Sundarbans: Birds and Beasts

I recently spent a very long and chillaxed weekend in Sundarbans the worlds largest mangrove forest and home of the Bengal tiger. We floated down to the Bay of Bengal on the MV Chhuti, sank to our knees in the mudflats and pretended we were National Geographic on assignment. The tiger alluded us but there were birds and beasts aplenty to distract us from our mission.

Most of the monkeys could be found on the boat but this little rhesus macaque was having a civilised breakfast in the shade of a mangrove tree.

A very rare Ruddy Kingfisher. We also saw a lemon yellow bird and a bright blue bird, some black woodpeckers and different sized white egrets to round out the rainbow coloured birds.

The coy tiger left her tracks (the guide said, by the tracks, she is female. I'm not going on a feminist bender that extends to wildlife.)

A green viper lounging in some branches.

The park rangers' pet wild boar. Don't worry, he's really a pet and not a named potential kebab. 'Tis a muslim nations so no pork to be had in BD.

A kite hunting in our wake.

Match day in Canada has come and gone

Not much fanfare to report, just me sitting anxiously by a computer with a less than reliable internet connection watching the clock move backwards. The verdict: Toronto.

The news was followed by an explosion of sorts as I developed a 24-hour stomach bug. Thankfully, I recovered. Likely the same cannot be said for the poor women who witnessed my demise on the way to the staff picnic. My sincerest apologies to her and thanks for holding my sawar kameez and scarf out of the loo and the chunder.

Dhaka University

Birthdays, Books and Bangladesh

How better to celebrate the birth of a nation than a book fair. Bangladesh's independence from West Pakistan (present day Pakistan) was spurned by the prospect of enforcing Urdu on the predominantly Bangla speaking people of East Pakistan (present day Bangladesh.) This, among other atrocities, was more than the Bangla-speaking people could tolerate. A war was waged and independence was had.

To commemorate the struggle to preserve culture and identity through language (they had after all been lumped into one country by the Brits on the basis of religion alone), Bangladeshi's call their national day not Bangladesh Day nor Independence Day nor Freedom Day but rather National Language Day. And to celebrate, they host a month long book fair on the grounds of the Bangla Academy, the country's centre for Bangla language preservation.

Don't get the wrong ideas. The book fair is no staid event. Humanity is heaped upon itself, bursting the bindings that hold the fragile stalls together. Children wail and weave through the crowds, lovers conceal their caresses in the anonymity of the crowd, the elderly catch thier breath while resting on the bust of the martyred language liberators, and all the while book wallas persistently peddle their glossy wares.

Join me for a turn in the park?

Gulshan II Park, Dhaka, Bangladesh

CouchSurfing: 7 cities in 7 days

As some of you know, I have been homeless/vagrant since mid November. Basically I have been depending on the kindness of others for living and lodging. So far this has worked well: December was spent on floors and couches in Toronto with a stint at my mum's place; and January in Houston and then in hospital accommodation in Atikokan with a day here or there with friends in Halifax and Montreal.

Last week, I stretched my friend's kindness and my patience to the limit with a one-week cross-country, trans-border CouchSurfing extravaganza:

Day 1: Atikokan to Thunder Bay with a pit stop at mum's place. Then on to Toronto. Couch: Not even a couch, I've been demoted to the floor chez Hetti.

Day 2: Third rez interview gets 1.5 thumbs up. Couch: Fold out wonder chair at Hetti's mum's place in Scarlem aka Scarberia.

Day 3: Vancouver. Couch: At last, a real couch or as we say in Kanadia, a chesterfield. And this one was spacious. I think it was the fold out variety but I fit quite comfortably in it while folded up.

Day 4 and 5: Fourth and final rez interview gets two thumbs up. Couch: I'm embarassed to say it was a plush double bed.

Day 6 and 7: Thesis defended but no result until the end of May. The agony! Well, actually, not really. I did manage squeeze in a fantastic dinner with all of my Boston peeps to celebrate. Couch: Again, plush double bed and this time in my old pad in Boston

Day 8: Back to Toronto and a repeat of day 2 with the addition of fantastic dim sum.

Day 9: Lookout Dhaka, here I come! Couch: Cattle class seat for an eternity of sleeplessness.

Ricky from the choke's top 5 songs

1. The night Chicago died - Paper Lace
2. The highwaymen - The Highwaymen
3. My redemption - Gackt
4. Lost heaven - Soundtrack of Full Metal Alchemist
5. No hana - Third opening bleach