goin' back

bridge over troubled water

during my journey from rayenda to dhaka, the bus is loaded into a ferry on river padma and we float towards dhaka for 3 hours. there's water all around and yet, there is an acute shortage of drinking water.

i get acquainted with a photo journalist from bangladesh, akash. amidst talks about issues that bangladesh and he faces in his profession, i get a preview of his work- every single picture is a work of art, it tells a story- silently, eloquently.

it gets me thinking about my experiences in bangladesh. for every country i visit, i decide to register my impressions, how/what will i remember about it, what i take away from it (and they will always be "live" lists)

for bangladesh, i will remember
- my life experiences with an amazing group of people from all over the world, out to make a difference in a forgotten part of this world- my money (and manual labor) will be for hodr!
- a maze of water and land
- children laughing and playing in ponds, rivers while taking their afternoon dip
- questions, questions from everyone, everywhere
- the best milk-tea i have had (with condensed milk)
- palms, coconut trees, purple flowers (hyacinths?)
- precarious bridges of all kinds - bamboo, log, concrete slab
- life moving at a snail's pace (and internet connections, too)- without a tv, fan, car, refrigerator- things i have taken for granted
- but most of all, i will remember the generosity, humility, love and kindness of the people of bangladesh- from the little girl, who insisted on me having the last bit of her cookie to mahmud, who invited me to spend new years with his family to saleem and shahjahan, who fed their guests more food than they could probably afford.
- my hodr experience - which deserves another blog post

my most memorable moments
- the celebration at rasulpur bazar
- sitting on the sidelines and watching the laughter, when we opened the playground
- the two hours i spent in the village, distributing photos

i end with a poem by walt whitman that i read recently
location and times, what is it in me that meets them all, whenever and wherever, and makes me, at home?
forms, colors, densities, odors- what is it in me that corresponds with them?