.  After that we went to a bbq at Saad's mansion!  Imagine a roof top terrace with tables, candle light, a full serve bar and bbq and about 30-50 young Bangladeshis socializing.  I met some very interesting people and majority of them have been educated in N. America so very easy to relate on a western and eastern cultural level.  I felt very much at home, just like a house party at my place (plus I was taking care of the music anyway).

On Sunday I ventured out on my own and went to explore old Dhaka.  Very crowded, congested, polluted and busy with dogs, cows, people, people drawn carts, cycle rickshaws, rickshaws, taxis, cars, trucks and busses - all sharing one network of roads.  I felt like I was back in the older parts of Nairobi city.  So I walked around aimlessly, visited a 150 year old palace (Ahsaan Manzil), a 300 yr old Armenian church, a century old street called Hindu Street where a cluster of Hindu artisans live, and Banga Bazaar (a crazy intimidating market of garments).  The language barrier is not that bad.  I don’t speak or understand Bangla but it is quite similar to Gujarati. My first instinct is to speak in Hindi so half the people respond back while the other half responds in Bangla.   Sunday night the Nadias and I were invited by a local wealthy Ismaili to a private party at a Middle Eastern restaurant that we have coincidentally been to before.   He had rented out the whole restaurant with professional video camera and camera men.  Felt like I was at a wedding but it was a dinner in honour of his brother who was visiting from Toronto.  Anyway the night proceeded as if it was a huge family reunion and supposedly every Ismaili business man and their family (except young kinds) were there.  It was interesting to meet some Bangladeshi ismailis as well as other ismailis who have moved here from other parts such as India, Pakistan or east Africa.  Met some interesting people and had a good time.  The 2 nadias and I attracted quite a bit of curios positive attention, resulting in some sparkling conversations with many individuals about where we are from, what we do and why we are in Dhaka and of course the age old S. Asian question - 'What is your father's name?'!  So my answer was an emphatic 'Mansurali Nazarali Chandani!   When the interns are at work my day starts at noon, I go to the internet café, walk around this neighborhood (Gulshan and banani) and visit music and clothes stores.  I eat lunch at a local restaurant that caters to local labour class for lunch.  So the food is good and dirt cheap.  I spend less than $3 on lunch and eat a chicken thika, or shawarma, naan and bottle of cold coke.

Other than that it has been great meeting all kinds of people here - expatriate and local.  But the three times I have hung out with Tabith, Saad and their friends have been the most enjoyable.  I love meeting other S. Asian people that I can connect with on a cultural level, listen to ethnic music together, talk in Hindi or Bangla, eat the food etc.  After all I decided to travel so I could see and meet local people and experience S. Asian culture in its different forms across the sub continent.  In the end though, no matter what cultures I meet, we all want to hang out with friends (new and old), have some good food, and listen to music and talk about all kinds of things we have seen or experienced.  And when I find such people on my travels, it makes it so much better.

I am off to Calcutta on November 4th and then onto Delhi by train on the 5th.  At that point I finally start my sight seeing through northern India.

Till then as they say in Dhaka,
Khuda Hafiz,

Sameer

PS:  I have sent out 5 weekly updates (including this one) so if you haven't received any of them and would like to, let me know.