His name Shoman and he was born January 30, but since we have all had variations of this head cold that we didn’t to spread to the little guy, we only just got over to Taborok’s house a couple of days ago to see the new addition to his family.
He is of course adorable. This was the first time we got to meet Taborok’s other son, Rahman, as well. Before he was living with Taborok’s parent’s in the village and going to school there, but now that Taborok’s got a better salary and some income stability he was able to move him to back home to Dhaka. This means their whole family is together again, and everyone is really happy about it. Rahman is a super sweet kid, and extremely outgoing and chatty, so it was especially fun to hang out with him as he hammed it up for the camera (notice he is leaning into almost every photo!). At some point, for reasons only he can understand, he decided he needed a photo of himself without his shirt on and struck a pose, so we obliged. Later, Jon remembered that he also has an awful lot of photos of himself around that age shirtless, so maybe it is a 10 year old boy thing, or maybe they are just kindred spirits!
We all had a nice time hanging out at Taborok’s house. We had brought a gift for the baby (a cuddly blanket and a one of those play things that hangs over a baby while he lays under it) and the box was huge and we had it wrapped at the store in bright shiny red paper, which got a lot of attention as we carried the present home from the store, then to pick Atticus up from school, and over to Taborok’s house. You can see the present in one of the pictures below. We also bought Snakes and Ladders (Chutes and Ladders in some parts of the world) for the older kids so they wouldn’t feel left out. Atticus was a little shy at first, but warmed up after a few minutes and had fun sharing some of this schoolwork.It is nice to be around a family that is so clearly close (like our own) and the tiny little room in which they live illustrates (and perhaps necessitates) that closeness. It is such a strikingly a little space that they all live in crammed together, but it is full of so much happiness and love and we are glad to get to be a part of it.
So here are some pictures of the beautiful family.
I love, love, love these pics! The last one of Atticus and the other kids is especially cute.
ReplyDeleteWhat is the meaning of the face painting on the baby?
The kohl on the eyebrows and eyes is mostly aesthetic, I think, and the symbol on his forehead is to bring good luck - or more specifically good fate, which has a lot of meaning in South Asian Islam. When I asked Taborok about it, he said it was for a good fate but didn't go into any detail whether it was b/c of islam or not. If so, I'm sure it is present in other regional islamic traditions too, but here the idea of fate and destiny seem especially strong in the faith. Honestly, I don't know enough about arab-region islam to know if it is the same in that tradition or not. The use of kohl is also suposed to ward off the evil eye, I've heard. The eyebrow thing seems to be done by both hindus and muslims here, and I read a short story one time that took place in Thailand and they drew eyebrows on the baby, so maybe it is a greater Southeast Asia thing. Who knows? It is cute though!
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