AMADER KAJER LOKER PORIBAR! Oops, I better translate. This is our house-helper and her family. (L to R) Shaheen’s son, Sultan, Shaheen (our house-helper), her daughter, Pinky (Sultana), and Shaheen’s Mother
They are standing in the doorway of Shaheen’s one-room dwelling in one of the many Bihari camps in Dhaka. Sultan was dressed up to celebrate the festival, Muharram. The festival commemorates the martyrdom of the prophet Mohammed’s grandson- Hazrat Imam Hussein.
YOUNG BIHARI GIRL brushing her teeth and checking out the foreign photographer!
“MERRY CHRISTMAS ADVANCE” ( The greeting they give here for an early holiday greeting) HERE I AM GETTING READY TO DELIVER COOKIES TO THE other 31 apartments in our building. Since we are leaving for Indonesia on Saturday, we thought we would get this done early. I got many invitations to come in and drink tea, eat snacks, and visit. It was a very enjoyable time. We have very nice neighbors!
THESE ARE NEIGHBORS OF OURS. I think the boys are brothers and the girl is their house helper. It was Korbani Eid and they were watching the sacrifice of the cows.
HALIM, ONE OF MY GOOD MUSLIM BENGALI FRIENDS. He was dressed for the prayers on Korbani Eid day. He is one of the 10-20 guys, I play football (soccer) with 5 days a week.
HALIMER CHOTO BEI SNAN KORCHE! Ok, I’ll translate. Halim’s younger brother taking a shower.
HERE I AM ON MOHAMMADIA HOUSING’S MAIN ROAD adjusting my lungi before I started helping to skin this cow. I didn’t want the lungi to fall off!
TODAY IN BANGLADESH IT WAS EID-ul-Ajha, which is the Eid in which they sacrifice an animal to in recognition of when Abraham took his son to Mt. Moriah to be sacrificed. Each family decides whether to sacrifice a camel (rarely in Bangladesh), a cow, or a goat. We had 13 cows and 9 goats in our parking garage this morning in prep for this event. We live in an apartment with 32 apartments. Here in a nearby field there are many Bengalis participating in the special prayers before the sacrifices happen.
I HAD A NICE BREAKFAST with my friend, Charles at this hotel (restaurant). Alice and I headed for the Dhaka airport at 10 pm, for our 1:20 flight with Malaysia Airlines.
HOTEL GREEN IN TOWN HALL MARKET was where my friend and I had a great breakfast of curried beef, bhaji, and nan ruti. Little restaurants are called hotels. Actually this is one of the few that actually has rooms. This photo shows the hotel from across the street. I went back this afternoon to get this photo so you don’t see the action out front making the porotas and nan ruti.
More wrap-up things today, four more morning walks, farewells and Sunday evening at 10 heading for the airport.
ALICE AND I ARE CELEBRATING OUR 41st WEDDING ANNIVERSARY TODAY! Up at 4:30 AM for a 50 min walk and back by 5:30 AM. No sense wasting a good day by sleeping! 🙂
I had a great bean and cheese burrito for breakfast. We are trying to empty our freezer before we leave, and I think the last trip to the market I bought too many beans! If and when I run out of beans I’ll head for the local hotel (little local restaurant) for some dal, bhaji, and nan ruti!
We’re whacking away at our to-do lists in preparation for heading to America. We were hoping to be done yesterday but didn’t quite make it. Pulled out some cupboards, the fridge, etc. so Shaheen, our house helper could clean behind them. We want things “spic and span” when Lewis’ arrive. They will be staying in our apartment upon their return to Bangladesh, until they find a permanent place to locate. I just finished off some mango juice, which we will miss while in the U.S. After another bean & cheese burrito I think it may be nap time. I see Alice is on the couch fast asleep compensating for the early morning. This morning she had cooked up the rest of the veggies that were in the freezer into a nicy spicy veggie/potato mixture, which I will be enjoying for several days. It’s almost 4 am in the U.S. so I think I’ll post this since the 14th of June (our anniversary) has arrived in the U.S. as well!
This photo was taken last year as we celebrated with the Friday and Saturday morning footballers I play with. They gave us a beautiful red trimmed crystal vase.
The Camerist's Collection 