First greetings from abroad...
"Tomi Kamon Achen" - How are you?
"Ami Bhalo Achi" - I'm good
"Ami Bhalo Nai" - I'm not good
This is the first time I got to use the internet. The one at the place where I stay, network was down... Frustrating... Technically, I start work tomorrow.. But I'm in the office already... Getting to know the people and their names and portfolios... Doesn't look like there's gonna be much work to do soon... Cos they just finished a major project and they are taking a break.. Chobi Mela.. A Photography festival... www.chobimela.org
I had such a long day yesterday that I tot today was the 3rd & I wished my mother happy birthday a day in advance. She had to remind me it was only the 2nd... So brace yourself... cos this is gonna be one long entry...
Arrived here at 3am (Singapore Time), at the Zia International Airport. The arrival was delayed by a few hours because of a stopover at KL... Was doing last minute revisions on the plane (i.e. reading the Bangladesh travel book). Felt really miserable cos my nose was blocked and during the descent I experienced a horrible earache.
That was the least of my worries. That night, I cried as I unpacked. Not the entire time... Just bouts of crying... I was just missing home so bad and feeling really alone... (Also because I was opening presents and gifts given by my family & my entire section who came to send me off! Mark & Ivan gave me a card with Ivan's voucher for a free coffee from starbucks. Valid for 6 months. We're supposed to go back and drink it when I return in June...So sweet right??) Thank God for his presence in the room as I worshipped. And I was comforted after every time I cried...
Drik Photo Gallery... http://www.drik.net/ ... The place where I work... It's very cool. Three storeys, but the satellite dish goes much higher up... It's got a studio, several departments (publishing, multimedia, gallery, photo library, and a school Pathshala, where I stay), even got a little cafe called Drik Cafe where everyone goes to drink tea & eat (Best thing, it's discounted for Drik Employees!). The whole place looks really good. The stairs have cool drawings at the steps, there's a lot of excellent photos put up everywhere, and the Gallery is very modern (think a decent fully furbished art gallery in Singapore and you'll know what I mean) . Their work is very very professional.. Even better than a lot of design work in Singapore.
I stay at Pathshala, the photography school set up by Drik founder Shahidul Alam. My room is really nice... red bricked, with two huge windows... A large bed (like super super single)... Desk & Shelves... Huge metal cabinet... Attached toilet & shower... It's way better than Hall 15! It even has an in-house cook, Peter... His cooking is fantastic! When I get to develop my photos, I'll post them up... Think I'll take photos of his food too...(He's a Christian btw, and he's bringing me to his church tonight.. Yay!)
The people are nice too... Both @ Drik & Pathshala... Jess & I have been trying to learn Bangla from them... It's really confusing but they are all very patient... There's Shalini who stays with us at Pathshala... There's hilarious Topu (assistant to Shahidul) who resembles Osama Bin Laden when he wears a Turban... There's the interesting Abir who is a photographer... His work is on the Chobimela website... Then there's Singaporean Wubin who's been here for a month and left last night... There's also the really cute Rajiv who does the website programming... & several others. Most of them are really young! About late 20s to early 30s. But all very creative, motivated and capable people.
But really... It's been all about first time experiences. First time I'm away from home so long, first time I sat in a Bangladeshi rickshaw and felt like i was gonna fall off (the CRG is much more secure), first time I showered halfway and then the water ran out (I prayed and waited and water came back), first time I walked around on the streets experiencing the dust and air pollution and the first time I ate curry and rice with my hands.
Dhaka is a very cool place. It's more than what our society portrays. (Construction workers, people who run around trees, eat curry and hold hands) Their lifestyle is pretty simple. The streets are always so full of bustle, lots of little food hawkers, you can buy anything you need from the supermarkets. Plus, everyone loves going for tea, kinda like the coffee drinking culture back at home... Ok, so there are the young boys peddling chocolates on the streets, beggars who come up to your car to ask for alms, women all wrapped in their saris and cover their head for modesty. But overall, it's very quaint.
Maybe in 6 months, all I would be thinking of is going home...But for now, I believe I'm gonna like it here and I might want to come back again in future... As the Bangladeshis say...
"Ami Bhalo Achi"
posted by thebemusedphotog @ 1:20 PM
1 Comments:
Shaun dude... What happened? You better tell me... Email me ok?
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