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.
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