Bwalmara

People say that you can't experience the real Bangladesh in Dhaka. Dhaka is an experience, but a Bangladeshi village is something else. Patrick and I went with Bubly to her home in Bwalmara after Friday morning prayer at Taize. (Bwal means trout and mara means dead.) Bubly is Mandi, sometimes called Garo (but this means dark), and this is one of the many tribal groups in Bangladesh - like the native americans in the u.s. Just like the native americans, the mandi people's land is being taken, etc., etc. The tribal people look different from Bengalis - they have more "east asian" features. Sometimes Bengalis think that the tribal people are foreignors when they have never even left Bangladesh! However, I love to visit the Mandi villages, because they don't stare at you like Bengalis.