Streets of Dhaka, December 2008

There's Life on the Streets

Dhaka, Bangladesh
December 2008

After an interesting street photography venture in December 2007, I decided to try my luck once more. Had been struggling with time to do this all throughout the year, but in vain. This December, I was determined and had been able to manage at least some time to make a meaningful portfolio.

December is an exceptional time for Bangladesh; and the December of 2008 was even more extraordinary. Being a sub-tropical country, winter plays a comparatively smaller part in our weather system. December and January are thus a lot different from other months for that fact alone. Eid-ul Azha also was in December of 2008. This was he first real event of the month. December is also the month which got us our freedom during our War of Liberation in 1971. Although our independence was declared in March of 1971, victory was achieved only on 16th December of that year. This event always makes December an exceptional month. The last exceptional event of the month was National Election. This was the first election since 2001. And the most sought after because of many reasons. The country being in the hands of a Caretaker Government for two years, the election played a significant part in the overall socio-economic life.

So, here are some of the captures from December 2008.



Foggy Motijheel........ for several days, Dhaka was blanketed by thick fog during most of the morning hours..... this was taken at the heart of Motijheel Commercial Area on a holiday right after Eid-ul Azha..... roads were mostly empty..... life was yet to go back to normal...... on regular days this place is busy like a fish-market.....



The gloomy face of the Central Bank.... the world economy is in turmoil..... Bangladesh Bank faces stiff challenges in the days ahead to keep the money market in control......



Not yet ready...... a city bus counter is unmanned...... its a holiday; people are not supposed to make a rush that early in the morning....... its a lazy winter morning.......



Newspaper seller......... for streetside micro businesses, its a normal day........ newspapers have buyers on any day, be it a weekday or a weekend......



Still reaching for the skies........ "Balaka" is an important sculpture in the middle of Dilkusha Commercial Area....... it was vandalised by religious zealots some days ago.... the wounds are yet to heal......



37 years of freedom.........01 ......16th December 2008..... freedom was achieved exactly 37 ago...... yet another election is coming up, which is illustrated by the forest of posters hanging over the street...... how the political parties have upheld the national flag over these years can be doubted though........



Urban noise......04 ........walls are being used as tools of advertisement....... but how many are actually turning towards them with admiration can be doubted though........



37 year of freedom.........02....... election posters overshadowing Victory Days flags........



37 year of freedom.........08........ national flags are being sold on Victory Day....... this is the day we take oath to serve the nation...... do we really keep those words, or do they become something like the empty promises made by the politicians over the years?



Election fever...........05...... those election posters have little meaning for some who are not likely to be able to live a better life as a result of the election.....



37 year of freedom.........11...... the spirit of freedom is in all of us..... Victory Day provides us with the spark that we need for a renewed oath....



37 year of freedom.........13...... Victory Day, 2008



Election fever...........10........ National Election of December 2008 is certainly going to have an impact on the businesses of the country.......



Election fever...........11..... for some, life changes very slowly....



Election fever...........14....... no place is out of election campaign.......



Urban noise.........08....... Election Commission set out some rules at the start of 2008 elections; one of those rules was the use of black-and-white posters..... these B&W posters competed for attention with the colourful posters of Bengali movies.... in recent times, typical Bengali movies had failed to attract the audience regularly...... but election is supposed to attract more attention, even though the posters are not colourful........



Urban noise.........09........ Bengali movies, in recent times, have not been able to uphold the cultural values of the population..... they had been under tremendous criticism from all quarters and the pressure to change had been high...... the industry is somewhat heads-down now.....



war and peace.......... for some, the daily struggle starts early...... for others, peace prevails longer....



portrait, Kaptan Bazar........01



facade, chaotic............01



concrete jungle..........01



urban noise...........02....... posters on the wall represent a cultural change of the time....... information displayed in some of today's posters were once considered taboo....... people always had the option of turning away, but the attitude towards them is ever-changing.......



thats good morning for you, but not for everyone...........



drivers of the economy..........01..... this frantic charge is for timely arrival at their jobs...... Bangladesh may be a Third World country, but the economy of this country is heavily dependent on the export-oriented ready-made garments sector, which is driven by the predominantly female workforce......