On my last weekend, at last a chance to see the city. Robbie, the office assistant/factotum/Mr Fixit had arranged a car and driver for us, and we were joined by two of the bright young things from the office. Mushfik speaks good English and Raisa speaks perfect American, having spent a year in High School in Minnesota as an exchange student.
They took us first to the Mogul Fort, and then to the Pink Palace, the home of the Nawabs of Dhaka., effectively the rulers of East Bengal during the Raj. Th
e Pink Palace did remind me of a National Trust property, laid out very similarly, route of visit, dining room, bedroom…. Both were notable for being havens of peace and tranquillity in this noisy, crowded city.
But then the interesting stuff. They took us into the old city, a warren of tiny streets where no car could go, and the better for this. The place they took us was in fact a Hindu quarter, full of small temples and with a different atmosphere to anything we had seen before, not least because there were monkeys walking along the balconies of the houses above us. And, to our surprise, people were feeding them; but this we were told was because to Hindus monkeys are lucky.
And then the biggest surprise of all; in the middle of this great Muslim city, with its substantial Hindu minority, we came upon an Armenian church, beautiful and in beautiful condition , lovingly looked after by the custodian. They told us that now there are only two services held in the year, at Easter and Christmas, and that there is no priest here, but it is looked after the Armenian Archbishop of Australia. The Armenian community in Dhaka numbers 9 families, all of whom live in the wealthy quarter of Gulshan, where our hotel is.
And so for a meal. We couldn’t find a Biryani house open so we ate Mexican!
They took us first to the Mogul Fort, and then to the Pink Palace, the home of the Nawabs of Dhaka., effectively the rulers of East Bengal during the Raj. Th
e Pink Palace did remind me of a National Trust property, laid out very similarly, route of visit, dining room, bedroom…. Both were notable for being havens of peace and tranquillity in this noisy, crowded city.But then the interesting stuff. They took us into the old city, a warren of tiny streets where no car could go, and the better for this. The place they took us was in fact a Hindu quarter, full of small temples and with a different atmosphere to anything we had seen before, not least because there were monkeys walking along the balconies of the houses above us. And, to our surprise, people were feeding them; but this we were told was because to Hindus monkeys are lucky.
And then the biggest surprise of all; in the middle of this great Muslim city, with its substantial Hindu minority, we came upon an Armenian church, beautiful and in beautiful condition , lovingly looked after by the custodian. They told us that now there are only two services held in the year, at Easter and Christmas, and that there is no priest here, but it is looked after the Armenian Archbishop of Australia. The Armenian community in Dhaka numbers 9 families, all of whom live in the wealthy quarter of Gulshan, where our hotel is.
And so for a meal. We couldn’t find a Biryani house open so we ate Mexican!
No comments:
Post a Comment