Back to Sonargaon
October 26, 2007

I decided to take Heather to see Sonargaon since it is a nice day trip from Dhaka. Intrepid girls that we are, we took my scooter through the city into the countryside. We wanted to go to the museum first, but it was closed, so I took her to the street with all of the old houses. I didn’t find the rajbari last time I was there, so I was hoping to see if I could find it this time. Thankfully, we ran into a boy who spoke English and knew where it was, so he took us on a little tour. Unfortunately, like the other buildings here, the rajbari is quite run down and nobody is doing anything to maintain it.

After generously tipping our young guide, we went back to the folk art museum and guess who we ran into… Faisal!! The little boy that I met the first time in Sonargaon! He was so happy to see me and I was really happy to run into him again! Heather and I bought him cookies and soda and then he again took us back to his house. We ran into the little girl Eva that I had also met the first time I was there. Everyone remembered me. I was so upset that I left my bag of toys at home!

The kids all put on their nice Eid clothes and asked Heather and I to take pictures of them. Eva and Faisal were particularly possessive, feeling that since we were their friends the other kids should not be hogging the attention.

Again Faisal’s mom made us a special sweet. I was glad that Heather had the opportunity to experience Bangladeshi hospitality first hand.

As we got ready to leave, Faisal and Eva wouldn’t let us get back on the motorcycle. Faisal wanted to go for a ride again, but Eva was not to be left out, so we squeezed all four of us (Asian style) onto my little scooter! I really wish that I had gotten a picture of that! When we got to the market in front of the museum, Heather bought Faisal and Eva little musical pianos. (A fitting gift since Heather is a musician, singer, and actress…) We literally had to lift the kids off of the motorcycle when it was time to go back to Dhaka though. They begged for us to take them with them. Faisal even said, “My mom said it’s OK!”

We were sad to leave them, but we had to get back since I threw Heather a little party that night so she could taste Bangladeshi food and meet some of my friends.

I will definitely go back to Sonargaon again and next time I will bring toys!!

Sonargaon Old Town
Woman carrying water home from a well.

Rajbari
An old, abandoned mansion that is sadly in disrepair.

Window
Detail of the rajbari.

Kids
Eva is in the orange dress and Faisal is the boy in the blue shirt on the right.

On the Scooter!
Eva and Faisal on my scooter.