A Mosque Bonanza

Those who like photographs and architecture will find the "Mosque Today" exhibition at the Goethe Institute, Dhaka, a rewarding experience. There are three groups of photos by photographers Hasan Saifuddin Chandan and Babu Ahmed of Bangladesh and Wilfried Dechau of Germany. They reveal mosques in three different spheres. Chandan meditates on the modern mosques of Dhaka through photos that are imbued with his lyrical style. Ahmed's photos are of older historical mosques of Bangladesh. Dechau's mosques are ones from Germany, built by the Turkish community there. There is also a digital presentation every day from 5-6pm on Architecture and Mosques in Bangladesh by Saif Ul Haq, a local architect.

The exhibition runs Jan 4-18, 2010 from 10am to 7pm at the Goethe Institute in Dhanmondi (behind the semi-circular playing field off of Mirpur Road - where the old USIS used to be.) Definitely worth a trip. And while you are there check out the cafe on the rooftop serving great shingaras.

Here are three images from Chandan's show (the photos are copyrighted by the photographer and may not be reproduced without his permission):

Baitul Mokarram Mosque



Baridhara Mosque



Monayem Mosque in Banani

"Elephant on the Move"

Sitting inside Bangladesh, it is easy to lose sight of how fast things change here. However, for a traveller with a discerning eye, the changes taking place in Bangladesh can look like fundamental (positive) shifts. One such person is Zain Mahmood, a non-resident-Bangladeshi and CEO of a US-based multinational. Here is his take after a recent trip to Bd.

Hmmm. Now why can't the NYT publish something like this on Bd (rather than the usual?)