The weekend comes earlier in
Dhaka. Special prayers on Friday replaced the usual workday, and we were excited to finally spend a day out exploring the city.
First stop was the massive memorial for
Bangladesh’s national poet, Kazi Nazrul Islam, and three other important leaders. Admiring and walking around the memorial, we wandered into a park and discovered a white-and-purple Hindu temple. A stroll inside introduced us to the many gods of Hinduism and some of their stories.
A short van ride later, we arrived before a beautiful brick building –
Dhaka University’s Carzon Hall. The lovely red facility set between luscious green grass and a clear blue sky was picture perfect with young couples scattered about. But only the most diligent students can call this beautiful campus their own – Galiba told me only 1 in about 1200 applicants are accepted…and here I thought Duke was competitive!
We then rode rickshaws to the nearby pottery market. Pots, vases, clay art, wooden art, jewelry, flowers and all sorts of other crafts were on sale along the street. Apparently at night the merchants simply pull tarps over their goods and leave for home – no locks or security needed. It’s inspiring that the people of the humblest possessions adhere to such high moral standards. When we got to the end of the street, we had amassed quite a following of kids. A toddler boy especially admired Rob, holding onto his leg with a big smile.
At the Shaeed Minar, the language martyrs’ memorial of 1952, we observed a game of cricket while Sam explained the rules to us. Then he impressed everyone as the guest bowler in the game.
Noting that it was almost time for Jumma Prayer, we headed for Khorshed’s university dorms. As Eric, Rob and Scott observed prayers inside the student mosque with Khorshed, we took a break to eat the boxed lunches we brought – the cheese sandwiches were crustless!
A quick bathroom stop at Voot quickly turned into a coffee break as we admired the restaurant’s luxurious ambiance and modern décor. The mango juice was freshly crushed fruit and tasted divine. A few brave souls ordered faludas, a local dessert that combined ice cream and what looked like noodles with other fruits and flavors.
Next stop was Ahsan Manzil, a brilliantly pink palace in Old Dhaka. Standing on the main stairways, we saw a breathtaking view of a nearby lake with
Dhaka as a backdrop. Inside the museum, we saw everything from old faucets used in the palace to the skull of the ruler’s favorite elephant. And it was here that we began living the celebrity life – people curiously gathered to look at us and actually followed us in crowds as we walked away! We were both very surprised and highly amused by completely unabashed stares and growing crowd. And we briefly flirted with the idea of developing a performance routine for our spectators as we waited for a few people to return from the bathroom.
The
National Assembly Building designed by Louis Kahn was our final stop of the day. Walking around the periphery and taking pictures of the magnificent structure, we somehow attracted an even larger crowd than before. Now we were really starting to feel like celebrities. Just when we thought it was impossible for the crowd to get any larger, by the park lake before crossing the imitation Sydney bridge we found at least a hundred people gathered around us in a semicircle…if the water hadn’t been behind us, I’m pretty sure it would have been a full circle of at least two hundred. Much of this group followed us across the bridge, into and through the memorial grave of Ziaur Rahman, who declared independence in March 1971. Masses of people were seriously swarming around us while pulling out their camera phones. The growing crowd and attention would have made even Paris Hilton green with envy.
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