The first one is more relevant to Chittagong specifically--there are these crows that rule the city and during the evening call to prayer they start to flock up and fly wherever it is they roost for the night. It's pretty crazy. Mostly they pick through the various piles of garbage everywhere. There are "designated" areas where people dump garbage, but it's right on the street and since there aren't really any sidewalks, you have to walk around them. I can't begin to describe how bad they smell--it's so hot here it just festers--another use for the dupatta (scarf) is to cover the nose and mouth when walking by! There are crews that come around and scoop it up and haul it away periodically (not sure where they take it) but first various groups pick through it: people, dogs, rats and always the crows.....where there's garbage, there's crows......
This next one is of two men who have dyed their beard and/or hair bright orange with henna. I've read that muslims who have made the trip to mecca do this, but none of the local Bangladeshis say this. When I ask they say it's just to cover gray and look younger and because the prophet Mohammad did it also. Lots of guys do this and I see them everywhere--I think it looks pretty hilarious. The third "normal" looking guy is another AUW faculty and the two guys with orange hair were unidentified workers/faculty/staff at Dhaka University when we visited the Vice Chancellor. It's hard to get photos of these guys because I don't want to walk down the street just snapping pictures of random people with orange hair, but everyone had their cameras out at this moment taking photos of the VC, so I took the opportunity to snap one of them because they were sitting next to him.
This next one is a very traditional Bengali embroidered tapestry. This photos is probably about a 3' x 2' portion of a larger tapestry hanging in the hotel we stayed at in Dhaka (click on the image to make it larger). Often they're done on a muslin-colored background, but sometimes red. Rarely I've seen a dark brown/black background also. There are lots of various images, flowers, boats, people, etc. depicted in them. I also bought a little purse with some elephants and a tree embroidered in this fashion.
This next one is also a very Bengali image--shoes at the doorway! Even when you enter most shops you leave your shoes at the door. I love it b/c I hate to wear shoes and the floors are usually nice and cool. This image is from a potluck dinner the faculty had earlier this week.
And here's a photo of some of the food and people at the potluck dinner. I really had a good time because it reminded me of all the potluck dinners in Berkeley. We plan on doing more of them. The only downside was no alcohol. The food was really great! I made my friend Rosa's recipe of turkish lentils w/mint to give a new flavor to the ubiquitous daal that's at every meal.
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