From Dhaka's Airport Station to Srimongol

Platform at Dhaka's Airport Station

So there I am sitting down on my backpack, earphones in, sunglasses on, trying to ignore everyone.  I didn't have my music on yet, it was just a diversion to get people to perhaps keep a little distance - I was tired and just wanted to get going, really.  A crowd gathered after only a minute, and though a policeman kept coming by to shoo them away they kept coming back like moths to a flame like they just couldn't stay away (insert other suitable of your own here).

Mostly I just drank my warm pepsi (Ohhhh, how I have taken refrigeration for granted!) and ignored them because I was STILL feeling over stimulated with the noise of the city.  I turned my music on and listened to some chilled out tunes from behind my sunglasses, and pretty much ignored everyone (as much as possible when random strangers keep gathering to keep an eye on me!).

learning Bengali numbers!


The train arrived about 10 minutes late and I asked for help from several people along the train to find my car (it was written in Bangla, not English - Bangla does NOT use the same system as we English folks for numbers!!), and I climbed aboard JUST as the train was pulling out of the station - I had a very fun moment pulling myself up onto the train as it was pulling away, every mother in the world did that scared breathing thing and I just giggled, pulling myself and my bags up onto the moving train car - it was even the right car, woohoo!!

Silk City Express to Sylhet

I sat alone awhile in my air conditioned chair while the men in nearby seats covertly sideways glanced at me quietly sitting and staring out the window.  About 25 minutes into the ride a woman and her little girl sat in the seat next to me and didn't really speak other than to nod hello.  The little one (about 5-6 years old maybe?) was very curious and kept peering at me from behind her mom's scarf, she was very cute. 

the calm before the storm

She got sick all over her mom about 20 minutes from their destination and I pulled out my hand wipes to help them clean up a bit. Two stops later a young man enroute to Sylhet (the next big town north of my destination, final stop for my train) sat down with me and we chatted awhile about his school and stuff.

The sign at Dhaka's Station

A train steward came about 20 minutes before my stop to let me know it was coming up, which I thought was really considerate. They don’t announce the stops for each station and if you blink you might miss the only sign that's standing on its one remaining leg with chipped, faded paint, so it was really helpful. When the time came I was up and ready with my bags.
So this is Srimongol, okay...


I climbed down from the train and walked out to the front of the station. Not too many people around. Looking out the front doors there was a small dusty street in front of me, and small market stalls to my right and left once you stepped out from the platform cover. 
 
So I'm here, buuuuut: what to do now?
 

I hadn’t been able to find a phone before leaving to call Philah and make arrangements with him to meet me, so I guess I needed to find a phone!!  I could ask a random passerby, but that just seemed strange... surely I could think of something better?  I wondered if Philah was going to be too busy with his work to come get me and put it in the back of my mind that I might be walking through town on my own to find a guesthouse and meeting up with him later.  But first: find a phone!

I walked down the dusty streets of Srimongol toward what looked like would be the centre of town and I passed a phone shop where they sell mobile phones and recharge pay-as-you-go phones. I saw a landline phone sitting there so I pointed at it and then at me and said "phone?", and he did that funny side to side head thing people do here when they mean yes - YAY! Victory!!  I can use the phone!!

I handed him the number and he dialled up Philah, who said he would come and meet me at the station right away, that I should just wait there. I trucked myself slowly back to the station feeling a little like the pied piper as a small collection of people trailed (much less than subtly) behind me and then stood growing in numbers in a semi-circle around me after I sat down on my pack up against the wall .

I have taken to sitting with my back to a wall or fence because when I just sit out in the open people have a tendency to actually gather in a complete circle around me, and that makes me nervous.  I know they don't mean me harm, but there's something in my DNA that just tells me it's a B-A-D idea to let myself be surrounded like that, so now I avoid it and plan ahead: I know they're going to gather, but now I control how and where (and usually stay in sight of someone in a uniform AND the general public who are NOT so interested in me, just in case).

I took some video of the people who surrounded me, and by this time I was in much better spirits than I had been earlier in the day while I was still in Dhaka. There was less city noise, and the people were just curious, I didn’t mind. One little boy in particular was very sweet and friendly and every time I was near the station he came running up to see me (he later came to call me Auntie Canada).  So far I only know where to find him by video and have no snapshot of him, boo!

Nobody really talked to me, though in approximate 30 second intervals a random faceless male voice in the crowd would ask me some version of "Your country, madam?", to which they would get my smiling standard one-word reply as they giggled and smiled and laughed and stared. 

Philah, my new friend from the
Khassi Lawa Chora Punjee

Philah arrived after about 15 minutes on his motorcycle. I only saw a man making his way through my little crowd with an easy smile saying, “Are you from Birisiri?” I had to think about it for a minute... “Yes, I suppose I am from Birisiri!” I smiled. “I am Phila, let‘s go!!” and we set off together into town on his bike.