National Museum, Dhamrai, Proshika, Jamindar Bari

Friday and Saturday were both very long, but good, days. Our Saturday trip was by far my favorite day trip so far, from both CLS programs. I am also happy about it because I was in a language learning plateau all last week and Saturday’s trip helped me to get out of it. On Friday I spent the day at my LP’s house. I went there in the morning, did homework, and then they fed me lunch. This included katal (jackfruit) seeds, which I had never tried before, cooked with the other vegetables. They actually tasted really good; I think that the seeds are my favorite part of the fruit. After lunch, Afrida, her mom, her cousin, and I went to Bangladesh’s national museum. It was interesting (from an anthropological perspective) to see what kinds of things Bangladesh promoted as parts of it’s national narrative. There were rooms full of the different grains and fruits and birds of Bangladesh, a section showing the lifestyle of various tribal groups, several rooms with old Buddhist or Hindu (or Jain!) statues, and a room that showed the evolution of the Bengali writing system. The funniest part, for me, was the top floor, where there were some international exhibitions. In a corner was an exhibit donated by Switzerland, the sign for which was in Arabic/Farsi and French – neither of which

are widely understood in Bangladesh! After we finished at the national museum, we all visited a very good friend of my LP and her family for a few hours. Her little brother is twelve and reminded me strongly of my youngest brother, Ryan. Our trip on Saturday took about 12 hours, and went outside of Dhaka for the first time this year. I was so excited, because I really love the countryside of Bangladesh. While we were waiting for one of the teachers to meet us in Mirpur, we bought some green coconuts from a cart that was passing by. We drove to Dhamrai, a village in the same direction as Savar (where the national memorial is located; I visited it last year). Dhamrai and the area around it is a mostly Hindu area, and while we were there the community was having a RatJatra festival (a religious ceremony in which the images come out of the temple and travel around the area on a chariot), but it was during a lull in the celebration so we weren’t able to see anything. We went to a small metal working workshop, where they use the lost-wax method to make beautiful metal images. They first create an image in wax, then cover the wax image with clay, fire the clay so the wax comes out, let the pottery cool, then, finally, pour molten metal into the mold and let it cool for four hours. They then smash the mold to remove the metal object. Each piece is unique, and takes anywhere from a month to three months to make from start to finish. I interviewed one of the artists who was making the wax figures; he and most of the other workers started out as potters and then were recruited to work at the Dhamrai metal works. The collection of different pieces in their shop was very impressive. Across the street was a small market area with a few stalls, some selling miscellaneous religious paraphernalia. The one on the far left was a drum shop, and the little kid there taught me how to play one. The man who made the instruments was sitting in front of the metal works with a drum and an ektara, and he showed me how to play the ektara! Sudipta bought a small drum from him, and played it on the way to our next destination while Farzana and Munmun sang. Our next destination was Proshika, an NGO that wears many hats. This facility is a training center and testing area. We ate lunch there, and then went on a tour. There was a shop where they sold clothing made at the facility; I bought a sari there. On the tour, we saw examples of organically grown crops, including papaya, mango, and lal shak. They also have a honey processing facility, where they process honey made from specific flowers. They let us sample some lychee honey; it was delicious. The facility also raised dairy cows and I was able to pet a calf. The most exciting part, for me, was the fabric workshop, where they took the material from raw silk and cotton all the way to woven and block-printed fabric. I saw a lot of different kinds of birds while I was at Proshika, including an eagle or some other kind of hawk and a gorgeous blue kingfisher. Our next destination was a Jamindar’s mansion that was not too far away, but that we had to approach via very bad back roads. I was very glad that Akas bhai was driving and I wasn’t! When we arrived at the Jamindar’s mansion, we quickly (as in, immediately) attracted a crowd – not just as foreigners (although that would have been enough), but as foreigners who could speak Bangla. The Jamindar’s house was really a complex of seven or eight large structures, most of which were boarded up so you couldn’t enter. It was a great place to take pictures, however. While we were there, someone was shooting a music video in front of one of the buildings. Before we left to get back to Dhaka, we got some cha at a stand in the village. Whereas in Dhaka the cha stands use powdered milk, in the countryside they use boiled milk straight from a cow. The cha was that much more delicious.

Deshi games and other fun

On Saturday we took our second field trip. This year, there will not be a field trip every week – the last three weekends of the program are free so we can travel as we want to, individually, in groups, or with our language partners. Our big overnight trip organized by the program (like the one to Sylhet last year) is to Rajshahi, on the border with India. The field trip on Saturday was rescheduled at the last minute. We were supposed to visit a garment factory, but there were strikes in the factories on the day we were supposed to go. So instead we visited an NGO that was the first to work with dogs in Bangladesh—spaying and neutering, administering rabies vaccines, and putting rabid dogs down. Prior to this past January, Dhaka authorities practiced dog culling, catching and killing dogs to try to decrease the population. The head of the NGO (who we talked to) made a case to the government that culling was actually counterproductive, and the government stopped culling within the Dhaka city limits and redirected those funds to the NGO. It’s a small organization, but the estimate is that they have treated around 1000 dogs in 3 months. According to what we learned there, human deaths from rabies are actually very common in Bangladesh. After we left the NGO, we tried to figure out what to do next, since nothing else was planned. We got on the bus and drove a little way out into the countryside and then back, then went to the Liberation War Museum. I visited the museum last summer; they have added audio-visual stations where visitors can see, for example, the Concert for Bangladesh (the first benefit concert that was organized to provide aid during 1971). For lunch we went to a place in Old Dhaka that was a few streets over from Lal Bagh. Old Dhaka is known for its biriyani. The restaurant that we visited, the Royal, is the only place in Dhaka that serves pistachio sorbot (sorbot =fresh/blended juice drink, made in the location where it is sold). It is made of milk, ice, and pistachios (and possibly rosewater?). Very refreshing. Sunday was the first time I went to my LP’s house. I took the bus to Bashundhara City, met Afrida, and then we rickshawed through the streets behind the mall. She lives in a house that her family built twenty years ago; a lot of her extended family lives in the same compound (there are several buildings enclosed by a wall). We studied for a while in her room, then she took me to meet all of her cousins. Several of them had recently returned from the US. We talked for a while, and then returned to her house, where we watched a bit of TV. Her uncle owns a sweet shop, so they fed me some really good mishti. They then fed me dinner and sent me home in their car. On Monday, I met Afrida at her university. She wanted to show me some flowers that were blooming on the edge of the city, so we got in her car and drove about 10 minutes east until we got to the edge of the developed area. We couldn’t find the flowers, but I enjoyed seeing the green grass and water. Driving back, we watched as a scene for a Bangla movie was filmed, with the main character hanging from a crane and being attacked by men with swords. Closer to the university, there was a musical performance by three men and a little girl. The men were playing instruments, and the girl was singing. She had a good voice for only being four or five years old. At the university, they were having a day of traditional Bengali (Deshi) games. There were four of them, but I only played one. In this game, there are two teams. Each team member is given a flower, fruit, or bird name. Someone covers their teammate’s eyes, and then calls out the name of someone on the other team. This person comes over and flicks the forehead of the blindfolded person, then returns to his or her seat. The teammate removes her hands, and then the blindfolded person has to guess who flicked her. My team won! On Wednesday, I went to Banani with Katie. We went to Banani supermarket to have saris finished, and then walked to Persona to get massages. It was wonderfully relaxing. Afterward, I called Moumita to see if she was at home; I hadn’t been there in a while, so I thought I could visit for a little bit before going back to my place. Daniel and his LP Rigan were already there, so it turned out to be a bit of a party. She made dinner for us while we watched Bangla TV. Her brother came bringing mishti because he had gotten a promotion at work. After we ate the main course of the meal, for dessert we had am-dudh-bhat, or mango and rice with hot milk. It was absolutely delicious. Thursday after class there was a musical performance at IUB. I went with Afrida, and listened to some good traditional Bengali (deshi) songs, baul songs, and Bangla rock songs. Toward the end of the concert, the rock bands started to do covers of American rock songs, which were, for the most part, decent renditions.

Another Busy Week

It’s Friday and I’m finally taking a break after being out every night this week. I’ve taken the bus the last two days, and I must say that I’m fully converted. No more CNGs for me, if I can help it! The bus is sometimes crowded, but it is safer for a lone foreign woman to travel on, especially at night. I always sit in the women’s section, so I can have good Bangla conversations with other women during the trip. It seems to be much less common for female strangers to just talk to each other on the street than it is for males, so this gives me an opportunity to make those connections. There is a bus that runs between Newmarket and Bashundhara, stopping everywhere else I usually go including Bashundhara City (near where my Language Partner lives) and Gulshan 1. On Tuesday, I went to a wedding. Well, technically it wasn’t the wedding, but the betrothal ceremony known as a holud. In Bangla, “holud” means “yellow” and “turmeric;” in the ceremony, the guests smear a turmeric paste on the bride and/or groom’s forehead. Moumita invited Daniel and me to this holud, which was for the wedding of her brother’s friend’s brother. Holuds can be done either separately or individually; for this wedding, they were separate and we went to the bride’s holud. Moumita’s brother is good friends with the groom’s brother, so we were able to take part in the groom’s side activities. We first went to the groom’s parents’ house, where a lot of gifts were spread out on a bed. The women and girls from the groom’s side took these gifts and presented them at the bride’s ceremony. Daniel and I were welcomed and encouraged to participate. I carried the ornaments (= jewelry) with which they later adorned the bride during the ceremony. We got in the car and drove to Old Dhaka, where the bride was from. The ceremony was a traditional Old Dhaka wedding ceremony, which is different in some ways from the ones common in New Dhaka. It was held at a community center in Old Dhaka. As we walked up the stairs with the gifts, women and kids from the bride’s party threw some orange flowers at us. I was covered in petals by the time I arrived upstairs in the main room. There, there was a small stage with a couch and two chairs and a table, everything decorated with flowers. We placed the gifts on the stage and went upstairs to eat dinner. They served us heaping platters of goat biriyani. This was refreshed frequently; if the platter stopped steaming, no matter how much food was still on it, a new one replaced it. When we went back downstairs, the groom’s brother asked us to sit near the stage so the foreigners could see how everything was done. The bride then entered, surrounded by bridesmaids who were holding a veil above her head. In New Dhaka ceremonies, the bride would be fully adorned with jewelry, but in Old Dhaka she arrives without any jewelry at all. The party seated her on the stage, and two of her bridesmaids proceeded to dress her with all of the ornaments I had carried in earlier. When she was fully adorned, and after they stopped to take pictures, the anointing ceremony began. The guests, starting with the women, each came to the stage and sat on the couch to the bride’s left. Taking some turmeric paste from a bowl, they placed some on her forehead. Then they took either a grape or a spoonful of cake and fed it to her. (I used the cake.) Finally, an Old Dhaka tradition is to give money to the bride, so each guest placed some money in her hand. It was getting very late, so we each did this and then Moumita’s brother drove us back to Bashundhara. I was surprised how crowded it was in Old Dhaka after midnight. On Wednesday, I went to the shopping mall Bashundhara City with my language partner, Afrida. I hadn’t quite realized just how large that mall is. It must be eight stories, with several wings and full of shops on every level. On the seventh level, there is an area called Deshi Dosh, where there are stores selling designer versions of traditional Bengali styles (including salwar kameez, panjabis, and saris). I bought a bag from a store called Shaddakalo (=Black and White) that has one of Rabindranath Tagore’s designs on it. We then wandered through the rest of the mall, looking at all the dress shops and some of the really expensive designer clothes stores. While Afrida was praying, I wandered into a sari shop and had a good Bengali conversation with the owner and employees. They weren’t trying to sell me anything, since I said that I was just looking today. After a few hours at the mall, I took the bus back to Bashundhara, having some good Bangla conversations on the way. Thursday, after class and a lecture, I took another trip with Afrida. First, I had to meet her at her university, East-West University, in Rampura. I took a bus to get there, and had a good conversation with a female college student. She showed me the university campus, which was still under construction, and then we drove to Nilkhet, the book bazaar next to Newmarket. I’m trying to improve my reading ability, so she made me read all of the road signs on the way. (And I greatly appreciate this.) I wanted to go to Nilkhet for a very specific reason: I wanted to buy some elementary Bengali textbooks. That way I can work through them systematically and improve my reading comprehension and vocabulary. My reading ability at the moment is around the second or third grade level. My goal for the next year is to be able to read a contemporary Bengali novel by the end of my time in Kolkata. (This means I probably need to know around 10,000 words.) I bought the books for second through fourth grade, as well as some notebooks and other things that I needed. We then walked through the places selling salwar kameez sets, but didn’t buy anything. I then took the bus back to Gulshan Ek. It was Moumita’s birthday, so I went to her house and then out to dinner with her and several of her friends. We went to Pizza Hut. I was very proud of my Bangla abilities, because the others had a Bangla conversation for about an hour and a half and I was able to follow it – not exactly what they were saying, and I was too tired to try to participate, but I knew what was going on the whole time. Last year I met Moumita on her birthday and had only enough Bangla to say “how are you” and “my name is.” I am very impressed with this language program every time I realize how much I’ve learned.

Dhaka Week One

I can’t believe I’ve been back in Dhaka for a week! It feels like much longer, sometimes, because so much has happened. My Bangla is coming back quickly. I really love hearing it spoken on the street again. I’m not quite to the speaking level I had when I left last August, but I’m sure that will come soon. We’re living in new dorms this year, in Bashundhara, a new residential area in northeast Dhaka. I was disappointed when I heard about this, but now I’m happy to live here. It is not the diplomatic zone like Baridhara, so there are less bideshis living here. There is a small bazaar right behind our house – it’s even closer than Noddabajar was last year. I wandered back into it on the first day, and found a lot of vegetable sellers and tailors. Our house is about a 10-minute walk from the university campus. The class schedule has changed since last year. Last year, we had class from 9:30-2 five days a week, with a couple breaks in which we could get some cha from the university canteen or something. This year, we have class 9:30-12:30, a break where we go back to our dorm for lunch, then more class 1:30-3:00. Dinner is not provided, but we get a really good lunch at home every day. On Thursdays, we get out of class by 12:30 so we have time to go to different parts of the city. On Friday I took the public bus to Newmarket for the first time. There wasn’t much traffic because it was the weekend, so it only took about 45 minutes to get there. Five of us went: Katie, Avram, Daniel, Kim, and I. It was fun to be back in the bazaar, bargaining in Bangla. I was the most advanced student in the group, so I became the de facto translator when necessary. The others did well, though; Daniel, who is a beginning student and only knew a few phrases and words, managed to have a bit of a conversation with some men in the market. I bought some clothes, but my best purchase was a pot with a lid and a frying pan for 300 taka each. We can now boil water and fry vegetables in our apartment! Friday night, Daniel and I went to a wedding reception with Moumita and her family. I had planned to wear my jamdani sari, but since it was not finished being dry cleaned I had to borrow one from Moumita. The wedding was close, and her brother drove us. The location of a Bangladeshi wedding is indicated by decorating the entire outside of the building with colored lights. Inside the building, more lights decorate the room where the reception is held. The bride and groom sit on a stage with chairs, and all the guests take pictures with them. The rest is very much like an American wedding reception, where everyone sits around, talks to their friends, and eats food. They served goat biriyani and a few other wedding foods. There was also a drink that was made with yogurt and kind of tasted like spicy mustard (at least, this was my impression). For dessert, they served a mishti (sweet) that tasted a lot like rice pudding, but did not have any liquid; it looked like orange-red rice grains. Moumita’s brother spent the whole meal trying to get Daniel to eat with his hands, even though everyone else at the table (including Moumita and her mother) were using silverware. On Saturday, the advanced classes went on the first field trip. We visited two monuments: the Mirpur Intellectual Martyrs’ Memorial and the Rayerbazar Killing Field Memorial. Both mark locations where massacres occurred during the Bangladesh Liberation War. In Mirpur, Bengali intellectuals were specifically targeted and buried in a mass grave. When we visited the Mirpur monument, there were some very cute kids trying to play cricket on the grounds. It was very hot and the sun was very bright, so they decided it would be more fun to follow us around and talk to us. I had a good conversation with them in Bangla. We visited one other place on this field trip, and that was the Mirpur Benaroshi Polli. At Benaroshi Polli, weavers make a special kind of sari that is not made anywhere else in Bangladesh, and then shopkeepers sell them right around the corner. We first visited a shop, where the teachers asked the shopkeeper to show us different kinds of sari. There was a wedding sari, where the gold thread of the design was so thick that it overpowered the base color. There was a helud sari (for the betrothal ceremony), which was red and yellow. There was another wedding sari, with hand stitched embroidery and sequins that took an artist two months to create. And finally, there was a sari for Pohela Boishakh, the Bangla New Year, which had a white body and red border. After the demonstration, a few of us bought Benaroshi saris. Mine is a pearlescent purple-blue color. Leaving the store, we walked around the corner and found the weaving establishments. Inside, there were six looms set up along either wall. They were pit looms, so the weaver sits in a hole and the thread is stretched in front of the loom along the ground. Each of the looms had a series of thin boards with holes in them running into a mechanism at the top. It looked kind of like the roll of a player piano. When we asked what they were, the weavers told us that they were the pattern for the saris. On Sunday after class we had a field trip to meet the founder and manager of University Press Limited, the academic publisher in Dhaka. It was a very interesting visit, in which we learned about the history of the press and more about the language policies right after the Liberation War. University Press Limited was founded in response to the need for English-language textbooks for English medium schools, which were controversial in the newly independent Bangladesh. It also filled in a gap left by Oxford University Press when that publisher closed its Dhaka office. The owner offered us the opportunity to help with the publishing process while we’re in Dhaka this summer, so I may do some copy-editing for them in my spare time.

DC Orientation 2012

Shubho shokal! I'm currently in DC for the CLS orientation before we leave for Bangladesh. Thursday was a long travel day; I took two planes, a train, and a subway to get to my hotel. I was very grateful for public transit! Everything was on time, so I arrived early this year (unlike last year, when I arrived two hours late for orientation!) The group is very diverse this year, with majors in everything from fine arts and film to sociology to engineering. It is a majority graduate students and recent graduates, with only a few undergraduates. There are five returning students, including myself: Andrew, Tara, Audrey, Bennett, and me. I discovered that Bennett and I are planning to do the same AIIS language program in Kolkata for the next year, and we're both waiting with fingers crossed to hear about funding. Since it is a small program, I am happy that I will know one of the other students. Yesterday we had our day of meetings and orientation panels. In the morning we were able to visit the Bangladesh embassy again and meet the ambassador. We were joined by Ann Stock, the Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Once again, the ambassador and his staff were very welcoming and excited to see us and talk with us, as we were to see and talk to them. I spoke to a few of the staff in Bengali and realized just how excited I am to have the opportunity to speak Bangla again. In the afternoon, the returning students sat on an alumni panel to give advice to the new students. In talking to the other students and in sitting on this panel, I was struck by just how much I picked up in my nine weeks last summer. At this time last year, not only did I know no Bengali, but I also did not know much about Bangladesh. Now I feel like I have a handle on things. Today is a beautiful morning in DC, and I'm going to the National Mall for a while. My friend Lingyi will be meeting me later, but I have the morning to myself. We fly out tonight. I remember being really nervous at this time last year. It was my first long flight, and I was traveling to a foreign country for the first time. This year, I feel much more comfortable with the idea of traveling so far and so long. I'm not saying that I will enjoy the flight, but I know that it is definitely worth it. This year, I feel comfortable with my abilities and I am excited to return to Bangladesh. Apnader bhalo thakben.