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.

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.

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

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

chittagong at night, in black and white

a popcorn vender at work

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.

 

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.

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. 

nepal: humans and other animals