People often ask me what Bangladesh was like, and I guess, as a country with little presence in anyone’s mind except Boxing Day 2004, not many people have an idea of the people, the place, the cities or the landscape. From what I’ve heard of India, I’d say it’s a little like that. Being almost surrounded by India, and with the land …
We got the coach from Darsana to Dhaka on the 27th, leaving as the sun rose up the main road out of town. Our seats at the front of the coach left us next to the horn, which the driver used with reckless abandon as he powered down the centre of the road, tilting round corners and swerving away from …
The day was dark. Dirty silver clouds created a smooth ceiling above, greying the world. Our train to Darsana was due at 6am and already the station squirmed with life. Mosquitos swarmed like flies at a dead carcass. Legless cripples shuffled across the station floor, dragging their torso with one arm and extending the other up to the waists of …
Walking towards the gate, we passed an underground vat of molasses, the staple ingredient for almost all of the distillery’s produce. A thick, tar-like substance stained the ground around the access building, tainting the air with sweet molasses mixed with petrol fumes. We had a troupe of eight: five teachers from the nearby college—Monju being one of them—Fiona, Solomon and …