We started the day with a stroll through the park before Jon went to his meeting. The park was a rather…unique experience. Since Jon’s Bangla is not nearly as good as Sam’s (he's been studying it for much less time after all) going out without her as an interpreter always adds a level of confusion, which can be fun or frustrating or both. As we walked in, reading the tour book description of the park, someone stopped us and asked what we are doing in Bangladesh, what country we are from etc. (the usual questions for foreigners). We soon realized that this would not be the leisurely walk through the park looking at historic landmarks that our guest had especially desired towards the end of her trip.
The tour book had mentioned that many homeless people live in the park as they seek protection in numbers. This wasn’t necessarily unexpected or really all that off-putting since Dhaka is brimming with poverty. There were actually not as many homeless people as we expected, but the street people that do occupy the park were not your usual beggars. For one it is not clear they are actually beggars at all. Although there were the usual adorable street kids begging and selling things there were also groups of somewhat well dressed young women carrying around small containers. The first group of women walked up to Jon and started saying something to him that he couldn’t understand and holding these little boxes up to him and pinching him. Jon’s first thought of course was ‘no, no ladies I cannot accept your proposal, I am already married.’ Then he thought ‘strange, women aren’t usually so forward in their desire to wed me, maybe they aren’t proposing after all.’ In all seriousness though, women in Bangladesh are generally very reserved, they often times avoid eye contact with all men, let alone pinch and giggle at you. This was exceptionally unusual behavior.
As we continued we through the park we encountered more groups of women. At one point as we went to look at a large memorial that seemed like something historically significant we were accosted by several of them. The women walked up to us with their little containers saying ‘money, money, money’ - ‘how weird’, is there money in the containers ? Jon asked – the reply was a pinch on the arm ‘ouch – what the hell?’ Meanwhile as our guest tried to ask questions she was mocked by the women as they imitated the sounds of her words and then just laughed. Jon tried one last time to find out what was going on and what the memorial they were standing in front of was, but to no avail as the mocking, pinching and grabbing continued. We fled the scene.
We walked around wondering what the hell was in those containers and what was going on with those women. Were they drug dealers? Addicts? Prostitutes? If so, what was in the box? Or were they just odd beggar ladies with tiny lunch boxes? Finally our guest thought of someone she had met while here that she could ask. The person replied that if they were younger than 14 it was probably chocolate. If they were over 14 it was probably ecstasy. Ok, we thought. Maybe we should have gotten some chocolate.
Later as we maneuvered around worshippers for the nearby mosque and multiple cricket games we were invited to join a card game, but we thought it better not to join, after all we probably wouldn’t understand what was going on and thus would be easy targets for hustling - especially since we definitely seemed to be in that kind of place. Finally, we reached some sort of massive memorial that was surrounded by water. We struck up a couple conversations and had our pictures taken with a few fellows. One kid that we talked to for a while (because he just kept following us around) was in town visiting the university as he was trying to get in to it. We decided to ask what the big memorial was. He replied, that “it is a type of pond.” ‘Oh, a pond you say, why thank you,’ and we went on our way (A few days earlier we had learned about ponds on our guided river tour. Apparently foreigners in Bangladesh seem ignorant in the way of ponds to the locals). We walked around the ‘type of pond’ (which type, we don’t know) and found the main part of the memorial – there was a bas relief (fancy Artsy term!) of important figures and moments in Bangladesh history and an eternal flame thing. Ah, we must have found the memorial to independence that we assumed would be there. Nearby we found, not surprisingly, the same kid who had explained to us about the pond and asked him what a nearby plaque said. He proceeded to explain it to us in Bangla. Finally Jon stopped him “can you explain it in English?’ ‘Oh, sorry…hmm…something happened in 1997…sorry I can’t explain it in English.’ Oh, ok, that’s ok.’ 1997? Strange, that’s not significant in anyway as far as Jon had learned from Sam. Oh well, another mystery from the day.
After that Jon went to his meeting and our guest went on to explore Dhaka University some more. While at his meeting Jon asked about the women in the park with the containers and finally learned the mystery (the chocolate and ecstasy never quite seemed right. They didn’t seem to be trying to sell it after all. Though they did seem pretty high.) Apparently the women are part of the snake charmer culture that exists here in Bangladesh. Inside the little containers supposedly are little snakes that they are threatening to make bite you if you don’t give money. The folks I asked seemed to split on whether there are actually even snakes in the little containers. Jon tends to think there aren’t since we didn’t have any snakes sicked on us (of course we are bideshis…) and we didn’t give any money.
After Jon finished his meeting he walked out of the campus to meet our guest nearby. As he crossed the street several cops waved at him, ‘oh, hi’ he waved back. Then he noticed a concerned look on their faces and began to hear a commotion from the other side of him as well. He turned to find a little old lady running at him across the street threatening him with a stick. ‘What the hell?’ he thought, ‘Am I going to have to throw down with this little old lady?’ Finally, all the nearby cops and passersby convinced her not to hit Jon. Later two guys told him ‘its ok, she’s just crazy’ ‘Oh, ok that makes it all better. I thought she just hated me.’ Finally the two of us met up and exchanged stories on the CNG ride home. ‘Wow, what a crazy day in Dhaka’ we agreed. A great day for a drink, right princess Leia?
Princess Leia hittin' the sauce, huh? Right on!
ReplyDelete