Tuesday, November 29, 2011

one day: communism, moral worth, vietnam, vaginas, ismailism, whiskey, water buffalo, cricket, motorcycles, bicycles, bach

i spent most of my morning with the communist manifesto. "a spectre is haunting europe..." we are reading marx in my political philosophy class. it is my first time teaching this material, so i'm spending a lot of time preparing for lectures and discussions. but its really a delight and a privilege to spend a day reading marx. he is such an interesting thinker - so sophisticated conceptually, and also so full of energy for change and for practical good. its an exceedingly rare combination, and there might be no other political thinker who combines such philosophical acuity with moral passion in the way that marx does. plus, in spite of the jargon, he can write a damn fine sentence when he wants to. for example: "communism is the riddle of history solved, and it knows itself to be this solution."

i spent much of the afternoon talking about kant, duty, and moral worth. the students in my ethics class have their papers due tomorrow, and most of them are writing about kant's groundwork of the metaphysics of morals. so many of them came by my office for last minute discussions of the difference between acting from duty and acting merely in accordance with duty, and why only the former has moral worth.

after my office hours, i rode the bike machine and ran on the treadmill in the auw gym, which is on the floor above my office. at the gym, and on walks around chittagong, i am listening to this pulitzer-prize winning history of the vietnam war (which is also a history of the vietnam region going back to the colonial era). since coming to bangladesh, i have become an avid listener of audio books, mostly in history. i've finished two books on the first world war, a book on eastern europe during the 1930s and 1940s, a book on baseball and economics, and a book on the cia-backed coup in iran in the 1950s. i've enjoyed all of these. i find that fiction does not work as well for me in this format, and that narrative-driven history is ideal for audio.

this evening a group of auw students presented selections from eve ensler's play "the vagina monologues," along with some origin material and a video presentation on "comfort women" enslaved by the japanese during the second world war. a lot of students and faculty showed up, and the presentations went well. i think i can safely say that i have never heard the word "vagina" so many times in the span of one hour. the presentations were always earnest, and at times very sad, especially when dealing with issues of harassment and rape and shame.

after the presentation, i ran into several of my students from pakistan standing outside. as i approached them, they told me that they had just been talking about me. which i guess is good luck, since one of them informed me: "sir, you will live a long life," as if this followed from the timing of my greeting. we spoke for a while in the cool evening air. we talked about classes, about learning english, about the languages they understand (urdu, english, arabic, persian), and about religion. they are all ismailis, a minority branch of islam. i know a little about ismailism from a book on islam i read last summer. they spoke with pride about being ismaili. it is a more "liberal" kind of islam, one of them said - not interpreting the quran too literally. they spoke with affection about the aga khan, and they explained how ismailis everywhere will welcome other ismailis. they told me that there are two ismaili families in chittagong, and more in dhaka. i explained to them the english idiom "close knit", and how it is a textile metaphor.

talking with these students was wonderful. like most of our students at auw, these three students are thoughtful, respectful, and warm. they like to laugh. they are self-aware, but not too guarded or cynical. as we talked, i wished that i spent more time with my students outside of class. i would like to get to know them better. i would like to spend more time having them teach me about their cultures and their view of the world.

leaving auw around 8, i took a cng to agrabad. a cng is a vehicle run on (c)ompressed (n)atural (g)as. they are essentially motorcycles with a back-bench attached, surrounded by a metal cage. agrabad is a center of commerce, a few miles south of the university. it is also home to the only place known to me - or to anyone whom i know - that sells alcohol in chittagong. the agrabad liquor store is at the end of a narrow alley. the "store" is actually a man, or a couple of men, standing behind a metal grate. they sell one kind of beer, one kind of vodka, one kind of whiskey, and one kind of rum. all of the this is made in bangladesh. the beer is barely drinkable, and the liquor tastes like medicine. but these are our limited options.

arriving in agrabad, i told my cng driver where to stop and paid him 100 taka ($1.30). after looking around a bit, i finally found the right alley, next to a store selling car batteries. i bought some whiskey for myself, and vodka for a friend's birthday this thursday.

the person who sells the bangladeshi brew is this man:
























i got my change, took the alcohol, walked down the alley, and turned right on the main road. about twenty yards down i passed a mosque with men praying. about ten yards after that, there were two water buffalo on the sidewalk, tied with rope and eating hay that someone had set out for them. walking another ten yards, i had to leave the sidewalk and walk in the street, to avoid a crowd of men and boys standing outside an electronics store, watching cricket on the tvs on the window.

i hailed another cng and headed home. the traffic was bad on the way back. we sat for a while on a bridge jammed with cars, rickshaws, and cngs. the bridge passes over railway tracks, and looking out i  could see the shacks of people who live along the tracks. i could see their oil lamps burning in the dark. i opened the whiskey and took a few drinks from the bottle. i wondered if my driver could smell it, and i thought probably not. just a few feet to my left, a number of motorcycles were driving on the sidewalk, forcing pedestrians out of their way. good sidewalks are not common in chittagong, so it struck me as especially significant that even this sidewalk - nicer than most - was being claimed by traffic, at the expense of pedestrians.

the cng let me off in front of my apartment, and i paid him 200 taka. this is more than a bangladeshi would pay, but less than 3 dollars, which isn't bad for a 30 minute cab ride. and i hate to bargain, so i prefer to just give a bit more than is standard and leave it at that. the driver was happy with the 200. he raised his hand in thanks as i walked away, carrying my leather bag holding my laptop, and a cloth bag holding the booze.

for dinner i ate rice and cauliflower and fish, prepared earlier in the week and left in the fridge by my housekeeper, kokhon. along with dinner, i enjoyed some more of the bangladeshi whiskey.

yesterday i bought a bike from one of my auw colleagues who is returning to the states in the fall. after dinner, i took the bike downstairs and went searching for a place to inflate its flat tires. the bike is painted black, with front and rear tire guards and a rack on the back. it has lots of chinese characters written on the frame. written in english are the words "the forever." i believe it. this is the tank of bicycles. its twice as heavy as my bike in chicago, which was a steal frame japanese bike from the 1980s.

leaving my apartment with the bike, i turned left, and i didn't have to walk more than 100 yards before i found a small mechanic's shop that could inflate the tires. the shop had no front door - just a front open to the muddy and broken road. three men were inside. the place was illuminated by a bare light bulb hanging from the ceiling. i couldn't tell them what i wanted in bangla, but it was pretty obvious what i was after. one of them filled up my tires with air. "bhalo" i said - "good." i think he asked for 20 taka, but i'm not sure. i gave him 100, and he seemed happy.

in the cool night air, in shorts and a white t-shirt, without a helmut but with a bit of whiskey running through my bloodstream, i rode the streets of chittagong. i turned right at the end of my street, and road past the police station. i rode past a tailor and a mosque and a dry-cleaner. i rode past the barber shop where i got my haircut two weeks ago. i sang loudly songs from "the sunset tree." i went through a roundabout which is home to numerous shops, including "valencia's secret" - a shop for women. i rode north past agora, an upscale shopping market (comparable to a dilapidated jewel or kroger). i turned left on a familiar side-street, went through neighborhoods, past construction workers digging a giant hole for a new building, past a hotel and popcorn vendors and a hindu temple and several pharmacies. i made two lefts and was heading back toward my apartment. up a small hill, then down a long slope. passing rickshaws and pedestrians and cngs. "in the weak last gasp of the evenings dying light, in the way those eyes i've always loved, illuminate this place..."

i turned right onto another side road. i went past a building where, a couple months ago, i was snooping through a window and startled to see a monkey in a cage just a few inches from my face. i road past a park described on google maps as "united nations park." i made another turn and headed home, the road now scarred with potholes and ruts and filled with water. "thirty six hudson, in the garage, all sorts of junk, in the unattached spare room..."

i turned again onto my street. i passed the shop where the men had filled my tires. they saw me, and we waved. they seemed pleased. i'm sure i was something of a spectacle to them - a white person on a bicycle. in my four months in chittagong, i have not seen another.

my apartment is on the twelfth floor. to get the bicycle into the elevator i had to pull it upright onto its back tire. inside my apartment, i put on a recording of bach's partita II in d minor and washed my feet.


Saturday, November 26, 2011

questions i was asked at a rock concert

this evening i went to this concert at our local stadium here in chittagong. there was a long list of bands, which included (i am told) many of the most famous bands in bangladesh. the music was mostly somewhere between pantera and guns & roses. lots of long-haired, large-lunged vocalists, and lots of guitar solos.

the crowd was fairly large. i would guess around 5,000. and about 98% male, which was slightly surprising, since the theme of the concert was eliminating violence against women. as usual, the men and boys were eager to meet and talk with a foreigner.

here is a partial list of questions i was asked (not necessarily in this order):

- where are you from?
- what are you doing in bangladesh?
- you are a teacher: what is your subject?
- how do you like bangladesh?
- how do you like this concert?
- how long have you been in bangladesh?
- have you had any problems in bangladesh?
- have you been to cox's bazaar?
- have you been to dhaka?
- have you been to st. martin's?
- are you married?
- do you have a girlfriend?
- how many girlfriends have you had?
- did you have a physical relationship with your girlfriends?
- did you vote for john mccain or barack obama?
- do you like barack obama?
- are you a republican or a democrat?
- where do you live?
- how many rooms does your apartment have?
- what do you eat?
- how do you cook?
- who is your favorite film hero?
- have you ever seen michael jackson?
- do you like lady gaga?
- do you know madonna?
- is madonna british or american?
- what do people in america think of bangladesh?
- when will you go back to america?
- can i come to america with you?
- will you come with us to cox's bazaar on dec 31st?
- why did you come here, to such a poor country?
- which search engine do you use: google or yahoo?
- are you on facebook?
- are you on google plus?
- is chicago the capital of illinois?
- is los angeles the capital of california?
- do many film stars live in los angeles?
- is it expensive to live in los angeles?
- is silicon valley in california?
- are there any poor states in america?
- do you have a car?
- do you have an iphone? (no) what kind of cellphone do you have?
- do you like bangladeshi girls?
- do you know the samba?
- can you show us an american dance move?

or perhaps it was: show us an american dance move.
answer: yes, the worm.

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

tennis

after 10 days in thailand earlier this month, i am back in chittagong. we have about one month of classes left before our winter break. in my ethics class, we are reading kant. in political philosophy, we are reading marx.

i was able to take some pictures in thailand. unfortunately, however, my camera also stopped working. i am looking into repair possibilities here, but i may have to wait until i return to the states in december to get it fixed.

in the meantime, here are some pics from before thailand, playing tennis with some of the other AUW faculty. our supply of rackets is limited, but we hope to have more (and better) rackets soon. the facilities are somehow connected to the military, it seems, as there is a general who comes to play regularly. we had to leave the court when told that the general was coming.

my first attempt at sports photography (no zoom on this lens, so no extreme close-ups):

the Serbian

the American

the Canadian




Monday, November 7, 2011

elephas maximus by moonlight

i am in thailand for fall break. i was in bangkok for the first few days of my trip, and now i am staying by the beach about an hour outside phuket, in the southern part of thailand.

it is quiet here. i am staying in a simple wooden bungalow, about 20 yards from the beach. tomorrow i will take a boat to the similan islands. we will snorkle and explore the islands, and spend two nights on the boat.

last night i went walking along a dirt road near the bunaglows. there were no streetlights, but the sky was clear and the moon was almost full, so it was not hard to find the path. along the roads were fields with palm trees, and sometimes rows of rubber trees. i saw no people. after walking some time, i noticed something in a field to my right, about 30 yards away. i looked closer and realized that i was staring at an elephant eating in the field. i then heard something moving in the plants on the other side of the road. walking a bit further, i saw another elephant eating palms, not more than ten yards from me with no fence or barrier between us.

as i understand it, the people here keep domesticated elephants. there are lots of places where tourists can ride an elephant through the jungle, and i suppose the elephants are mainly used for this purpose (perhaps others?)  i'm not sure how their owners keep track of them, but they seem to roam more less freely. at night, they put large piles of palm leaves into the fields for them to eat. the workers at the bungalows tell me that elephants often come down to bathe in a nearby spot where a river meets the ocean.

i have no idea how to approach an elephant properly, but i couldn't resist moving closer to them. i walked up to one, speaking in calm tones. it was picking up palms leaves with its nose and eating them. eventually i got close enough to pet its nose. it pushed its nose against my hand, and seemed to investigate me a bit. the nose is so muscular and so skillfully employed, i believe it could have easier knocked me down just using its nose if it had wanted to. but the elephant was not aggressive. nor was it very interested in me. it simply continued eating.

i approached the other elephant, and got a similar reaction. i imagine that these elephants were more of a curiosity for this human than humans are for these elephants.







Saturday, October 29, 2011

guitar, voice, and tabla

last thursday, my friend illya played a show at bishaud bangla, a community arts space that is located just around the corner from AUW. illya recently moved here from arizona. he is teaching music at AUW. in the states, illya is the lead singer of a band called the whisperlights.

a lot of students came to the show. it was nice to see them outside the classroom. at one point, the students in illya's music class sang a bangla song, written by tagore to a scottish tune. illya was accompanied by a tabla-player, who played extremely well.










Thursday, October 27, 2011

gallus gallus

walking the other night, i looked into the window of a building to see this rooster, so proud and pretty. several days later, i saw some of his relatives on the street, so helpless and humiliated.





Saturday, October 22, 2011

working the night shift

the first three photos were taking at an aluminum processing workshop next to my apartment. the floor is dirt, the walls thin, and the noise of the machine very loud. the aluminum is first cut into thick rectangles, then it is pushed through a machine that flattens those rectangles into thin sheets, to be shaped into bowls, pitchers, etc. the workers enjoyed having their pictures taken, and started cutting up for the camera.




cutting rebar
security guards at my apartment
a streetside cobbler

Thursday, October 20, 2011

chittagong at night: work, rest, prayer

this boy was sitting in a small shop, apparently waiting for his parents to return. when i saw him sitting there, i took his picture. then without any prompting from me, he got up, and without saying a word he walked to the front of the shop and stood there waiting for me to take his photo - as if this was the dutiful thing for a child to do.





















workers live in the buildings they are constructing


praying alone in a small neighborhood mosque





Saturday, October 15, 2011

trip to the beach

around a week ago, i went to the beach with a few other professors and a group of students. we went in the hopes of taking photos at a festival, but it turned out that there was no festival. still, it was a nice afternoon of taking pictures by the ocean. but don't imagine a sandy shoreline. more like huge fields of mud. at one point i was walking with one of my students and we both started sinking into the mud. i was in up to mid-thigh and starting to get a little nervous. but eventually we were able to help each other out of the mud, with some additional assistance from bangladeshi children.







there are not a lot of bathing suits to be seen at a beach in bangladesh. the men and boys swim in shorts or pants. the women don't seem to swim much at all, but do put on their nice clothes.


Wednesday, October 12, 2011

two festivals

in the past two weeks, there have been two significant festivals here. the first was durga puja ("puja" means festival). durga puja is a hindu festival that celebrates a multi-armed female deity who rides a lion and kills a demon. the celebration of durga puja lasts about a week. along with some other professors, i went to a hindu temple one night during the celebration. there was a priest performing rites before a statue of the goddess, and music and dancing.


last night was a buddhist festival of lanterns. there are large lanterns, each with a flame at the bottom. they are released into the sky, like mini hot air balloons. the festival took place in front of the main buddhist temple in chittagong. there was music and dancing in the streets.

as the festival continues, there are dozens of lanterns floating away into the night sky. as they rise up and are carried by the wind, they form a staggered series of lights, silently floating higher and higher, until they look like distant stars.




i shot video at both of these festivals, and i think the videos are better than the photos. they certainly gives a better sense of the atmosphere - the music and crowds and energy. but the internet here is so slow that i can't upload video. perhaps i can show some of you when i am back in the states.

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

music in the park

street musicians are rare in chittagong. in addition to the noise of car horns and rickshaw bells, there are few good sidewalks. but i did come across the man below, who played and sang in a small park.