The last day of the year

For a change of scenery, we headed in a south-westerly direction to visit Jatiyo Sangshad Bhaban (the National Assembly Building) after lunch on the 31st. It was quite a busy time to be on the road, and I would never have guessed the distance was less than ten kilometres from Baridhara, as it took nearly an hour to arrive on the south side of the building (please go to Google Maps and zoom out for an approximate map of our route). 

The monument was unexpectedly imposing and impressive, and I really wished I could have seen what the lighting was like inside, because from the outside, the Parliament building does not appear to have any windows. It sits upon a sprawling two hundred and eight acres of land and Saburo was more daring than me and walked onto the hallowed grassy area. Typical of me, I was a coward and stayed well behind the fence. 

Foreigners who would like to visit are required to submit a form, pay a fee, and provide copies of passport front pages and visa stamps, and I was just not that organised in advance of Saburo's whimisical desire to hit the road. (Plus, after my experience with various countries over the years, I am also sceptical about whether the procedures outlined on the webpage are adhered to or not. I will have to ask around). 

Louis I Kahn, an American architect who graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, and whose other buildings include Bryn Mawr dormitories, Yale Art Gallery and the Salk Institute, was responsible for the design. (Design junkies and engineers, please refer to the specifications here.) Construction started in 1964 with a budget of $15 million, and was completed in 1982 at a cost of $32 million. It compares very favourably with the Sydney Opera House statistics: construction period 1959-1973, budget of $7 million, and actual cost of $102 million. (Update: please visit my friend's blog here for more information about Louis I Khan.)

The weather was lovely. It was not very crowded on the path (most people were sitting and talking with friends, family members, or sweethearts) and we walked along Manik Mia Avenue and leisurely gazed at the structure. It was our first touristy activity together and it was a pleasant (and completely necessary) way to unwind after all that has been in 2012.

I took this mystery photo on the right. We could not work out what he was making. People were selecting moulds, and the man was putting the light coloured dough in them, but then there was a pile of solid, black discs in front of him. 

   

Next stop was Lal Bagh (Red Fort), check out here for more details about this incomplete Mughal fort from the seventeenth century. We made it in the nick of time and had 15 minutes to take a quick look around. Although, this in fact, was our second visit. Saburo remembers taking Bethanie to see this when she visited Bangladesh. I probably even have video packed away in Japan as we had spanking new Sony camera back then and I used to record everything.

The sun was beginning to set and the light was lovely and warm on the fort buildings. The beautiful fuzzy feeling of contentment this engendered lasted but a brief moment, as alas, the fort staff shattered the atmosphere. They started blowing their whistles at everyone and began to herd us all out of the fort. It was difficult for me to ignore that dratted authoritian whistle, but I did my best to dawdle and enjoy the garden for as long as possible.

Lastly we visited the Hindu Dhakeshwari Temple which is a national temple and owned by the state (I wonder how that works?). Some experts believe the original temple was built in the 12th century and others say there may have been a Buddhist temple prior to that even, but any remaining buildings from this time period were destroyed sadly during the 1971 Liberation War. All of these details are courtesy of Wikipedia's listing here, and not because I picked up any nuggets of information in situ. In my ignorance, it appeared to me to simply be a regular temple where we saw a number of people buying their offerings and making their prayers. I did especially like the music. Have a listen here (sorry non-FBites, but I can always email the clip to you if you like).

Traffic on the way back to the hotel was horrendous (as usual). We hit a bottleneck in Banani and decided it would be faster to walk home. It was a good decision which we wished we'd made earlier, as our driver arrived back 15 minutes after us. Overall, it was not a bad afternoon of sightseeing at all - whoever said politics and religion don't mix???