Week 22: Sonargaon was the capital before Dhaka even knew how to spell "government"

22^nd-1st in Dhaka 1/30

Woke up and throat wasn’t much better. Gargled with some warm salt water for the third time. Then drank some warm water, easier to go down. Changed and went to the hospital. Bundled up in warm clothes.

The hospital wasn’t as clean or state-of-the-art as US hospitals. Diya and Farhanaz’s mom, the doctor with whom I was meeting with, told me it is because this hospital is kept affordable for middle class families. I met her in her office, the pathology dept, and she took me upstairs to a throat doctor. He took a look down my throat, said I had an infection, and prescribed me four pills to take (one antibody, two painkillers, and one antacid.) She got me some hot coffee and told me to drink it. Also gave me soup to bring home. Only warm liquid foods today. Told me to keep gargling salt water

Saw that the NY Mets are getting Johan Santana from the Twins. What an awesome deal. Looks like we’ll be contenders again and hopefully won’t have another end of season crash-and-burn.

Watched Philadelphia, staring Tom Hanks. It’s one of those movies I remember my parents watching when I was little, but I never actually watched, but still knew what it was about. I really liked it. I especially liked how the movie skipped big chunks of time at once. It gave you the impression of time flying by. And as he has AIDS, you get the feeling that his life is running out of time quickly. Makes you realize how little time he has to live. Helped the movie feel real to the viewer.

Dip came over later so i could go over his essay with him. I was reviewing some of his college essays that he's using for the slew of US schools he's applying to. Giving advice on how to make them stronger.

22^nd-2nd in Dhaka 1/31

I woke up feeling a lot better. Had kichuri and egg for breakfast, along with hot water to sooth my throat.

Went to BUET. Ok, so the university has a really weird schedule. Its weekend is not typical, even for Bangladesh: Thursday and Friday. The whole country is off on the holy day of Friday, but usually Saturday is the day taken to make a two day weekend. Well BUET decided to go Saturday through Wednesday. It would be like a US university having class Tuesday through Saturday. Of course, some universities, such as the famous Dhaka University, go six days a week, Saturday through Thursday. I showed up today and the computer lab I have permission to use was closed. I was directed to go to the central library. Getting in there without a student ID was a hassle.
Central library computer lab has 42 computers...some Dells, some HP. All are running Linux.

One thing I kept meaning to mention was something I read in the Dhaka’s STP. It is that there isn't much parking in Dhaka, and its because the need isn't recognized by those important enough to be doing the planning. Because people have private drivers, the lack of a parking spot doesn’t really occur to them, or get mentioned enough to make it an issue. It is not a perceived issue. Plus, a private driver stays in the car, so a parking lot can be real dense since the drivers can always move when needed to let another car out.

Came home and bought some fruit from the streets. Oranges, apples, and for the first time pomegranates. Thought they’d be good for eating with my cereal. Gave them to Moweena, our boua, to cut open and seed for me. She was glad to. I had kept reading people rave about them on NCSU’s student message board, and since they were so cheap here, decided to purchase.

Saw a bunch of people staring at something. Huge crowd…what could it be!? Oh, it was just a construction site. Everything here gathers an enormous crowd. Our bus got pulled over by a cop the other day, and I counted 13 people on the sidewalk who stopped to watch the cop talk to our bus for the entire duration of the conversation, about 5 minutes. (pic: a large crowd of about 20 people gather around a nighttime construction site to watch)

The girl whose Fulbright essays I helped review, Samantha Huq, made it to the next round of Fulbright. Very proud of her. Glad she moved along. Would be neat to actually meet her after talking online so much.

22^nd-3rd in Dhaka 2/1

Watched NCSU blow it against Duke this morning. So upsetting. Up by 9 at the half, only to lose by 20!!! GRRRRRR.

It’s the first of the month. What does that mean? It means everyone is moving! Like I should’ve been, but oh well. Every apartment rental starts from the first of the month, so on the street today were many rickshaw vans taking around people’s furniture. Big stacks of furniture, chairs, and household items. Sometimes the owner rides on top. (pics: two shots of different furniture moving by rickshaw van)

Talking about moving, moving big stuff in Bangladesh is always interesting. Whether you have product for your store, or a big bundle of things you bought, or delivering something for a business, there seems to be a large upper limit to what a rickshaw, rickshaw van, or hand cart can carry. Long things, fat things, tall things, or stacks of many things. It’s great when the owner rides with it, and especially on top. I think the pictures speak for themselves. Some stuff looks real heavy to carry. Sometimes the hand carts have extra pushers to move items like steel or cement. I like the rickshaws full of bags of items the best. Oh and the big stack of metal containers which always towers over the driver. Also am impressed by the bravery of the people who carry new computer towers in their laps on rickshaws! Eek!! (pics: steel rebar being transported by hand cart with pushers helping, transporting lots of stuff on top of a rickshaw van and holding tight to that TV, transporting 2 chairs by rickshaw van and taking a seat while riding (this picture keeps making me crack up...just sitting in his chair as he gets driven around), bravely transporting your computer in your lap on a rickshaw, transporting big sacks of something by rickshaw and taking the top seat, typically the biggest thing stacked I see on the streets: metal pots in giant sacks piled on top of rickshaw van)

Went to lunch with Lauren clay and some of her friends at Café Mango. They had just gotten back form Nepal and China, so heard her friends’ stories. After meeting there, went to Lauren’s to take the TV and DVD player I said I’d buy. Well the TV was smaller than she had advertised, so decided not to take it. Only took DVD player. Will take fridge at a later date.
Dropped DVD player off at home then met the girls at new market. Bought another scarf while there. Went cloth shopping with Lauren, in real tight quarters. She was buying for her bed back home, when she goes back. During this process we decided I would buy her cloth she’s using as window drapes for my place before she leaves. Found out I can make them into permanent drapes for Tk30 each piece.

Painters coming tomorrow said the landlord. I’m excited because I’ll have nice walls when the place becomes mine. She told us to lock up our valuables just in case, that you never can trust people coming into your place to work. Spent part of the evening getting things safe for their arrival, putting all electronics in my suitcase in preparation to lock it on the veranda. Also cleaning up lose items so they couldn’t find or drip paint on them.

When I went out to the shop in front of my apartment to buy some goods, the shopboy, who I’ll guess is 12 years old, asked me if I wanted to play badminton in the street. He’s always playing with his friends there and always sees me with my racket. So I said sure, and we hit it around, no net, just back and forth in our thin street for about 20 minutes. Kept having to pause to let walkers pass, and when customers came to his shop.

Spent time researching University of Texas tonight. 2 grad schools down, 9 to go.

22^nd-4th in Sonargaon 2/2

Woke up and headed out to Gulistan to meet with Megan. Before leaving, finished preparing the room for the painters. Wanted to make sure nothing could get dripped on, and all expensive things were packed and stored. Mohan said he might try and get the painting date changed so one of us could be home.

Ride out from Gulistan was uneventful minus having to keep changing seats on the bus because some were near broken. We found a bus that was express to Sonargaon, so that was convenient. When we got down from the bus, rickshaws were just waiting to take us to the tourist sites (every time I read that sentence I think of the line “They’re just waiting to give you your money!” spoken by Alec Baldwin’s character in Glengarry Glen Ross, one of my favorite speeches that I enjoy watching anytime…watch it here, and if you don't like swear words, the quote I'm referring to is at 3:55…of course its also funny because the rickshaw drivers are thinking exactly what Baldwin says!) They know why we’ve all come. So we just jumped on one, and he started pedaling us to the historical area.

A bit of history on Sonargaon, because I found it quite interesting (adapted from Lonely Planet’s guide to Bangladesh.) It was the capital of Bengal, and during the 13^th century it was the Hindu seat of power for the region. It became the Islamic capital of the region when it was taken by a sultan in 1280. In the 1300s, the first official sultan of Bengal established his capital there. It was the capital of east Bengal for 270 years, until the Mughals invaded and got rid of the sultans. They thought Sonargaon was too exposed since it was close to the Meghna river, and they moved the capital to Dhaka. Not much remains of the original city, except for some mosques, tombs, and stupas. Most of the architecture we saw there were from the Mughal period and later, and was mostly built in the late 1800s.

The first stop was Sadarbari, which was built in 1901 and was a rajbari for the area (a royal family’s home.) It houses a folk art museum but has beautiful architecture in two facades. We skipped it first and headed to the newer museum, with the intent to save the best for last. Newer museum in a modern building was definitely not the main attraction at this place. People seemed to just walk in, do a quick loop, and come quickly out.

Roamed the grounds. Took a ride on a ferris wheel. If you remember from one of my earlier posts, these things are made of wood, very rickety, and are spun by men pulling on each cart as it passes. Megan and I decided to try it. The operators always need to ensure the whole thing is balanced properly, so they give specific instructions on where to sit. Some of the extra operators took seats in other cars to make sure it was balanced. It was wild, stomach plummeted on each spin. Crazy to be on it when they’re spinning it with their hands. (pics: ferris wheel which is hand spun by its operators, operator hand spinning the ferris wheel by pulling down on one of the cars)

Finally came back to Sadarbari proper, and went inside the folk art museum/beautiful building. I took a lot of photos of the architectural details. While walking around the place, two guys started talking to us. They offered to take our photos for us and helped lead us around, and were being generally helpful. Names were Abusaleh and Ashraful. We were asking them questions too. They lived nearby and kept asking us to come see their home after we saw all the sites. We went outside and took pictures out front of the exterior. Then walked the grounds to the northern exit of the huge garden complex. (pics: front courtyard in Sadarbari, myself/Megan in rear courtyard of Sadarbari, Abusaleh/crazy looking stuffed person/Ashraful in folk museum, myself/Megan in front of Sadarbari)

Next stop was to see another rajbari. This area we went to was called Painam Nagar. You ride in on rickshaw through tons of old Hindu merchant’s mansions, very ghost town like. People don’t live there anymore. This whole area was built between 1895 and 1905 on top of the old capital city. The last one we got to was the rajbari. It’s being refurbished by two Chinese architects. Walking around the rajbari was neat. It was being repaired at points, made me wonder how stable it was. Told Megan that this is where I’m certain musical artist Habib’s music video for “Krisno”, which my friend Ishita played a part in (the building and her first show up at 1:45, Ishita is the one in the red saree..) Told the guys this, and they instantly recognized it and agreed. I knew it was in Sonargaon just didn’t know which old building. Wanted to go to the second floor, but stairs were clearly out of repair…as in they had collapsed. (pics: rajbari with man bathing in pond in front, Abusaleh/Megan/Ashraful inside rajbari where music video was shot)

We then walked back through Painam Nagar, looking at all the old mansions, taking photos of the ghost town. I couldn’t get over this single street lined with old homes. Some awesomely decorated but boarded up. Some locals had taken up temporary residence as squatters. Local kids were playing amongst the buildings. (pics: the ghost town which is now Painam Nagar, century old Hindu mansion in Painam Nagar, myself standing in Painam Nagar, myself/Megan standing in the entry of one of the mansions)

Megan had really wanted to see Goaldi mosque, one of the few buildings in the area actually from when it was the old capital. We had to ask around on where to find it, and we got rickshaw drivers who did. Guys took one rickshaw, we took another. This mosque was built before the Mughals arrived, and is a single domed mosque, and smaller than what we saw in Tangail. Apparently in 1700s it was falling apart, so they built a newer mosque across the street in the Mughal style. Now they are both there and only the newer one is in use. I enjoy seeing all these mosques, as it is one of my favorite architectural forms. And especially the craft that goes into detailing. (pics: Goaldi mosque with Abusaleh and Ashraful in front, Goaldi mosque on the left built in 1519 and the newer Mughal style mosque in the back left built in 1705)

After this, Abusaleh and Ashraful begged us to come back to see their village. Even though we knew we had to be back for pizza at 5pm with Diya, we thought we could make it since they said their home was really close, 10 minutes away, and we had 2.5 hours until we had to meet. From the bus stop, however, the bus took about 20-25 minutes, and then of course there is the 5 minute walk to their home from the bus stop. So total, that adds about 50 minutes onto the trip just with the going there and back. There was still a chance we could make it on time if traffic was as smooth as this morning, and we didn’t stay too long.
But we did stay too long. I was still glad we went, despite that we were now going to be late. We were given snacks and had to wait for Abusaleh’s mom and dad to come home to meet them. Abusaleh showed me his cucumber field, his main crop. Gave me some fresh picked ones. When his mom finally came home, we said hello and then said we really had to leave. Told them we’ll come back, which is true, probably in a month. (pics: Abusaleh showing us his cow, standing in Abusaleh's cucumber field, Megan and Ashraful in Abusaleh's home, Megan holding up traffic on the bridge out of Abusaleh's village)

Bus got stuck in some traffic. Then getting a bus to Jigatola from Saidabad station was easier said then done. Showed up at Pizza Hut 55 minutes late. Luckily Diya was there with her friends, so she wasn’t bored. They had already eaten a full pizza. I apologized for my poor judgment in arriving on time. We ordered another pizza and Megan and I ate that one primarily. This Pizza Hut just opened a few days ago, the second in Dhaka, third in Bangladesh. It was gorgeous, two stories, and delicious. Ice cream was amazing too. Might be a place I’ll go to too often.

22^nd-5th in Dhaka 2/3

Worked on fixing up my notes and ideas about data collection. I’d been writing them by hand, but needed to get them into a word document to arrange them coherently. See what my thoughts are.

Met with Dr. Rahman after lunch in his office. Brought my letter from Fulbright, but he said he won’t be able to get me a university ID since I’m not a student or staff. But he said he’ll get me a letter on university paper and signatures. I will show that to people who hassle me about using things. That’ll be good.
Told him about my progress on the project, how I was happy with my pace, and that I enjoyed the literature review. Told him about my data collection ideas, and how I knew I’ll definitely need two people at all times during data collection to do things correctly.
In the office as well was one of his senior students. He said I’ll get to meet all of them next week, but this one, Arjun, was especially interested in my project. I asked about these seniors, and tried to gauge what their senior projects were like, how much time they are supposed to devote to it, and how much time I should ask of them if they help. Didn’t want to overwork or expect too much of anyone.

After the three of us met, Arjun and I went outside and chatted. Learned about each other. Told him about the project. Asked him more in depth questions about the senior project process. Appears that for senior projects, the teacher highly recommends what they do, but they have the option to design and do their own project. He could jump on with me and make his research topic close to mine. Also found out that senior projects are not a class, but just an outside thing, meeting only with professors weekly and working independently. They get their advisors by picking professors’ names out of a hat from a certain discipline…so he picked Dr. Rahman’s name out of the transportation topic hat.

He showed me his dorm room too. He lives in the all-Hindu dorm. All the other dorms are all-Muslim dorms. And then there’s one girl dorm. Three students to a room, which is a bit bigger than what I lived in one other student at NCSU. Each student gets a table, chair, and bed. All rooms face outside.

Went to dinner with Jen and Ben. Hadn’t seen my old roommates in a long time. On the way over my tempo had a flat tire. More than half the people said screw it and went to find another vehicle, but I stuck with the poor guys. Didn’t mind a 4 minute wait. They had it replaced real quick and we were on our way. Conductor was laughing how this was probably the least profitable trip he’s ever had.

Found Jen and Ben’s place….enormous but the price isn’t too high. We walked to road 27 and got some Chinese food. My stomach was on edge a bit, possibly from some tea I took from a tea shack earlier, but I felt great after eating.

22^nd-6th in Dhaka 2/4

Woke to see that NCSU had beaten Wake Forest. It was a pretty bad game for us as we trailed for most. But we came back to tie on a 17-7 run, and then took the lead into the end. We were up by 2, and J.J. Hickson had a chance to seal the deal with two free throws but couldn’t. Wake Forest then scored 2 points with 3 seconds left to tie it. We had once last chance to prevent it from going to overtime. Ben McCauley inbounded it to Gavin Grant at half court. They were all expecting him to drive the lane, but instead he put up a 3! It bounced off the rim, but what happened next was incredible. Ben McCauley, comes out of nowhere, across the entire court, and dunks the shot back in! Incredible. Watch the video, it still gives me chills. What an awesome way to go out.

If it wasn’t for the giants beating the patriots in the Super Bowl that would’ve been all over ESPN’s Sportscenter top 10.

Sitting outside in warm sun to do some of my work. Inside the CE building it’s surprisingly cold. And the warm sun after lunch was very soothing. Today was going over some of the tougher questions I needed to consider about the data collection. For example, if a bus is stuck in traffic, and people are getting on and off as it sits there, how do you classify those movements in terms of stops on the route? Those kinds of questions needed to be answered.

Met up with Santa at Sonargaon Rd and Elephant Rd. We had talked about a trip to Rajshahi this weekend, because I’ve been thinking about going. We made our plans on times and such, and then went to the bus ticket office to book tickets for Thursday. Will be neat to get out of town and see a calmer place.

I was going out to buy things after dinner and Mohan asked me to bring back “ek hali dim”…which I thought was a type of egg. Told the guy at the store I wanted those types of eggs, and said I wanted 4. When I got home I assed mohan what type of egg that was, “ek hali.” And he said 1 hali is equal to four of something, just like one dozen is equal to twelve of something. Had no clue about this. This changes my life because “four” is the hardest number for me to say. People always confuse my “four” for a “six” (4 = “char” 6 = “choy” and my “r” isn’t very hard) but now I can just “hali” from now on if I want four of something…makes it so easy!

22^nd-7th in Dhaka 2/5

Spent a little bit of time researching MIT this morning. The third school I’ve randomly chosen from the eleven schools to research.

Had lunch with Naira. We went to the restaurant I’ve been frequenting, and had soup and noodles. Afterwards we walked around BUET’s campus, obviously not her first time, but her first time in the CE building.

Avian flu has come to Bangladesh. Very scary. Don’t think I’ve ever been that scared of a disease before. The fact that you have such a short time to find out if it’s a cold or avian flu if you have symptoms is scary. They had to kill thousands of poultry in northern Bangladesh. Luckily no human cases yet. Luckily the disease is inefficient and doesn’t transmit very well.

More on that New Zealand rowing rivalry. This past weekend Drysdale beat out Waddell in their most recent head-to-head matchup, but only by half a boat length. They’ll face off one more time at the Natl. Championships before the Olympic Trials in March.

After leaving campus I went to Naira’s place to play badminton. She invited me to play at her neighbor’s house where I played once earlier. The bus ride took 1.5 hour to get there. And was exhausting as I was standing the whole time. There were tons of people at badminton, and thus in the entire night I only got to play two games in 2.5 hours of being there.

Faisal, Naira, and I went to Bella Italia after. Bella Italia is apparently the best Italian restaurant in Dhaka, and it definitely lived up to its reputation. Pizza, two pastas, and tiramisu were all well done. They were nice enough to drop me off at home in Dhanmondi.

Week 20: Trying to buy furniture for a TBD flat (or Each day you might meet a friend/rock star)

20^th-1st in Dhaka 1/16

Had some kichuri with tomatoes for breakfast. Then got a call from Farabi that he was going to come by BUET today. We had talked about it yesterday, since his mom wanted him to see the university his father attended long ago. Headed over. Discovered that bus #13 is much more crowded going to BUET than coming home. Reason is that so many people from north of where I live take this bus to New Market, so it’s crowded when I get on, then it empties out halfway through. So packed that I was hanging in the doorway (laptop bag and all) for the first part of the trip. Then got a seat after.
I showed Farabi around the campus for 45 minutes. It’s not big, so it’s quick. Took him up inside the civil building to show him the campus from up high. Pointed out all the important points. Pointed from afar the new Electrical Engineering building under construction at BUET, as that’s his major at Rutgers. (pics: ARC and bus garage on BUET's campus, Registrar's Building, Farabi looking out over BUET from the Civil Engineering Building, the new Electrical Engineering Building being constructed)

Went to the ARC for the presentation they were having today on the condition of safety and planning in transportation in Bangladesh. Waited around, and saw that nothing was happening. Finally saw someone I knew and asked what was going on, when it started. He informed me that it had been yesterday, they had moved the date one day earlier on short notice. As in, they told me about it on Sunday saying it was Wednesday. On Monday, they decided to hold it Tuesday instead. And I had no way of being told this.
Spent the rest of the day looking for articles on bus overcrowding. Finding some intense articles with models and equations. Not sure if that’s the path I want to take my research right now. I want to do more of an observational study, not modeling.

Badminton was a bit windy tonight. Played some singles matches with Alavi, and then all of us played some doubles. A bit windy tonight, and that was messing things up.

20^th-2nd in Dhaka 1/17

Last night didn’t get much sleep because Mohan had a friend stay over, so I stayed in the drawing room. The mattress pad there is fine, I sleep well, but our boua comes at 6:30 am and has to be let in. Then she starts cooking and cleaning, and I can’t sleep with all that noise. Mohan and his friend also started chatting. I pretended to be asleep, but not successful.

At BUET most things were closed. Didn’t know today was a bit of a break. So without access to the library, I went to the computer lab lobby and did some researching on bus dwelling and passenger crowding on my laptop.

In the evening I met Farhan in Kakrail. We had some fuchka then some petha. Then, since we were near, he showed me his old school. Tried going to a mall but it was closed. Farhan told me that malls close at 8 pm so that electricity is saved. Makes sense now why all the malls here close so early. Instead we dropped by one of his university classmate’s house and had some tea and biscuits while talking with the family. (pic: how petha is prepared and cooked on the streets)

20^th-3rd in Dhaka 1/18

Pantha Path, the road which passes in front of Bashundara City and the Sonargaon Hotel has at least 50 furniture shops in a row. Like most shopping areas in Dhaka, Pantha Path shopping area specializes in a certain type of item. All over Dhaka, there is always a “best” place to shop for goods. Some examples are Pantha Path for furniture, Bangla Bazar for clothes, Gulistan Stadium market for electronics and sports goods place, Sonargaon Road for pets and pet supplies.I took a bus and walked to one end of the furniture row to start my new flat furniture shopping. Had a little notepad with me and a pen, to jot down prices as I walk buy. No reason to record where you find the price, because I’ll be bargaining it down elsewhere anyway. So just find a good price, then tell another place that this place offered you this. etc. bargain down a lot hopefully. Each place gives different first costs anyway. A cabinet for my clothes can be quoted prices from Tk7500 to Tk12000, all the same thing. Checked out a bed, found a guy who says he’ll be wiling to buy back at 75% when I’m done with it. Looked for a dining set, and might just settle on a folding table and chairs…for a TV stand, a folding table. See a trend. I’m not interested in real nice things as I’ll only have them for seven months.

Most places sell the same stuff. There are a few different types of shops…some sell cane furniture, some carved wooden, some metal, some modular-like, some fancy and padded, and some that sell desk chairs. Within each category of shop, expect to find the same stuff at each.

Stopped at a car rental place. Checked into prices of car rental service for when my parents come. Including driver. Asked if there would be a problem if driver came back from Khulna without us. No problem. Asked about drivers food and lodging. No issues. Will choose a car type after talking to parents.

Met up with Ayon, Saquib, Nipu, and three others from their school days while they were sitting near a restaurant near Dhanmondi Lake. Chilled at the lake and laughed. Walked over to the free theater along the lake. It’s like a old Greek outdoor theater. Free programs happen there all the time. Huge crowds come to watch, standing room only. If only outdoor performances in the US were this popular. Watched two dances. All of us got petha from the petha outdoor shop with the variety, then we all got some soup. Pretty delicious soup, neat that it’s just from a cart. Then lastly we all got some fuchka. The fuchka was spicy! Half of us were left huffing and puffing to cool our mouths down.

A good night of badminton playing. But Oyon and I just don’t seem to be able to win together. In fact, I seem to lose a lot of games. Although I’m making my hits, my teammate is not. I’m making them worse, and that comes from myself making bad shots. A bad shot results in a smash, and sometimes at my partner. I need to stop putting my team in bad situations and start hitting quality drops and smashes. (pics: shot of our rooftop court from above, myself going up for a shot)

20^th-4th in Dhaka 1/19

Had made a plan to meet up with Rofiq today so he can show more of the stuff in the traffic lab and also so he could introduce me to some of the professors at the university he is involved with.

Well that didn’t end up exactly happening. I arrived and met him at the office he works in, the BRTC office. This is the place that contractors and companies come to submit samples for testing. For example, if you are constructing a building, you give them a concrete sample to be strength tested in the concrete lab. In this office you fill out the paperwork for you test, make payments, and get results. It’s a very busy place. BUET I’m assuming has some of the only, or the only, testing facilities of this type in Dhaka. So many people are coming to get things tested for their engineering properties. Anyway, he was packed in the office with requests, and he was the only one who showed up to work today. So he couldn’t get out of there for an hour and a half to bring me to the lab.

Today was also the first day of class for students, including new first year students. You wouldn’t be able to tell though if you weren’t told. Looked like any other day on campus that I’ve been to. Maybe a tad more busy, a tad more students, but students weren’t doing anything out of the ordinary. No special “Welcome to BUET” events. Just a day at the university.

Tons of kids were coming up to Rofiq all day. Finally asked him why and what they were giving him to sign. Well as he was the guy who takes care of the traffic lab, he is one of the many people who has to sign a form for each kid saying they don’t owe any fines for breaking something in the lab. Each kid who is graduating this semester has to get this signature! And they have to go to all their labs, and get the lab caretaker and the professor to sign off. Then they have to get the library and the computer lab to sign! This is over 15 signatures total! What an intense process. And it’s all done after you’re done forever. So even after you’ve finished, you need to come back at least one more day and do this.

Our boua hasn’t come in a few days. So I bought a sponge and washed everything which had been piling up in the sink. Not sure what she uses to wash the dishes since I didn’t see anything…or maybe I don’t want to know.

Headed down to Gulistan to go to the stadiums. The stadium markets are the best place to buy electronics, home appliances, and sport equipments. Circling the stadiums are the stores. They are technically underneath the bleachers, and you can see the bottom side of the bleachers in some stores. Most stadiums in Bangladesh have markets, and it is common for them to be selling these things. So it’s very easy to price compare and shop around as each store sells the same thing. I was searching for a microwave, refrigerator, DVD player, and TV. By shopping like this it also helped me understand what exactly I was searching for!
Highlight of the night was being told to sit and chat at one of the stores, and then they proceed to offer me tea. Of course I said yes! It was too nice, a bit humorous to me, so I drank some tea with them. Maybe after looking at 50+ stores, I needed some? Maybe Best Buy and Circuit City should adopt this practice.

Really making my way through Dune at a faster pace than I usually read. Maybe if I take a day off I’ll forget all I’ve read, so I’m staying consistent. So many terms to adjust to. Liking it so far, looking forward to see what happens.

20^th-5th in Dhaka 1/20

The Wolfpack win!!!! Was so excited when I woke up to check the score and see us in the lead in the second half. But they were catching up! Then Miami took the lead. Then we came back. And then after everything, we tied it! Overtime. But then they went 4 minutes with almost no scoring until Miami hit a two pointer. Then a crazy crazy ending. Gavin Grant went for a 2 point shot, missed, J.J. Hickson got the rebound and scored a layup. Tied it up. Then on the inbound pass, Gavin stole it and scored 2 more!!!! We won, watch it here!!!!!! We won’t be 0-3 in the acc to start the season. So happy. So glad we won. So so happy.

Started reading Kristina’s and Kelly’s blog, see the sidebar.

Before going to Oyon’s to play badminton, bought two extra shuttlecocks because of all of those that we’ve been losing. Badminton tonight wasn’t very exciting. There was a decent breeze today, more than bearable. Wasn’t any fun for me. For one side, a little tap meant the shuttlecock went way past the court. From the other side, a hard smash might just make it over the net. Sigh. The net was almost horizontal to the ground on moderate breezes. We ended up just chatting for a bit and then going to dinner. (pics: Oyon and Deep setting up the net and our light fixture, the net near horizontal in the light breeze...not optimal playing conditions)

Our landlord came to me tonight and told me that the apartment I was moving into won’t be available until February 15th now, because her sister has decided to stay a little longer. Thought recently married, she is not ready to leave yet, and wanted a bit more time at home before she makes the move to her new husband’s place. I was upset, but acted understanding, and said it was okay. Fifteen extra days staying in this place, so I decided to make myself feel a bit more at home and set up my speakers and cleaned up an area which I could call mine.

Today was also a public holiday for Ashura, and besides the university being closed, the only way I saw it being celebrated was in the form of a parade in front of Bangladesh Rifles, and I wasn’t close enough to see what was exactly happening. I just saw flags from down the street. I do know that it is not as important in Bangladesh as it is in other countries as most people here are Sunni Muslims, not Shi'a Muslims. For the latter, this holiday is much more important.

20^th-6th in Dhaka 1/21

Got news from Shariful and Bart on when it would be best for them for me to visit them in Bangkok. So this morning I started looking through flights to get there. Look to be going February 7-10. I’ve heard the cheapest options are GMG, Biman, or Druk airlines. First two are Bangladeshi, third is from Bhutan. Called some of the agencies but was having a hard time communicating what I wanted. Decided to just go by the offices tomorrow in person.

Registered for the Krispy Kreme Challenge. We’re going to break last years numbers by a lot. It will be huge. I hope the organizers are ready for it all. People are coming from all over to compete. I signed up and asked to have my shirt mailed to me in Bangladesh. Fourth year now! Incredible. Wish I could be there to help organize it like in past years. I guess since my Park Scholar class of 2007 has endowed the event, we're technically always helping. Also, Saket, Greg, Peyton, and I have been advising the new organizers over email as much as we can.

Headed off to BUET for a meeting with Dr. Rahman. Ended up finding him downstairs and took the elevator up together. Chatted about his recent Masters student who just had his thesis review. Dr. Rahman was real happy. It was the first ever student he’s advised to a Masters thesis! What a great accomplishment.
After he finished with another student, I went in. The critical part of our discussion, my research, went very well. Told him my feelings about where we had initially discussed my research going after the Jatrabari Flyover was cancelled: evaluating large project planning here in Bangladesh versus other countries. I explained how I wasn’t feeling confident in what I was doing. Evaluating something I’ve never actually done myself was hard, as all plans looked incredible to Donny the novice. I continued and explained how through my reading of Dhaka’s STP, there were issues that were really interesting to me, and I started to have ideas of projects I really was excited about. Also mentioned how plenty of field work would be involved, and that I would enjoy. I told him about both the pedestrian overpass/underpass project and the overcrowded bus project, and both ideas had him excited. We were sharing ideas quickly, and ultimately, he suggested I first tackle the bus idea.
After this I asked how I thought a team of students might help with the success of the project, would get them something to work on for senior projects, and get me involved more with BUET. He said he’s meeting with four or five of his senior students next week to discuss with each their senior thesis, and he’ll let them know what I’m doing and see if any of them bite.

Bus home at 5 pm was busier than I thought it would be. At one bus stop, our bus was so packed at the door that four guys jumped through one of the windows at the back of the bus to claim recently opened up seats in the back row. Those windows are above head level when standing next to the bus. Was very impressed.

Met up with Diya for a quick iced tea at a nearby tea bar. First time having iced tea here, wasn’t too bad. Mine was orange flavored.

Badminton, less wind tonight. Alavi and I were on a team tonight and we went undefeated. Last game against Deep and Siam didn’t finish all the way because our last shuttlecock went over the side of the building. (pics: Siam serving, Deep returning a shot)

Tonight when I got home Mohan had returned from three days with his wife and son in Jessore, and I told him what the landlord had said yesterday when she came by. That I have to stay here until the 15^th. Well he said she came by again tonight. This time she said that her sister has decided to stay until the end of February before moving permanently to her new husband’s house. So I’m now here until March 1. Sigh. I was a bit more annoyed this time, enough to vow to go look for a different place tomorrow morning. I was a bit tired of being given the runaround for the third time. I feel silly going to buy furniture for just 6 months too. So tomorrow I’ll look around at different apartments and see what I can find.

20^th-7th in Dhaka 1/22

Went on a search for a new house. Quite a disconcerting process. Was very nervous to have to walk into random places and ask them in Bengali about a flat. Plus the fact that no one wants bachelors staying in their place, because it is commonly known that bachelors will surely bring drugs, sex, disease, famine, and maybe earth-destroying comets into the apartment building.
In summary, of the few places I found with “TO LET” signs out front, some weren’t available until March, others not available to bachelors (one sign said “NO BACHELORS ALLOWED” right below “TO LET”,) and another was a bed in the living room of a house with eight guys already (but only Tk1200 a month!)
I felt defeated, felt that no place would be as nice or as cheap as the place I’m supposed to move into. I started thinking about why I was really searching. One reason I wanted to move was because I was feeling unwanted by the landlord, maybe thinking she didn’t like me and was just thinking of ways for me not live there. But I told myself I’m just skewing it in that direction, she probably has nothing against me and it’s just a matter of family circumstances I’m caught up in. Also thought about how I wanted some friends to stay over on Feb 20^th for Ekushe February the next morning. There’s no reason they can’t stay over at this place if I clean it up. I need to just create some spaces for myself there, and clean it up a bit. I also thought how these other roommates were willing to have me stay with them. All were not my idea of what I wanted from a roommate. I realized how lucky I was to have Mohan as a roommate, and thought, “Why am I trying to get away from him.” He’s a great guy and listens to me. We talk together. I decided staying where I am until March 1 is no big deal. I’m feeling more comfortable every day. I’ll go buy a TV and DVD player now, and start enjoying it. Why wait? Why not make this place more like a home?

Came home and on the way back bought some detergent. The boua hasn’t come in days, and I was out of clean underwear. Time to take things into my own hands, literally. Clothes washing without a washing machine is a physical activity. First I heated some hot water on the stove, and poured it into a big bucket, just a little. Then filled the rest of the bucket with cold water from the tap. 4 tablespoons of detergent powder, and then put all my clothes in, about 8-10 pieces. I swirled the clothes around in the soapy water and then let them sit for a half hour. Afterwards, spun them around again. Then with the tap running cold water, I beat and swished and squeezed each piece of clothing until all the soap was out. It’s quite an aggressive process beating and slamming the clothing against the floor in the water stream. I didn’t have any specific technique, but was trying to mimic the sounds the boua makes when washing the clothes. I always hear the splashing and the smacking of the wet clothes against the floor, and was trying to make the same noises, assuming that it would be achieving the same result. Did it until not many suds were coming out. After doing this to each piece of clothing, I hung them out to dry on my verandah. Whole process took about 45 minutes. (pics: my clothes washing bucket in my bathroom filled with suds and clothing, hanging clothing out to dry on the verandah)

Went to go buy plane tickets to Bangkok Headed to Sonargaon hotel as both GMG and Biman have an office there, and Druk is across the street. This is also the hotel my parents will stay at when they visit. Was very nice, I had never been inside. They made a good choice.
GMG, although they have a Buy 1 Get 1 Free sale right now for Bangkok, was too expensive. At least that first ticket was, and I don’t have anyone traveling with me.
When I went downstairs, Nipto, Ishita’s older brother who just had baby girl, saw me. Hadn’t seen him since the wedding in October. He works at Gulf Air and is usually around the Sonargaon hotel, but he wasn’t working today. Somehow though, he saw me and told me that with his job he could help me, he knows travel agents. We went to his favorite agent he usually works with, a CNG ride away to Motijheel. At the travel agent, they searched all the different the airlines. Found a variety of prices. Although Biman isn’t known for their greatest service, they were by far the cheapest, and as I’m not on an important trip, I’ll risk their scheduling. GMG would be cheaper if I could find someone for Buy 1 Get 1 Free, but that’s a lot of money to ask of someone for just a three day trip. I always forget how much plane tickets cost, and it’s going to be about $360 to fly to Bangkok from Dhaka.

I asked where he was heading since we were going by bus to the same place, and he said he was going to Arnob’s studio, one of the greatest musicians in Bangladesh right now, very popular. Nipto asked if I wanted to meet him real quick. Since Nipto has a band himself and is currently working on his solo project, he was meeting with Arnob, who also manages Bengal Music Company, about releasing issues. I agreed.
Inside the studio on this day was Black, one of my more favorite bands here. The lead singer and the producer came out for a break and I talked to the lead singer for a bit. They’re working on their new album, first in five years. He’s doing the vocals now, all music is finished. We talked for a few minutes about music and Bangladesh and such. We all then went in and took a listen to one of Black’s new songs for their album. Pretty good stuff, I got into it right away. And the recording studio sound is incredible, so it was a great listening experience. I was a bit surprised that I was sitting in a studio with a major artist working on their new album. I’ve said before, the music scene is not as removed from the listeners here as it is in the US.
Asked the singer what process they go through. He told me how they always do drums first and vocals last, but in between things vary. That was cool, because its just like Chris, Trav, and I. Wish we could get a cool studio like that to record our 5^th production in.

When I got home Mohan asked me how my house shopping went. I told him what I had been feeling from the morning, and how I was glad to have him as a roommate, couldn’t ask for anyone better. Well he was glad to hear it, but then had more news from the landlord. Sigh. What now? Well he said that they are now thinking about keeping the apartment I would’ve moved into for her sister when she visits occasionally. So I can’t move in there. She may come back sometimes, and they want to make sure she has a place to stay.
But, since technically the apartment him and I are currently sharing would be open in March as well, since Mohan is going to be moving out with his wife and son to someplace new, I could stay permanently in this apartment. So the landlord hopes this will happen instead. What a situation! Mohan is having problems finding an apartment himself. He had one, but then that new landlord changed their mind on him too. We both are facing similar situations. I told him about the first apartment I visited in the morning with Tk8000 rent, two bedrooms, and two bath. He was excited to hear it was nearby too. So he’ll go check it out, and hopefully get it, as it also opens up on March 1. I’ll see what happens. I still have 40 days with Mohan sharing, and anything apparently can happen.
In regards to keeping this place, I guess it is convenient. No moving at all. I could start buying things now without worry of moving it later. Yes, place is a tad smaller than the place I would’ve move into downstairs, but with the same rent. However it’s still a good place, and I feel fortunate to have it.

Read some of Dune and went to bed.

Oh and I put a currency converter up for you readers, so when I talk in Taka, you can convert it something you might better understand. Thanks to coinmill.com