30 Seconds in Dhaka

This morning I was pulling out of my parking spot at the American Club, fretting about the possibility that I wasn't getting a real Bangladeshi experience. I had just polished off a ham and tomato omelet, hashbrowns (served in a perfect 5x5 inch square), and some fresh fruit and yogurt in the club's dining area with Jimmy. As I put the car into drive and rolled forward, I noticed that a man was crouched on the right of the road about 20 yards ahead of me, and a small gathering of 10-15 people were watching him from the opposite side of the road. As we crept forward, I saw that he was charming a 5 foot cobra. Holding it's tail off of the ground in one and in one hand, he baited the snake to strike with his other. The snake came within three of four inches each time. I could see some tails hanging out of a basket where he had what looked like a couple other serpents. We rolled by slowly but didn't want to obstruct his audience's view, and didn't get out to watch because Jimmy, who was wearing jeans, had been complaining about the heat that morning.

This was our first encounter with a snake charmer in Bangladesh, and we were talking about how crazy the charmer must be as we rolled down the straight road 69 that runs parallel to Gulshan Avenue. At the end of road 69 the way bends to the left and joins the end of Gulshan Avenue, which I get on to get back home. Well as I came around the corner I was confronted with two Macaque monkeys, passionately fornicating in the middle of the road. The two amorous primates stared at us with a look that said "Oooo, I'm a human, I can do whatever I want, even disturb us monkeys." After about five seconds the male lept from his mate and joined the rest of the crew in the trash that is piled at the end of Gulshan. As we made our way onto Gulshan, we drove past about 25-30 monkeys on walls, the sidewalk, in the trash, in the tree lined island separating the traffic, and at the feet of armed guards who dropped seed and crumbs to the greedy monkeys.

I have to say, these monkeys, with the exception of the tiny baby monkeys, are not cute. Not one bit. They look like the mean monkeys that scientist use in military experiments, only to accidentally let one free to terrorize the human population, beginning some terrifying outbreak. That being said, I plan to go watch them next Friday at around sunset, which is apparently when there are just tons of monkeys in this trash heap by the entrance of Baridhara DOHS, where my friend lives.

All of this happened in about half a minute, reminding me that I am in a strange and exciting place. For the rest of the day I think I am going to go check out a cow market, where the bovines are being sold to be slaughtered during the upcoming Eid.