Roses in the park

Today a hartal was called by the political party Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami.  Dhaka newspapers reported the reasons for it in this article, and the events that happened during it here. 

When we lived in Chittagong, we experienced a number of hartals: Saburo would have to leave home early to take two rickshaws to get to the airport site, while I would have to cancel the English classes at the British Council. I remember walking from Khulshi to the Hotel Agrabad to go for a swim with friends. I never encountered any trouble back then. Here also, it feels relatively safe (never say never) as we are staying in a very secure neighbourhood where most of the embassies in Dhaka are located. It is far from the area where political rallies are held, and there is a visible police presence to keep 'law and order'.

When I walked to the office for lunch today, the streets of Baridhara were a little quieter with few cars on the road. I felt sorry for the rickshaw drivers as they were not picking up many passengers. Later in the afternoon, I decided to go for a walk along Park Road, and discovered that there really was a park here. The Baridhara Park with its roses, the mosque, and many, many women with headscarves and burqas appeared suddenly like an Arabian oasis of greenery in front of my eyes. 

I entered the park and quite enjoyed my walk. It is infinitely better to be surrounded by trees than being stuck in horrendous traffic along Gulshan Avenue and being bombarded by children trying to sell you books or flowers, or having tragically disabled people come up to the window and ask for money, or being approached by women with their babies beseeching me for a little something. I resort to closing my eyes and pretending to sleep when the clambering at the car windows gets too much for me. 

Powering around the track on my own two legs was quite exhilarating in comparison to being cooped up in a car. I must go back again soon, and not just wait for the next hartal before I make my next visit. I really do hope we don't see too many more hartals before the next general Bangladeshi election which must be held before, or by January 24, 2014. It makes life difficult on a personal level, and must be so very detrimental to the progress of Bangladesh.