Reflections on a houseboat

It had been a long day after a sleepless night's journey from Dhaka to Rangamati.

I closed my eyes and let the tiredness seep out of them. I find that relaxing my eyes helps my whole body relax.

The gentle sway of the houseboat on the water was lulling me into a state of semi-consciousness.

I opened my eyes again. It was unusual to see so many stars in the sky given that the entire day had been cloudy.

I had gotten the window side of the bunk that I was sharing with a young girl. She preferred the aisle side and I wanted to look at the stars while I fell asleep. It had worked out great.

My body felt heavy and tired. But my heart was light and full of stars, rain and love from budding new friendships. I was on a Wander Woman-organized tour to Promodini in Rangamati.

It had been a long day and as I tried to recall all that took place, I tried to pick my favourite moment. My bunkmate had already fallen asleep. I rifled through the images of the day. The beautiful and majestic Kaptai Lake in the rain. Yes, that would have to be my favourite moment.

While on the houseboat, it started raining. I went to the roof and a few girls were already enjoying the rain there. I looked out across the lake at a view that words are not enough to describe -- dark skies, sheets of rain, and beautiful unadulterated greenery in the distance.

This day will definitely be one to keep in my memory chest.

I didn't realize when I fell asleep. The next morning the nine of us were awake and ready to go. We were a diverse group of eight women and one young boy.

After breakfast, we were provided a "sofa-boat" that we jokingly named "Kashmir" after the famous Kashmiri houseboats. The boat was lined by sofas at each port. Cheap plastic chandeliers and fake vines adorned the white ceiling. There were "Barbie" pink drapes on the windows that can only be described as "khaet" in Bengali. The overall effect was still quite charming somehow.

We had an enjoyable day on Kaptai Lake. We were a group of amazing women bonding over their love of travel. The next day was as cloudy and rainy as the previous if not more. The weather was simply indescribable. Pure gothic bliss. A heaven-sent day for a pluviophile like me. At one point we had to stop at an embankment due to torrential rain and large waves. The helpers pulled out black drapes to shield us from the rain which contrasted heavily with the pink curtains. My sense of adventure had been ignited and I didn't know if it was adrenaline, but I was seriously enjoying being on an embanked boat in torrential rain. Some of the women were praying as we waited for the rain to stop. The young boy was completely fearless though and I saw my own thoughts reflected in him. Isn't this a blast?

The rain faded and we finished the rest of our stops. Overall, we visited a Buddhist temple, a tribal market and a waterfall. We came across one- or two-party boats playing loud music with young men and women dancing on the roof. The lake seemed to be full of life and the rain had done little to dampen the spirit of the dancing youth. This place had been full of life in a different sense of the term once. What is now the lake had once been dry land with many settlements. The original town of Rangamati. It had been inundated due to the construction of the Kaptai dam that displaced some 100,000 tribal people. The tragic history of Kaptai Lake did little to diminish its beauty. As we laughed and talked over Rangamati's special ginger and lemon tea, I couldn't help feeling something for the people that once lived there. But I didn't say anything because that would be a mood dampener. I was feeling a juxtaposition of emotions. I was happy to be out and about enjoying a lovely day with lovely ladies but thoughts about the dark history of the place moved across my consciousness like the rain clouds in the sky above.

I suppose that is what life is. Beauty and pain intertwined.