Getting Around

With the HAT LAB taking place at Arts Reverie, I have been fortunate to stay with LOkesh at his flat for the first few days of my time in Ahmedabad. We would travel to and fro on his scooter, which was a great way to see different parts of the city, how people live and an ideal way to quickly get my bearings. Lots of people travel by scooter, motorcycle or motor rickshaw although some choose other methods of transport...

Seeing all the Vespas and LML's made be wish I could scoot around too. The traffic is busy here, although hidden beneath the surface, there is an element of order...... 

I understand that the rules for wearing crash helmets varies depending on where you are. In the city the driver of a scooter is compelled to wear a crash helmet but not the passenger although some of the safety head wear sported by some would not be of much use in an accident!

Thurle arrives today and we both begin our stay at Arts Reverie which will be our base for the remainder of our stay. Looking forward to catching up with Thurle and settling in to such an amazing house in the heart of the Old City and its Pols.

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.

Heading north to Srimongol

Thurle and I wanted to see a bit more of Bangladesh, beyond Dhaka and the surrounding villages. Many of the Bangladeshi's who live in the east end of London, near to where Thurle and I work, are from Sylhet. We thought it would be good to see the north and visit the cooler tea plantations nearer to Sylhet. Thurle spotted some information about some eco cottages in Shrimongol (Srimangal) near to the tea gardens, so we decided to make a trip and booked seats on the Parabat express to head north.

We left early in the morning, as the city was waking. We wizzed across the city in a motor rickshaw as people awoke and dusted themselves down from the night.The journey north was approximately 4 hrs, 160km and cost £3.20. As we left Dhaka many people were walking to work along the rail track. Houses, shanti's and shops abutted the railway line along the route out of the city.

See part of the journey here: Journey North.The mist was lifting off the land and I became aware of the greenness and impact of water on the landscape.I tried to image it here during the monsoon.We passed through painted stations.

Others a patchwork of brick, tin and bamboo poles.

As the journey took us north we moved into more rural areas, houses were still being built from the mud blocks, raised off the ground.

People used the railway line as a means to connect communities. Many used the route to walk between towns and villages. The footpaths and the railway line are raised on stone and earth banks to avoid the risk of flooding.One town we passed through had a jute marketStacks of jute Stacks of BambooVegetable markets with umberellas

The journey was calming and a joy to sit and just look out of the window as the landscape passed.

We arrived at Nishorgo Nirob Eco cottage, a calm and remote spot set in a lemon grove and overlooking a small stream.

Nishorgo is the government department in charge of all the protected areas in the country, including forests in the Chittagong hill tracts and the Sundarbans. Nishorgo works with local, national and international partners to develop sustainable programmes for both maintaining and protecting these areas, at the same time trying to develop the economic opportunities for the local population through employment and training.

The cottage is locally owned and was established in 2008 with loan support from the Nishorgo Project and the USAID initiative. The owner received training from the project. Each time people stay monies go back into the project, helping maintain and protect the nearby Lawachara National Park.

The cottage we stayed in was produced using local building skills and designs. (nearby other tourist accommodation was of the large cast concrete construction type). Everything in the building was made from local materials( apart from the bathroom); the woven bamboo floor,

the walls,

The outside deck

The reed and bamboo roof

The other, newer buildings on the site, were less eco orientated with the use of corrugated tin for the rooftop and concrete for the foundations and walls.