Away from the City

 Since our daughter Christa has a week off from her teaching responsibilities at the Asian University for Women (AUW) in Chittagong,   and we can't move into our own place until April 1st,  we decided to take this week to enjoy each other's company and escape the noise and intense heat of the city for a few days.  We are in Srimangol,  an area in the northeastern part of Bangladesh,  known as 'the tea capitol of Bangladesh'.  It's hills are covered with beautiful well-tended tea gardens and pineapple groves.

Our Carbon Footprints

Do the answers to lowering our carbon footprint lie with the great industrialized nations like the U.S. or Japan. Will we find the answers to renewable resources through cutting edge technology? Or does Bangladesh hold the answers? Does this country labeled ‘undeveloped’ and ‘backward’ hold the answers to problems we, the modern nations, have created?

How about transportation? The rickshaw gets us around town. Rice and lentils is the fuel used. Carbon emissions? The rickshaw driver expels a bit more carbon dioxide than me sitting in the back, but there is no comparing that with the carbon monoxide expelled by my Ford Ranger back home. 

 Or if we really need to carry a lot of luggage and extra people, consider this- the auto rickshaw. It is powered completely by battery. It des not reach 60 miles an hour; we are grateful for its 20 mph speed as city streets here can be chaotic and the slower speed saves lives and gas.

  For long distances and lots of luggage, the train that took us to Dinnapur a few days ago must have been carrying more passengers than a Boeing 747. Yes, it used some fossil fuels but someone with a better mind for figures than I have, could calculate the comparison between this train and the same number of people driving from Bath to Boston back home.

As for domestic cooking, the poorest of the poor don’t do it with gas or electricity here. This is about as renewable a resource as you can get: cow patties, literally. Cow manure formed into large hamburger sized fuel bricks which fire up enough heat to cook your real hamburgers or cow burgers. (If the cows only knew!)  

  The poor leading the way out of the dilemma created by the rich? Can it be? It was put well by a friend of mine. “Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

The Harmonium

  Our host, Jacob, took us to visit a local harmonium shop. The harmonium is a scaled down version of a European reed organ which came to the Indian sub continent in 19th century via missionaries. Now it is the standard accompaniment instrument for singing.






 The shop is a family owned business. The younger son is doing the work and learning the trade.

 The shop owner's father was a cobbler by trade, and should have followed in his father's footsteps, but he explained that from a young age, he had heard music and could not shake the desire to create instruments and music.
 He played one of his harmoniums for us as we sipped out tea.

Phenomenal !

 After an exhausting day walking about Rajshahi looking for housing, we were completely re-energized by watching the rehearsal of a Tagore play- Roter Roshi by a group connected to Rajshahi University. The drama was a powerful portrayal seeking the answers to reawaken truth and holiness.
 I didn't dare take pictures during the rehearsal but the cast agreed to pose for us at the end.

City Cow and Country Cow

If you were a cow in Bangladesh, would you rather be a city cow...

Or a country cow?

From there to here from here to there...

We left Mountain Road with the snows piled high and our luggage carefully weighed; four pieces at  50 lbs. each.

 We flew to D.C. to a wonderful dinner with Benjamin and David:

(Picture here a wonderful dinner with Benjamin and David.)

The huge surprise when we arrived at the airport: Christa! We were patiently waiting for our luggage to travel by on the carousel when Jan looked out through the window into the main lobby and exclaims, "There's Christa!" At that point, she happily abandoned me to await that sixth and last piece of luggage and sped through customs ignoring customs official collecting our paperwork. I followed shortly with the final piece and we headed for the guesthouse.

 In the evening had a wonderful dinner with the Jennings; these people are the most gracious hosts on earth, I think.

Friday we caught an early train (6:00) from Dhaka to Rajshahi. As we were hauling our six pieces of baggage down the platform with the help of a train station 'coolie,' the latches broke on one piece just as I was going through the crowded and busy gate. I furiously sought to stuff things back in the case while people plowed by. We tried to regain our composure and dignity and headed down the platform to our waiting  spot, (we were due to take the ‘Kha’ train- the Bengali equivalent of the ‘B’ train) when another coolie ran up to us from behind bearing a torn open package of Dunkin' Donuts Coffee. (Guess what that faulty locked suitcase had been full of.) We thanked him with grateful hearts and a few taka for his effort. Three minutes later he appeared again, this time with one of Jan's sandals which had also spilled from the contents. I was more humbled by the honesty and effort of this simple man going to such lengths to return our wayward belongings than I was the humbling eperience of retrieving our goods on my hands and knees on the train station platform.

We arrived safely at Rajahshi Friday noon to a great fish curry meal.

 Hey! Maybe next time we'll have REAL pictures to show.