Lei View of the World

Last October 9-14, we went to two towns (called pourashavas) southeast and southwest of Dhaka, named Jessore and Pirojpur. On our way back to Dhaka, we took a ferry ride for 1.5 hours to cross the Padma river, a long 4 km wide river. Along the way, we saw river dolphins jumping out of the water. At first, we would not believe there are dolphins in the river, because we are familiar with the sea variety only. But when we saw them, we believed. When we reached Dhaka, we told this story to our environmentalist, he confirmed that there are river dolphins.

I took some pictures of the activites in the ferry. My local counterpart and I went up to the captain’s level, where I could look down and see what’s happening on two levels down. I heard some can being beaten by a stick. When I followed the sound, I saw a young teenager putting puffed rice in a can as big as a Cheez Curls can, adding some chopped onions and some spices. Then he would stir all of these in the can with his stick. This was the source of the sound. After being thoroughly mixed, he would empty the contents of the can into a piece of paper shaped into a cone, give it to the waiting buyer, and receive the payment of 2 taka (their currency). This is about 3 cents. Usually the buyers are children, because it is still fasting month.

Then there was another type of sound. This time, a young boy of about 12 put his ingredients of fried noodles, chopped onions and some spices into a can like that of almond nuts. Instead of stirring them with a stick, he would cover the can, then slap the can to his other hand to mix them. He had quite a good rhythm there, this caught my attention.

Then there was a young boy selling water, another selling boiled eggs. There was also an old man selling fresh sugarcane. He would cut one long sugarcane into 2 feet lengths, clean the roots, and sell them. There were also others selling fresh bananas and papaya. Come to think of it, they were selling all natural food, no soft drinks or bottled water or chips!

Before we got into the ferry, my local counterpart, took me to the platform that connects the ferry to the land. As a bus leaves the ferry, the ferry would become lighter, sending the platform to bob up and down. At first, I was caught by surprise, and two boys smiled as I regained my balance. It’s their bad habit to stare at strangers. And we stand out here because we have fairer skin and flat noses. So these two boys have been staring at me. But when I smiled at them, they also smiled.

The other picture of the banana boy is while waiting for the ferry. The old man in the sari-sari store was inviting me to buy his Coke. I asked him in sign language if I can take their picture. He said yes.