Shubho NoboBorsho! Happy New Year!

Bagerhat

Bagerhat, a small town, is less than an hour's drive from Khulna, about two hours from Jessore. It was founded by the great sufi mystic and warrior Khan Jahan Ali. There are several old mosques in the area, the most famous being the Shait Gombuj Mosque (Mosque of Sixty Domes.) That is a misnomer - it actually has 77 domes, supported by 60 columns inside. There are several other mosques (9-dome mosque, 10-dome mosque, Shingair mosque, and Ronbijoypur mosque which has the largest dome of any mosque in Bangladesh.) The shrine of Khan Jahan Ali is also in this town. Definitely worth a visit.

I loved the inside of the Shait Gombuj which dates from 1450ish. Here are three photos.

RIP Eleanor Callahan

This has nothing to do with Bangladesh, but... Eleanor Callahan, wife, model and muse of the great photographer Harry Callahan, passed away today.

Callahan was an amazing photographer, up there among the best of the best. And Eleanor provided him inspiration and a subject.

Slide show of photos by Harry of Eleanor here.

SoftExpo Photos

SoftExpo, the annual trade fair of BASIS (Bangladesh Assoc. of Software and Information Services), took place last week. It was a comprehensive affair, with software developers, inventors, freelancers, hardware vendors, and of course customers - all meeting up for five tech-heavy days.

Here are some photos.

Sundarban Again

Nypa palm (golpata) trees in Sundarban.

Not only is it a beautiful tree, but it provides livelihood for thousands of people who collect its leaf for making roof thatching.

This week my Tangents column is on the beauty of Sundarban.

February 21st

Taken at Shaheed Minar on Feb 21, 2012.

February 21, known as Ekushey February, is a special day in the history of this country. On this day in 1952, students at Dhaka University rose up against an edict (by West Pakistan) to impose Urdu as the national language on us, Bengali-speaking people. The rest, as they say, is history.

Ekushey has turned into a massive observance. Everyone brings flowers to remember the martyrs. I try to come here on this day, not the least because my father was among those who demonstrated - and was wounded - in 1952 when he was a student at Dhaka University.

As I was wandering there, I kept on thinking, is this the nation they would have liked to see? To be proud of?

Sundarban 2012

Here are photos from a trip to Sundarban I took last week. Sundarban in southwestern Bangladesh (and a smaller fraction in India) is the largest contiguous mangrove forest and ecosystem in the world. It is the home of the Royal Bengal Tiger as well as countless varieties of flaura and fauna.

Sundarban can only be visited by boat. Several companies offer tours there. Boats start from Khulna, and you have to get there from Dhaka by train, bus or plane (or private car of course.) I have used Guide Tours twice. They are excellent. By the time you add up everything, a trip can run you between 20000 and 40000 Taka, depending on length, luxury of boat and whether you fly.

Osprey with fish. The Osprey is a legendary fish-eater bird.

Our boat, Guide Tours' MV Aboshar.

Flock of ducks near Mongla.

Common kingfisher.

We saw two crocodiles. This was the first.

Nypa palm (golpata), used for making thatched roofs.

Gewa trees on Kotka beach. Gewa is called Blinding Mangrove because its latex can blind.

Boroi tree whose bottom is "pruned" at the height the deer can reach.

Dome-shaped spider web in a canal.

Shikre, a bird of prey.

Otters crossing the canal. They were extremely shy.

Great Egret (Boro Bok.)

Water monitor, also known as Kalo Gui Shap.

Brahminy kite (shonkho chil.)

The road less traveled.

Boardwalk at Harbaria Visitor center.

Fiddler crab.

Fresh tiger pugmark on wet mud. Off the boardwalk at Harbaria.

Great Egrets.

Goodbye beautiful Sundarban.