Bangladesh celebrated Eid today. They didn't celebrate it the yesterday or the day before like many Muslims, although it's still not clear to me why Muslims celebrate on different days. I know part of it has to do with timezones and part of it may have to do with whether you follow the Saudia Arabian calendar, but I don't think I've captured the reasons fully. To be fair, I haven't done much research on the subject.
It's a fun time to be here because the day is marked by celebrations and parties. Most people have the day off, too, which makes it even better. I didn't go to a host of Eid parties like many people do, but I did just return from my colleague's house. He invited our entire Political/Economic section to celebrate with his family and they had prepared a great feast for us.
People typically give a lot of gifts around Eid so I also went shopping last night. A few Bangladeshi friends took me around to the various shops (including Aarong), most of which were open until 2 or 3 in the morning. You can see one of my purchases in the picture--they kept insisting that I buy something to wear because everyone always wear's new clothes on Eid, but it didn't take much to convince me--I love all of the colors.
Fortunately, we didn't stay out that late, but after we'd done a bit of shopping we went out for ice cream, which is usually where most young people hang out since. We went to Movenpick, which is THE PLACE to be seen if you're a young person in Dhaka. My friends kept running into all sorts of people that they know. Going out for ice cream is kind of their equivalent of a bar, except their are no bars here, which is why they go for ice cream.
Probably one of the best things about Eid is that the traffic is so much better. Many people go home to their villages to be with their family for a few days, meaning that there are fewer cars and rickshaws on the road.
I took this picture from the top of the Westin Hotel and you can see there are hardly any cars on the road. This is one of the main circles in one of the three diplomatic areas--Gulshan 2--and the road you see is Gulshan Avenue.
Traffic is usually very backed up, although it's never as bad as it is in areas like Dhanmondi, one of Dhaka's older, more middle class neighborhoods, where I took the picture of these rickshaws.
Wishing everyone a very happy Eid Mubarak! I must get some rest in order to get up at 7:00 a.m. to watch the Vice Presidential deabtes!
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