Dhaka University is hella nice; it really is. It's almost like an oasis of calm in the middle of the ever crazy-busy Dhaka. Despite being so close to the business district, it's a lot less frenetic in there than the rest of the city. The buildings look "colonial", for lack of a better word. If you like old architecture, you'd probably love this place. While we were inside the university, we noticed an entire street lined with stores that sell earthenware. That stuff looked pretty neat, but I decided to stay off shopper mode for the day. There was another street where the entire street (and that street was at least three blocks long) was lined with couples, just sitting on the sidewalk and chatting away, sipping tea and eating street food. It's the first time I've seen a man and a woman holding hands in Dhaka. No lie.
It's easy to think that Dhaka, for being such a socially conservative city, is very gay-friendly, because no matter where you go, you will see men holding hands and walking down the street. I've even seen two men who were dressed alike holding hands and walking down the street; so it's easy to come to the conclusion that homosexuality is accepted in this society. It isn't. Men don't hold each other's hands because they are into each other; I don't know why they do it but supposedly, it's a cultural thing. Anyway, the point is that wherever you are in Dhaka, you won't see couples holding hands or expressing affection, except when you come to Dhaka University. Every expat wonders where the Bdeshi women are, because there's such a huge gender disparity when you go through the streets or malls or wherever in this city. In Dhaka university, I didn't notice that gender imbalance. There was an equal number of women as men in that place.
In my last blog post, Peachy asked me how I've fared in Dhaka so far. Peachy, my answer would pretty much reflects what Lonely Planet says about Dhaka.
Dhaka is more than just a city, it is a giant whirlpool that sucks in anything and anyone foolish enough to come within its furious grasp. (…) A day spent alternating between the filthy river banks of Old Dhaka and the swish restaurants of Gulshan is a day spent seeing the haves and have-nots of the world in crystal clarity. We can’t guarantee you’ll fall for Dhaka’s many charms, but sooner or later you will start to move to its beat and when that happens Dhaka stops being a terrifying ride and starts becoming a cauldron of art and intellect, passion and poverty, love and hate. Whatever happens, this is one fairground ride you’ll never forget.
I think I have finally started to move to the beat of Dhaka. It took another blogger, Eveline, about a week to do the same thing. I am not sure if there's a need to rush this whole adjustment process, since most expats take a lot longer than I do. I spent the entire 4th of July weekend hearing countless fellow countrymen (and women) bitching about how they could NEVER get used to living in Dhaka. Most of them have lived here a lot longer than I have; so, I don't think I needed to rush this getting-used-to phase. Anyway, speaking of expats, there aren't very many of them in Dhaka; apparently, Dhaka is the least expat-friendly city in Asia, according to some study done in 2007, or so another expat told me the other day. If it's true, I can understand why, but I think if you are gonna live in Dhaka, whether it's for a day or a year or a lifetime, you need to start moving to the beat of this city.
There are two new entries to my list of blogs about living in Bdesh/Dhaka. Both of them are chock full of information. First is Poliphili's blog. I wanted to link two of her picture essays about Dhaka(go here and here), mainly because I haven't been able to upload any of my Dhaka pictures yet. I already told you about Eveline's blog (go here). She works for the UN, I believe, and is working in Africa now. The posts about Dhaka (and Bdesh in general) give you a very vivid picture of what this place is like. Anyway, I would highly recommend both the blogs to you, whether you are looking for more information about this place or you just need some light reading.
Anyway, it's a quarter to eleven and although I'm bored and want a drink, I need to go do some work. I hope you all had a fun weekend.
