I admit, I’ve been a bit of a blog slug recently. It seems that every time we go on a trip, I come back completely blog demotivated. But, after a long week working at the school, I’ve got a few afternoon hours and an Ingrid Michaelson soundtrack to update you all on the happenings here in Dhaka. (If you click on the link there, you can have the soundtrack too 🙂
The rainy season started early this year in Dhaka, and already 13 people have died in the nearly nightly thunderstorms. Every time we watch a movie, the lightning starts. The lightning brings thunder, and eventually rains reminiscent of Noah’s world-sweeping flood. I’m starting to think we need to stop watching movies, just to prevent the devastation.
The rain is welcome though. Last year’s monsoons weren’t very impressive, and the farmers struggled to grow their crops due to the lack of water. There is hope that this year will be different. The rain has washed the layer of dust off all the plants, the view from our tree-level apartment is completely different. The mornings are cool and crisp, though that probably won’t last as the humidity from the monsoons continues to increase.
Of course, there’s always the worry that the monsoon will be the opposite of last year–overwhelming. In those conditions, low-lying farms (i.e. most farms in this country that rarely has an elevation above 10 ft) are flooded and people loose their livelihoods, emigrating to seek employment in the cities. Floods also bring cholera epidemics and increased pollution of drinking water sources. They make the roads a madness of sinkholes and crazy driving. (We’ve already seen how the puddles cause driving chaos.)
But, in these early days of the rainy season, I am happy that the rains leave the sky mostly blue in between the showers. Hopefully we won’t get sick of them any time soon. We’ve got 6 months of rain coming.
Neko and Panda's 