visions

of bangladesh.. are up on flickr. well, some of them

let me tell you about safaris today.
pg = playground

A safari is a group of people qho stay on site for a week of the playground build rather than come back "home" every day. it's as exciting as a regular safari, except the "animals" are the group themselves. its normally in some remote village. so there are eyes watching them every moment in time, waking or not, through windows.
one left yesterday for pg#3 and they will be staying in a cyclone shelter. one leaves tomorrow for pg#4 and they will be staying on the school premises across from the sunderbans. unfortunately, i won't be going to either because i am the official "laura", the wood planer and i will be busy planing wood for #5

we have a day off today. we completed finishing wood for playground #4 by 3 PM yesterday.

i visited a school yesterday to attend a song and dance program. i ended up being in the first row among the teachers and other guests of honor. not wanting to steal the spotlight from the contestants, i decided to not take out my camera. they wanted me to sing a song in hindi, but i sneaked out!

the last two nights, i was fast asleep by 9:30 while reading Sightseeing. so today, i get up bright and early and eat some "chana choor" an unhealthy snack with nescafe instant coffee, while browsing through the laos, cambodia, vietnam lonely planet.

n. will be in laos on may 19th, so i have a month to get there from bangkok. i plan to spend a month in cambodia, including one week in a beach town, doing nothing.

this morning i went to the pg#3, with stef and david. i wear my good non-work clothes and armed with a day pack walk towards the bus stand.



we hire motorbikes for 40 takas/person to the site. stef and i get on one with a guy driving it and david gets on another. it was a bumpy half an hour ride on village roads. we finally get there to find a great living space in a cyclone shelter, and a quieter, mellow crowd of kids and elders. the crew was already working hard at painting and digging holes.

after a quick tea break, we head back to the village where we hire a "van"/bhen, a cycle rickshaw with a flat bed, to take us to the main bazar. from here, amidst more stares and speculations, we walk towards the school, where pg#1 was built.

when we get there, the playground is empty. stef jumps on a swing while i take photos of children scrambling to get the remaining swings and lily pads. one makes faces at me and yells, "bangladesh zindabad". i say the same in return.

a mundane place as a playground is capable of bringing of so much joy in someone's life - it is evident in their laughter. it makes me think how blessed i have been in my life.

the principal comes out, pulls the ear of two students playing in the playground and invites us over for tea. we gently refuse and head back.

stef stops by to pay for cement and labor. a crowd gathers around the shop where we sit, while stef argues with the shopkeeper for he charged more than he promised. a man approaches speaking hindi and asking me what the confusion is about. the issue is settled, we head over to the bus stand to board the bus for rayenda.

we climb to the top of the bus, and two young men follow, taking pictures with their phones. sometimes we must pay for all the photos we take in their villages. we sit quietly peeling oranges.

a bird's eye view of the area is exhilarating. a gentle breeze blows as the bus winds through the village roads, and we munch on grapes, while talking about the bay area and ducking tree branches. we reach home to two children watching an owl resting on a bicycle.

it was a perfect outing and now its a perfect time for a nap! i love my days off!