Peace like a River
Okok… Lousy title… I just wanted something to start this blog on the River Buriganga… (What it should have been: The last time when I said I went down to a river and had a boat ride with the Pathshala and Norwegian students… I made a mistake… It wasn’t the Bangsi River… It was the Buriganga River… If they are the same thing, I wouldn’t know… The Lonely Planet map of Dhaka on page 117 is really pathetic…)
So, since the Norwegians arrived, I’ve been to Buriganga 5 times! That’s plenty considering that they haven’t been here for very long… Am I an expert on the place? I should be… But I don’t really think so…
It’s just not so enjoyable when you go to a place knowing that you have to do an assignment if you know what I mean… Killjoy… One thing I definitely enjoyed… The boat rides… I love the movement of the boat as it crashes against the waves… Sometimes splashing up at me… (Fine as long as my camera stays dry…)
The first time I went there on assignment, the weather was perfect! It was cool… And we could see the rosy sun as it set… It was a wonderful backdrop for all the pictures that we took… Think postcard pictures…
I know quite well that with the assignment in mind, I did not concentrate on what was going on around me… I was just thinking of what stories I could do… I decided between boat making, bamboo factory, and colours by the river… (I chose boat making in the end…but the final pictures were not up to scratch… oh well)
The people situation was also not very pleasant… They kept gathering around us, making it difficult to take any pictures… Cos there would be crowds of people in every shot… I couldn’t even sneak up on people because the crowd would shout to them and make them notice me... Other times, they would ask for pictures to be taken of them… Which is plain annoying… I was quite stressed on my first trip…
But I watched Kakoli as she took pictures… She really spoke to them and explained to them what she needed to do… She would take pictures of them to please them… then return at a later date to give it to them… She also bravely ushered the people out of the shot as they started to crowd the frame… I tried out myself and it really worked! (Aside from the explaining bit… Langauage barrier…)
It’s also quite interesting to watch as people wash up on the edge of the river… The water might be black and full of unknown disgusting objects… But it’s still a cleansing agent… I don’t understand why… I watched as one lady washed her pots… then herself (always covered at the right places)… and lastly her kids… Her kid was very reluctant to shower because the water was so cold! That was a beautiful picture… A really beautiful picture…
But my last trip to Buriganga is the one where I really enjoyed… It was after the assignment was over… I went on a boat ride in the evening with Topu and Mumit… and it was great… We were just talking… and singing… (Mumit caught on to the song “Peace like a river”… Seriously!) I had time to really breathe in the fresh air… Admire the things on both sides of the river… Have a little R&R…I laid down on the boat and just looked at the stars… (love doing that…) Then we got stopped by river patrol… Apparently it’s cos Topu looks weird… I think it’s cos I’m foreign… And I’m with two guys… (Could be hijacked for all they know, you see…)… But nothing bad happened to them…
The only thing that made the trip less pleasant than the previous ones… The fact that there are a lot more mosquitoes after dark… yup…
Buriganga… I don’t think I really know much about it… (I’m ashamed… I really am… Maybe I’ll do more research on it…) But I have a feeling that I’m going to go back there a lot more… There’s nothing quite as effective in clearing your mind as a boat ride… And it really beats the air on Dhaka streets…
So, since the Norwegians arrived, I’ve been to Buriganga 5 times! That’s plenty considering that they haven’t been here for very long… Am I an expert on the place? I should be… But I don’t really think so…
It’s just not so enjoyable when you go to a place knowing that you have to do an assignment if you know what I mean… Killjoy… One thing I definitely enjoyed… The boat rides… I love the movement of the boat as it crashes against the waves… Sometimes splashing up at me… (Fine as long as my camera stays dry…)
The first time I went there on assignment, the weather was perfect! It was cool… And we could see the rosy sun as it set… It was a wonderful backdrop for all the pictures that we took… Think postcard pictures…
I know quite well that with the assignment in mind, I did not concentrate on what was going on around me… I was just thinking of what stories I could do… I decided between boat making, bamboo factory, and colours by the river… (I chose boat making in the end…but the final pictures were not up to scratch… oh well)
The people situation was also not very pleasant… They kept gathering around us, making it difficult to take any pictures… Cos there would be crowds of people in every shot… I couldn’t even sneak up on people because the crowd would shout to them and make them notice me... Other times, they would ask for pictures to be taken of them… Which is plain annoying… I was quite stressed on my first trip…
But I watched Kakoli as she took pictures… She really spoke to them and explained to them what she needed to do… She would take pictures of them to please them… then return at a later date to give it to them… She also bravely ushered the people out of the shot as they started to crowd the frame… I tried out myself and it really worked! (Aside from the explaining bit… Langauage barrier…)
It’s also quite interesting to watch as people wash up on the edge of the river… The water might be black and full of unknown disgusting objects… But it’s still a cleansing agent… I don’t understand why… I watched as one lady washed her pots… then herself (always covered at the right places)… and lastly her kids… Her kid was very reluctant to shower because the water was so cold! That was a beautiful picture… A really beautiful picture…
But my last trip to Buriganga is the one where I really enjoyed… It was after the assignment was over… I went on a boat ride in the evening with Topu and Mumit… and it was great… We were just talking… and singing… (Mumit caught on to the song “Peace like a river”… Seriously!) I had time to really breathe in the fresh air… Admire the things on both sides of the river… Have a little R&R…I laid down on the boat and just looked at the stars… (love doing that…) Then we got stopped by river patrol… Apparently it’s cos Topu looks weird… I think it’s cos I’m foreign… And I’m with two guys… (Could be hijacked for all they know, you see…)… But nothing bad happened to them…
The only thing that made the trip less pleasant than the previous ones… The fact that there are a lot more mosquitoes after dark… yup…
Buriganga… I don’t think I really know much about it… (I’m ashamed… I really am… Maybe I’ll do more research on it…) But I have a feeling that I’m going to go back there a lot more… There’s nothing quite as effective in clearing your mind as a boat ride… And it really beats the air on Dhaka streets…
posted by thebemusedphotog @ 10:00 PM
1 Comments:
hey i like your blog. but what does R & R stands for?
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