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    Monday, January 5, 2009

    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...........02
    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.....


    Foggy Motijheel...........03
    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..........01
    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...........01
    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.......03
    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 year of freedom.........01
    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
    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
    37 year of freedom.........02....... election posters overshadowing Victory Days flags........


    37 year of freedom.........08
    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
    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
    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
    37 year of freedom.........13...... Victory Day, 2008


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


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


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


    Urban noise.........08
    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
    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..........
    war and peace.......... for some, the daily struggle starts early...... for others, peace prevails longer....


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


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


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


    urban noise...........02
    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...........
    thats good morning for you, but not for everyone...........


    drivers of the economy..........01
    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......

    9 comments:

    1. kulfu..kulfu............ really nice... and helpful and interesting

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    2. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    3. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    4. sharif bhai....though i have gone through your blog at 6:11 of evening...i was feeling like i am walking in the roads of Dhaka at morning...
      what a feeling man...thanks.

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    5. Nice Blog. I follow..

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    6. I enjoyed your daily street life photos very much! You've done a fantastic work!

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    7. আবারও একহাত লইলেন!!!
      দারুণ হয়ছে, শরীফ ভাই

      আমরা খালি ঘুইরা বেড়াইলাম, কিন্তু ছবি তুলতে পারলাম না।

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    8. আসলে আপনার প্রশংশা করে শেষ করা যাবে না ... অনেক ধন্যবাদ আপনার চোখে আমাদেরকে ভোরের ঢাকা দেখবার সুযোগ করে দেবার জন্য

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    9. Really interesting images. Takes me back to the beautiful country and people of Bangladesh.
      Hope to see more soon. Thanks

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