Dhaka's Simple Pleasures

In an attempt to avoid watching CNN International for, oh, about the next 17 hours as we await with bated breathe the election of our new President, I decided to blog. (Incidentally, we are having a pretty bag bash tomorrow morning [since that's when polls will close in the U.S.] so that 800 of our closest Bangladeshi friends can watch the election returns with us and recognize the importance of voting. Perhaps I'll have more interesting anecdotes on that tomorrow.)

I've been meaning to blog about some of the other things I really enjoy about living here. They are small things, but always make me smile and make me thankful that I'm here experiencing a different culture and country.

1. The Call to Prayer. There's something very soothing about hearing the call to prayer a few times a day. While I typically don't hear calls during my day since I'm usually inside working, when I do hear it I try to relish the moment and pause for a few seconds. As my colleague Bob said, hearing the call five times a day is a great little reminder to be thankful for what you have and say a prayer (or at least think good thoughts) for family and friends. (I will admit though that, for obvious reasons, I could do without the 4:30 a.m. call to prayer. Fortunately, I usually don't hear that one.)

2. The Oodles of Sari Stores. While I'd heard that South Asia is full of beautiful cloth, I wasn't prepared for the inordinate amount of saris. There are entire stores--big stores--dedicated to saris and there are tons of shopping malls with one, two or three levels devoted entirely to saris. Each store will have a myriad of saris lined along the wall in what are basically bookshelves. When you enter the stores, barefoot men sitting on an elevated, padded bench will ask you which sari you want to see and they will pull out sari after sari from the shelf until you are satisfied. Plus, they'll even try it on so you can see what it looks like! Frankly, the number of choices are overwhelming and I have yet to buy a sari. But I am getting more confident in shopping for one, which makes the epxerience all the more enjoyable and, simply, makes me happy. I'll try to snag a picture of one of these stores soon so you can see better picture what I'm talking about, but in the meantime, check out one of my colleague's posts' on her sari shopping experience. It's much more eloquent than my account.

3. People Singing on the Street. Perhaps Bangladeshis are just more uninhibited than Americans? Probably not, but it is true when it comes to singing in public places. I often pass by men randomly singing to themselves while carrying a load of fruit on their head or rickshaw wallahs singing to pass the time before they get another fare. I appreciate this attitude of not caring who hears them and wish we could import this to the States (perhaps this is because I like to sing?). If only I could understand what they were singing, I'm sure I would enjoy it even more.

4. Splash (at the Westin). Ok, ok. So this is actually a Western import to Dhaka, but I find this cafe that sits by the pool extremely relaxing. There's a great waterfall and lots of plants, not to mention the food is pretty darn good, if expensive, particulalry by Dhaka standards. I only just discovered Splash, so perhaps the novelty of it is why I'm including it in this entry. But still, I haven't found many cafes in the States that are as enjoyable. Although, really, let's be honest, that's probably because I wouldn't be able to afford going to a place like this in the States! But, hey, at least I recognize number 4 as an elitist, Western simple pleasure.

I'm sure there are other simple pleasures that I'm missing. As I think of them, I'll let you know what they are, but for now, back to watching CNN!