Scenes from a bazaar

Just a few kilometres off the city boundaries is a greener Dhaka. The colours and tempo of a busy market intrigues me with wafts of tea brewing in a soot-laden old kettle in a tea stall.

It is the people who make such bazaars come alive -- their everyday rituals resembling the background scene of a movie.

I was crossing through one such bazaar on the outskirts of Dhaka, early on a weekend morning. It felt like I was watching a motion picture, where everything moved at a slow, ritualistic pace.

Photo: Star

A group of beautiful women from the "bede" (snake charmers) community, caught my attention.

Hot pink, saffron yellow, and green sarees with hibiscus flowers tucked in their high buns -- these pretty ladies were decked up in jewellery. Rings on their toes, big dangling nose rings, and a pin stuck in their septum. 

Their colourful glass bangles jingled while their silver chains with fish or snake pendants made them look naturally beautiful.

As always, they were raising money for an orphan's wedding. To make me believe their cause, they invited me to a Friday afternoon wedding on their boat.

This was my Chocolat movie moment, right there!

At 7:00am, the shabby market was buzzing with activities. Cooks in makeshift hotels beside the big banyan tree were busy serving orders. One hotel cook made the trunk of the old tree his support wall, where he set up his stove. My breakfast of choice was the obvious egg roll and a steaming cup of sugary milk tea. 

The paanwallah with his assortment of jolly tins was making a sweet khili or a single betel leaf wrapped with sweet mouth fresheners for me, the treat was on the house for taking his pictures.

I was the odd one out in this "movie scene", a mere bystander envying their simple, easy life that was a shade of every colour of blue, black, and pink.

Photo: Star

If given the choice, I could have watched life go by in that unknown bazaar forever. But alas! I had to break the magic spell and return to my mundane city life.

Just at the crack of dawn, when the sky is a hue of lapis lazuli, the crow's first cry brings these bazaars to life in a split second, almost literally rising out of the darkness of the night.

Thanks to the Padma Bridge, going on such drives or day trips has become much easier than manoeuvring through city traffic.

Drives to places like Bhanga Bazar for a cup of their fusion brew of tea and coffee in thick milk, or popping at least five to six piping hot roshogollas of Khoka Miyar Mishti shop in Tetul Tolar Mor in Faridpur.

If you are lucky, you might even stumble upon a weekly bazaar or haat in an open space surrounded by old trees. 

 These pop-up bazaars are the liveliest in the late afternoon and take up an almost fair-like atmosphere. These bazaars have everything ones heart could fancy, from people selling home-grown fresh vegetables, country chicken eggs, ducks, moa and narus, and handmade wares like cane baskets or pankhas.

Photo: Star

I love how men sit with a glass box full of local sweets under the shade of a tree, sharing the space acharwallahs or kulfiwallahs.

I love watching people. I love the green, the cool summer breeze on my face. A few kilometres off the city boundaries is a greener Dhaka like you have never seen.

To the people of Dhaka, I suggest you sometimes venture out of the monotony and traffic of the city to discover all the little joys sitting on its outskirts.