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GRIFFIN
BYTEWORKS
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bangladesh, april 1988
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After
Darjeeling, I
was bound for Burma.
With Bangladesh lying in between, how could I resist stopping
over and having a look? I visited Dhaka, then took a
short domestic flight to Chittagong, in the east of the country.
I had hoped to visit the Chittagong Hill Tracts, home of some
interesting tribal peoples, however I arrived on a Friday
(the Muslim equivalent of Sabbath), so getting anywhere was pretty hard.
So I just had a look around instead.
All images with turned-down corners
can be enlarged by clicking on the image.
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An outdoor
tailor in Dhaka, the captital of Bangladesh.
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Transporting a
load of coconut husks (used for fuel). Umbrellas
are hugely popuplar - everyone carries one to block out
the scorching sun. It was hot
! I'm sure that they also come in handy during the
monsoon; it's no secret that Bangladesh suffers one of the
world's highest annual rainfalls.
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Well-worn 100-taka
notes. The building depicted on the note is the Istara Mosque,
in Dhaka.
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River traffic on the Buriganga
River, Dhaka
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House
of Parliament, Dhaka
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Vendor of
drinks, Dhaka
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National
Mosque, Dhaka
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Central
Shaheed Minar, in the shape of a hangman's scaffold.
It commemorates the Language Martyrs, 12 students who were
killed by the Pakistan Army in 1951, back when Bangladesh
was East Pakistan. The Language Movement was a reaction
against the Pakistan goverment's decree that Urdu (the language
spoken in West Pakistan) was to be the national language
throughout the country, including East Pakistan (where Bengali
is spoken). The Bengalis rebelled and formed a political
movement which, after years of bloodshed and all-out war
in 1971, led to the formation of Bangladesh. That
the language issue is so important here is demonstrated
by the fact that "Bangladesh" literally means
"land of the Bengali-speaking people".
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Butcher
with a hungry onlooker, in Chittagong.
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Recommended Books |
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Copyright © 1988 Kai Griffin
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