From Bashundhara to LAMB School

I scramble to collect my camera bag as I put up my mosquito net.  It’s rainy season, so who knows how slick the roads will be.  I relock the padlock over the front door, then head to the one on my spiky bamboo gate.  I fumble with the small key in my hands, and eventually turn it such that the gate yields to my hand.

I turn a right out of the gate onto the brick pathway, then another right, staying right along.  My umbrella refuses to stay open unless I have a hand on it at all times.  The muddy road is somewhat muddied before I reach the train tracks, but I keep to the side of the road, where my feet are held by the grass.  That is, if the goats and calves to my left haven’t eaten it.

Over the railroad tracks, the ruts of the rickshaws, vangaris, motorcycles, and bikes run everywhere in the muck, leaving hazardous pools over which I hop.  First to the right, then middle.  Stop, dodge the motorcycle.  Leap to the left.  Get my bearings.  Aim for the brick peaking its head above the mire.  Step on it cautiously.  An inevitable slip, panic, and catching.  The pigs and their piglets have no trouble.  I escape with a muddied hand.

The market is full of hustle and bustle.  The fish seller on my right waves away the flies.  The phone shop to my left, where I hope to recharge my mobile soon.  Ahead, more mire.  A pool of water is dashed with a deep red.  Some meat sold here, I suppose.  I turn right past the vangaris, and enter into the compound.

Brick again.  Security, yet awareness I may slip if I don’t keep my eyes on the path.  “Nomoshkar,” I say to the guard.  I head straight, veer a slight left toward the school.  By now I can see the playground with children swinging and playing on the monkey bars.  “Uncle Mark!” I hear from behind, “Are you coming to Bible today?”  “Yes, yes I am, Joya!”

I reach the school fairly dry.  I rinse my sandals under some running water, and then slip them off as I enter the building.  Wet footprints follow me to my desk.  My journey is complete.

MJW