Shrimongol to Dhaka

After visiting Lawachara National Park we returned to the cottage, collected our bags and headed for the station to return to Dhaka, enroute we went via some more of the villages.

The ice cream man was there, with a painted aluminium coolbox fitted to his bike.

On the platform someone had a wonderful bag/ basket made from packaging, layered together like papier mache.

As we headed back to Dhaka much of the land we passed through had once been forest, areas have been cleared both for their timber and for tea and rice production.

We paused at stations along the way where boys sold water and snacks to the people on the trains. At some of the stations children jumped onto the trains to collect the plastic bottles and other items for recycling, leaving before the train departed.

Slowly the daylight faded and the light from villages and shops along the route caught my attention. In the outskirts of Dhaka, people shopped near to the level crossings. The shanti's close to the railway line were lit up.

See parts of the journey here: Pani. Tea & Rice. Clearing. Pause. Light. Lights.

Tea

Commercial tea production in Banglasdesh dates to the early/mid 1800's. Bangladesh is one of the top ten largest tea producing and exporting countries in the world. Most of the tea producing estates are in the north eastern region of Bangladesh, there are some in the south east. Many still have British interests. The picking season runs from March to December, during the wetter months, so all was relatively quiet.

Bangladesh Tea Board

We hired some bicycles and set off on a ride around the area and the tea gardens, the light barks of the trees standing out above the tea plants made bands of colour. They reminded me of the eucalyptus trees lining the roads in central Australia. The markings on the trees identified boundaries and ownershipWe didnt go into the plantations, we visited the nearby villages around Shrimongal.

Many of the inhabitants who work on the plantations are descendants of hindu tribal groups brought in to the area from other regions of India (Orissa, Bihar and West Bengal) specifically to work on the plantations, they are self contained and have developed their own distinct culture and language. Much has been written and reported on the health, living and working conditions of tea plantation workers.

In the village the women were gathered around the pump to collect water.

The houses and earth yards are decorated with adobe paintings using chalk, charcoal, cow or goat dung and clay. The designs are sometimes for ritual (some were linked to local stick dancing rites or Rangoli/ Alpana), sometimes to mark boundaries, sometimes to beautify.

Women regulary repaint and decorate an area outside of the house, sometimes as part of puja.

A beautiful circle some 25cm Ø.

Not all the drawing were of a ritual nature!

The villagers were friendly, it was evident that life was hard for some.

We cycled on to Srimongal, but the town didn't feel as welcoming, there were spots of rain, so we headed back.