Narinda Graveyard & Baldah Garden, December 2008

TTL Photowalk: Save Our Heritage 1
Narinda Graveyard & Baldah Garden, Wari, Dhaka, Bangladesh

06 December 2008

Full credit goes to Flickr's "Through the Lens: Bangladesh" group for organising this nice little photowalk. Faisal Bhai threw this into context first. We have so many historic places within our ancient city that are on the verge of ruination. How many of us are actually aware of such places, its hard to tell. Actually, its not just about awareness, its also about the feeling of possession, which seems to be lacking among the general citizens. We are just living out our lives without ever thinking what we are leaving for our next generations to see. Its our responsibility to leave some heritage intact, which our heirs can watch with keen eyes and think about the glorious past.

Faisal Bhai's works of couple of years back gave us the impetus to go for a trip at Narinda Graveyard. The place is officially known as Dhaka Christian Graveyard. Its on a private property and controlled by the Christian church at Kakrail, Dhaka. The graveyard contains many old tombs of historic significance, many of which are now on the verge of ruination for lack of maintenance.

From TTL Photowalk: Narinda Graveyard & Baldah Garden, December 2008

Gates to the next world.........

From TTL Photowalk: Narinda Graveyard & Baldah Garden, December 2008

Keeper of peace........

From TTL Photowalk: Narinda Graveyard & Baldah Garden, December 2008

Creeping in..........

From TTL Photowalk: Narinda Graveyard & Baldah Garden, December 2008

Guardian angels........

From TTL Photowalk: Narinda Graveyard & Baldah Garden, December 2008

Shelter for the next world.........01


As the date was fixed for a December day, some of us were looking for an early venture, mainly to get the misty air in the frame. But the idea was a little far fetched, as the fog hasn't yet arrived this winter. Anyway, some of us actually reached there by around 7:30AM. But it didn't actually look like a cakewalk. The guards stood up and tall against the impending danger from outer planet!! We were actually quite a few. Even very early in the morning, around 7/8 of us crowded the gate, which basically scared those gatekeepers of the dead. Seeing cameras in everyone's hands rang the alarm bell in their head and they requested us not to shoot until their so-called officer came in. Meanwhile, a nice-looking guy, may be a missionary, arrived and started to talk. This tall man looked like a non-Bangladeshi, not just from his face, but from his accent as well. He told us that he's a member of the community, but not the leader. He gave us a nice go-ahead to shoot. So, we started.

From TTL Photowalk: Narinda Graveyard & Baldah Garden, December 2008

Shelter for the next world.........02

From TTL Photowalk: Narinda Graveyard & Baldah Garden, December 2008

Shelter for the next world.........03

From TTL Photowalk: Narinda Graveyard & Baldah Garden, December 2008

Rest together...........

From TTL Photowalk: Narinda Graveyard & Baldah Garden, December 2008

Mark of a deed..........

From TTL Photowalk: Narinda Graveyard & Baldah Garden, December 2008

Where two worlds meet.........



The place looked as quiet as a graveyard. The southern part of the cemetery contained most of the old tombs. The Northern part mostly had new ones. We obviously were interested in the old ones. Most of the graves in this part dated back to the nineteenth or early twentieth centuries. Some had nice engraved tombstones with beautiful decorations. Some were within decorated houses. One of such houses was being devoured by plants and roots, counting the last days.

While we were just beginning to have a proper look at the place, one of the guards again ran in. He yet again requested us not to shoot, as according to him, the person giving us the go-ahead was not "known" to them, even though that guy actually gave us the permission in front of the guards! We were very close to some sort of a quarrel with them over this issue. But we restrained ourselves and again paused our work. By that time, quite a few of our buddies had arrived and went on shooting, not really paying a lot of weight to those words of the guards. For some of us, the pause was enough to ruin a perfectly nice shooting scenario. The morning light was beginning to get harsher and the best shooting conditions were about to go away.

It was past 9:00AM when we were still waiting for the arrival of their "officer". The time was already going away. By around 9:30, we had to conclude the session. The "officer" had arrived and after listening to us and perfectly "understanding" the situation, he told us that we needed a permission from Kakrail's church before he could allow us to do shooting there. By that time, most of our photographer buddies had managed at least some photographs. We took some group shots and began to move out. It was a disappointing end to a very nice effort. Even after losing quite a bit of the grandeur, the place still has the potential to remind us of our glorious past. Every tombstone bore the mark of time and carried the story of generations.

From TTL Photowalk: Narinda Graveyard & Baldah Garden, December 2008

Sundial without the sun..........

From TTL Photowalk: Narinda Graveyard & Baldah Garden, December 2008

Lights in the water.........

From TTL Photowalk: Narinda Graveyard & Baldah Garden, December 2008

Nature's colours..........

From TTL Photowalk: Narinda Graveyard & Baldah Garden, December 2008

A flower that tells many stories........

From TTL Photowalk: Narinda Graveyard & Baldah Garden, December 2008

A bed on the water........


After a short breakfast at a nearby restaurant, we decided to spend some time at the century-old Baldah Garden. Its a very small place, but takes us close to Nature. We spent around a hour there shooting a few and doing some gossip. We moved out of there by around 11:00AM.

Some of us moved out, including me. Others were still trying to quench their thirst for more photographs. They moved to the old parts of the City and had a great time over there. I came back home with a bit of disappointment in heart. I was disappointed for not being able to watch the beauty of the place in proper detail. But the disappointment was toned down quite a bit seeing so many of my photographer buddies together. There were probably 22 of us for this venture.

I still have the place in my mind and would love to go there to complete the story.