The Bright Side

Since arriving in Dhaka I have been mainly working on my research project and figuring out a way to organize my data. We have been able to explore the city, it is bustling and crowded, much like NYC, except with frequent interruptions in water and electricity service and a lot more rickshaws. Everyday feels slightly hotter and more humid, Monday in Dhaka was 104 degrees Fahrenheit with 74% humidity, the dress code makes it even warmer. Shoulders and legs must be covered, and a shawl/scarf is worn by women. I thought I bought the lightest fabric possible for my scarf, but any extra fabric is noticeable in this heat.

The food is slightly different in Dhaka, similar style but spicier and more diverse. I tried pickled olives, pickled mango and pickled grapefruit, but they are nothing close to cucumber pickles from home. They are spicy and difficult to describe, mustard oil and vinegar were the only ingredients I understood, and there must be hot peppers as well. Sanjida's mother made me a delicious lunch of khichuri, which is a common dish here, what made this extra tasty was she used ghee instead of oil to brown the onions, garlic, hot pepper, rice and lentils and she cooked with bay leaves, turmeric and some other delicious spices. The khichuri was served with sides of cabbage, potato and green beans, and also a dollop of spicy pickled mango, everything was tasty and everything was spicy, my eyes were watering and my nose was running before I was halfway through the dish... I was also served sweet spiced carrot on a soft rice cake, very tasty.

On March 26 Bangladesh celebrates Independence Day, 39 years ago they declared themselves independent from then West Pakistan. Many people were wearing red and green, the colors of the Bangladesh flag to celebrate. We went to the Liberation Museum which chronicles the language movement and the war. Both at the Liberation Museum and National Museum there was a special area for George Harrison who organized a concert in 1971 to raise awareness and funds for refugees at that time. The majority of exhibits have graphic pictures, many from newspapers, there are also items from the Freedom Fighters, and many pictures of Bangabandhu ‘A friend of Bengal’ Sheikh Mujib Rahman, the father of Bangladesh. I even had a chance to meet some Freedom Fighters.

Monday I traveled to Sylhet with Frida and Helena by train. Railway is a much nicer way to travel, no oncoming traffic, no horns. We did have many people walk through our cabin to practice their English, mainly ‘hello’ ‘how are you?’ ‘where you from?’ ‘what do you think about Bangladesh?’ A few people actually stood for almost an hour next to our seats, without us interacting at all. While on the train it rained, huge fat drops fall, then stop, leaving the air cool. Lightning lit up the sky for the majority of the night portion of the trip, backlighting the trees. Once the clouds cleared we had the light from a close-to-full moon and fireflies, it was very nice! We stayed one night in Sylhet and then made our way to Srimongal by bus, after two hours of weaving between trucks and rickshaws and incessant horn-honking, I reinforced my love of trains in this country, we will be returning to Dhaka by train…. We are staying at the Bangladesh Tea Research Institute Guesthouse. This area is full of tea estates, also fruit (lime, pineapple, lychee, jackfruit) orchards, and rubber trees. Today we rented bicycles, one speed, heavy, rickety bicycles and rode through the main road and through a tea estate.

This was the conversation had yesterday with the man from the bike rental place

‘How long is a half day?’

‘Until 2pm’

‘And how much?’

‘200 taka per bike (less than 3 USD)’

‘For the whole day?’

‘Same, 200 taka a day’ when we looked confused he continued on something about an ‘engineer’ and fixing the bikes. What we learned today was, much like Cinderella and midnight, after 2pm our bikes essentially turned into pumpkins. We stopped to get 5 layered tea and a gust of wind took two of the bikes down, they did not make it out whole, I had some bits to bring back in my pocket and the metal splash guard was chaffing the tire despite my best efforts to fix it, the bike’s bell (broken to begin with) flew off while going done a bumpy hill. Meanwhile, Frida’s front splash guard completely dropped on the wheel, somehow she managed to make it ride-able and we all got home safely.

I gained a deeper appreciation for the rickshaw puller today, the bicycle technology is decades behind, and they also pull heavier loads, the rickshaw alone is welded from metal with a wood seat. I am not sure how much they make in a day, but a twenty minute ride costs between 30-50 taka (60 to 70 cents). Most are rented from a company and the puller only takes a percentage of the profit. A tea picker makes 48 taka (68 cents) for 8 hours of work, AND they have a union. A public school teacher makes 3000-5000 taka (43-71 dollars) a month. A maid that comes 6 times a week to clean makes 400-1000 taka (6-14 dollars a month) and can pay around 500 taka (7 dollars) a month to share a room with many other people in a Dhaka slum. A maid that lives in the house, getting room and board, makes 1500-2000 (around 20-30 dollars) a month, wages are commonly sent back to their families in the village. When I asked about tipping, stating that in the States I tip the upper limit, I was told that ‘here we tip the minimum because we don’t want them to become lazy.’

During the bike ride we sang “Always look on the bright side of life” and so as our bikes fell apart and our bodies began to fatigue in the heat and humidity, the bright side was we weren’t pulling a rickshaw, or working for 48 taka a day.

The majority of Bangladeshis are Muslim (the rest are Hindu, Buddhist and Christian) therefore, as in the States, being a vegetarian puts me in the minority. The difference being that here they don't ask for an explanation, except one man asked if I'm a vegetarian in America. The other night a man said 'oh my father is a vegetarian' I said 'really? mine too.' They don't cook vegetables or dahl with meat, and they don't use lard, nice and straight forward, very veg friendly.
Bangladeshi meals all include a carbohydrate a protein and a vegetable. Breakfast carbohydrates can be white rice, but more commonly paratha (fried flaky roti), roti (circular white bread), or pau roti (sliced white bread, like sweet Wonder Bread). Breakfast protein is dim (egg) here they serve it with green chili peppers or onions, and fry it slightly scrambled a little thicker than an omelet. Frying is a common thing. Breakfast vegetables can be anything, potato, cauliflower, cabbage, always with garlic,chilies, chili powder and tumeric, very nice! Lunch and Dinner include white rice (a huge serving) with at least one vegetable dish (spinach, okra, pumpkin, sweet pumpkin, eggplant, green papaya, cauliflower, potato) and dahl (lentils normally served soupy with an oniony base to put over rice). They also make Bengali noodles, thin ramen like noodles with fried egg and onion, served with rice. For meat eaters, fish is a common protein here, but they also have chicken and beef, cooked in a spicy curry. They are generous with oil (soy bean oil) and morich (chili). Dinner and lunch often come with salad, slices of fresh cucumber, tomato and carrots with lime and green chilies, sadly for me, no fresh fruits/vegetables. Dairy is mainly milk in coffee and tea, and in the sweets, but no cheese.
Silverware is not common here. It is more common to use the right hand. I was taught how to scoop with my fingers and use my thumb to push the food in my mouth, and if it's done right, the rice and tumeric should not be above the most distal knuckle. It's pretty fun to eat with your fingers, as long as you have soap and clean water to wash before and after. Sometimes the tumeric stains the cuticles yellow for a few washings. Last night a paramedic hosted dinner at her house and her neighbor was in awe I was eating with my fingers.
I am meeting many people everyday, and while it is challenging for me to say or remember their names, they can all remember and pronounce my name, someone asked me today, 'what is your English name?' Funny, in the states I get 'is that your yoga name?' One of the paramedics took to calling me 'Om Shanti Om' and I've heard it a few times since from various people. To show respect for someone, the word apa (sister) or bhai (brother) is added after their name. You can even use it for the rickshaw puller, 'hey rickshaw puller bhai.'
Today was my last day visiting the chars, tomorrow I head back to Dhaka to organize the data we have collected so far and hopefully I can figure out some meaningful way to help. I am not looking forward to the bus ride back to Dhaka, it will be long, potentially hot and crowded, and definitely noisy, it's horn honking time again.

Bangladesh, more colorful, more sweet.

Yesterday Sanjita, the translator, made us laugh when she told us she doesn't like maple syrup because it's too sweet. Everything is sweet here, the white bread tastes as if it's been sprinkled with sugar, the bananas and tangerines are sweeter too. There are always sugar crystals at the bottom of the mug of dudh cha (milk tea) or coffee.
Yesterday, Setu, a paramedic, bought us 'mishti' or 'sweets.' We tried roshmalai, Gaibanda's famous style of sweets. After we finished our cha, the owner took us to tour the kitchen. Of course I did not have my camera. The main part of the sweet is made from milk curds (similar to making paneer) which are formed into balls and then saturated in sugar/syrup/cream mixture. One sweetmaker squatted on the floor making the curds, the others stood at a table making balls. The room was poorly lit and filled with smoke from the wood burning stove where the milk was boiling. I was reminded of this article about building a better stove for the developing world from the New Yorker http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/12/21/091221fa_fact_bilger .
For dinner last night the cook brought two live chickens for our farewell. Helena brought up a good point that live chickens are probably the best way to ensure the meat is not spoiled, I did not try any, but everyone else seemed to enjoy it. Someone brought paan, the betel nut wrapped in a leaf with sugar and spices that acts as a digestiv and makes your mouth (and, when spat, the sidewalk) red, I did not try it because I can only eat cooked food. There are many things here I would like to try, but dysentary with a subcontinental toilet is certainly not one of them.
For the last two days I visited chars, the first, Shidai was about an hour and a half boat ride from Gaibanda. I wasn't able to see any patients there, but I did see the child nutrition program as well as the vocational and primary schools. Also we got to see parts of a maize harvest. The second char, Kunder Para, was closer, and I was able to see many pediatric patients and start collecting data.
Today we left Gaibanda for EFH, a long boat ride. On our last rickshaw ride to the dock, a group of school kids in white and blue uniforms waved at us, excited by our wave back, they started running after our rickshaws, collecting more screaming waving children as they went, it made us all laugh and again reminded me of the Pied Piper with his flute and trail of children following behind. Currently posting this from an air conditioned cabin on EFH, feels quite luxurious!

Research

Friday we conducted our surveys and focus groups with the paramedics that serve the chars, we got up early from EFH and took a trawler to Chilmuri where we met everyone. After gathering our information we left late on another trawler to Gaibanda. Since it was a 3 hour boat ride at dusk, they told us to sit under the canopy to ward off bandits. I was thinking pirates, but luckily we had no such excitement. The boats have LED flashlights that they use to communicate with each other on the water. The trawler docked at Balaschi Ghat where our arrival attracted much attention, "hello, where are you from? thank you". Our 25 min rickshaw ride to Gaibanda was accompanied by two motorcycles from the guesthouse. Rickshaw rides are great for a few minutes, but when balancing luggage for anytime they become uncomfortable. The only consolation was the stars were bright and many, and at night rickshaws travel with oil lamps below which is pretty.
Yesterday we went to see the local market with Frida and Helena, the Swedish architecture students. While looking in a sari/salwar shop a patron with paan stained teeth insisted we sit. At one point a shop keeper was pointing his phone at us, we moved together, as if for a photo, and were embarrassed once we realized he was filming us. The patron then bought us ginger tea. A difficult situation, on the one hand it was very generous of her, but on the other hand I don't want any stomach issues. I have been lucky so far.
Today I was supposed to go to a satellite clinic on a char to start the observation part of my research, but the paramedics were sick. Instead, one of the supervising paramedics, Chetu, took us on a tour of two local hospitals. The staff was very welcoming as were the patients. First we saw the Maternal Ward, apparently they have 200-300 births a month. The labor room has two birthing tables within arms distance of each other, both were occupied during the tour. Then we went to a room with 9 beds for postnatal care. The infants share the bed with the mother and are wrapped in multiple bold colorful blankets, no pastel blue or pink. The next hospital had the pediatric ward, 11 beds in a 100 bed hospital. The children were mainly there for pneumonia. On the way out of the hospital a father ran up to us with a toddler boy and told me the boy drank kerosene a week prior, but was doing well now. Someone explained to me that when a foreign doctor comes the villagers think it is really important to be seen or touched by the doctor.
After the hospital we went to see a school. It was a private school with Pre-K to 12th grade. The director of the school came personally to show us the classrooms and helped us interview the students. Many of the children want to be doctors, engineers, architects, and pilots, only one little boy wanted to be a cricket player. We asked how long they spent on homework, they answered 4-8 hours!
After visiting the school we stopped by one of the paramedic's house, she brought multiple children for me to examine, mostly family members. My favorite was a man asking why his son is irritable and throws tantrums at 30 months of age, very challenging to do in another language within 5 min of meeting the family. Not to mention, I have no sense of standard Bengali parenting.

Driving Lessons

Yesterday was spent traveling from Dhaka to Kurigram, we rented a van with AC, we had 7 passengers and lots of bags squeezed together, for a long long drive. The majority of the road is large enough for one bus in each direction, but no one wants to wait behind the slower rickshaws, auto-rickshaws, CNGs, buses, trucks, tractors so there is a lot of passing. It's okay to pass (even when the line is solid, even around blind corners, even with oncoming traffic) if you just honk a lot. Nasiha in the back seat laughed each time Frida and I shook our heads in disbelief.
I kept thinking of Richard Scary's books, the scene was chaotic with vehicles made out of everything, full of everything, going every which way. The street is lined with markets, eating places, welding and carpenter shops. There were many brick factories (where people sit under umbrellas manually breaking bricks) and rice fields. People use little ponds along the road for bathing, washing clothes, washing cows, fishing, etc...
This morning we took rickshaws to the bus to Chilmari were we took a boat to the Emirates Floating Hospital (EFH). We stopped at a char (island in the river) and visited a satellite clinic. The chars are temporary islands that are formed by the river, once a new island appears it takes around 2-6 years to become cultivatable. According to my hosts, gundas (mafia) claim the char (it is hypothesized the gov gets a cut) and parcel it out to the settlers who use it for growing jute, corn, and rice. The settlers also work in nearby towns as rickshaw pullers. When the river takes away the char, the settlers loose their land. This is still more affordable than land on the mainland.
The children on the char came to see us, and followed us to the boat, we were like the pied piper, I included photos.

Transition

I arrived in Dhaka yesterday morning, got through customs without issue, and a car was waiting as well as Rupa to take me into the city. There is a lot of traffic here, and a lot of honking. The drivers are on the right side of the car, and at first I thought I was not used to the lanes, then I realized the lanes are theoretical, and a lot of traffic comes head on. Also traffic includes rickshaws, buses, cars, little three wheeled carts and pedestrians.
Most of the signs are in English, and many people here speak English. Rupa speaks English with an Indian accent, she says it helps.
Electricity is intermittent. When I arrived it was out and the elevator wasn't working, luckily I only had to carry my luggage up two flights of stairs. While it is warm and a bit humid, it's bearable when the AC turns off.
I am staying at the NGO's guesthouse, two other women are here as well, Helena and Freda from Sweden. They are architects who are working on a geography project involving the rivers. While walking in the market yesterday we had a lot of curious stares, people are friendly and eager to use their English.
The food has been spicy vegetable deliciousness, with green chili and lime garnish.
I woke up too early this morning, and can't fall back a sleep, I feel post call, but am sure I will be adjusted to the time change and flight by this time tomorrow.