A Trip out of the Blue

It really came out of the blue. Mu (my chhoto fupu) and uncle (Dr. Shamsul Alam, my chhoto fupa) were supposed to go to uncle's village home at Mirzapur, Tangail with their whole family on Saturday, to stay at the new house they built there. Friday night all of the sudden my Dulabhai came up with the idea of going with them for just one day. I jumped for the idea immediately and my sister was also eager. So we made a phone call to my aunt, and the next morning, within just a few hour's notice, we were on the way. My aunt managed Shapanku's microbus for us. We were off early in the morning at 8:00.
We were scheduled to meet with two other cars of my uncle's party in front of the Smriti Sho
udho. But when we got there, they weren't there yet. Hence we thought, why not pay a visit to the National Monument? So we did. I've been to Smriti Shoudho before, but that was way back and I don't quite remember. That early in the morning there were very few people in there. I was pretty moved inside the complex when I found out that the whole place is actually a graveyard where many unknown martyrs of the liberation war were lying. I took some photos of the monument. Finally the other group was there and we started towards Tangail.
Just as we left the urban area, the rural landscape began to emerge. The striking green of the field on both sides of the road, the winding canals and the boats on them, the golden corn fields. The road got rough and bumpy soon. On several occasions we had to stop the car and drive slowly and carefully. At one spot in Tangail everyone got off the cars and walked as the cars had to cross an almost dried-out canal over some bamboo sticks, tied together to make a sort of bridge. The path was winding it's way through the villages. After about 3 hours from our departure we reached our destination.
My uncle and his brothers have been working on a house for over a year in their village. They had to go through tremendous hardship to supervise the construction, coming here again and again from Dhaka. When I saw what they've been working on, I felt all their hard work was worth. They've constructed a fully furnished building as a kind of a bungalow to stay for the family when they visit here. The house was as modern as you might want it to be. It was a duplex house, with the village huts surrounding it. The rooms were beautifully arranged and the toilettes were also impressive with standard fittings. Verandas were placed both in front and back of the house. The front veranda gave a beautiful view of the pools ahead, and the back gave a view of the surrounding village huts. It was a great place for picnic and to stay out for some days to enjoy the rural environment.
I had good time playing with some kids there, we played cricket for a while, and later I swinged the badminton racket with Nahyan and Nibras (cousins). I played that game after a long time. Last time was back in Elephant Road I guess. We took a walk down the village roads. The huts were surrounded by trees and lowlands from all around. Another fascinating aspect of the place is that a mosque is right in front of the house. But as we prayed the Zuhr Salaat there in Jamaat, we found that these poeple were Ahle Hadith. I noticed some stark differences in there namaaz. Their rules for the times of the salaat were also different. They prayed the Asr jammat at 3:30 pm, by our regulations, the time for Asr haven't even started then. So me and dulabhai didn't join that jamaat, instead we two along with Nibras prayed in a separate jamaat after fifteen minutes. Right after Asr we had our lunch, which was my favorite dish, Kachchi Biriani along with couple of other beef dishes. The food was great and honestly I had more than I expected.
We were scheduled to leave right after Asr, so we couldn't wait any longer. Everyone was insisting that we stay on, but we couldn't for several reasons. So we started on our journey back. This time we took a different route and found it to be much better than the one we came through. We prayed the Maghrib salaat at a road-side mosque somewhere at Pakulla. Fortunately we were right on time for the jamaat. By the time of the Isha jamaat, we were home, way earlier than expected.

This trip came totally out of the sudden, and that doesn't happen usually. Most of times when we go for a day out it takes several days of planning, even if it's for just a couple of hours. So such a trip as this one was unexpected. Alhamdulillah, it was absolutely a great day out.


I posted the photos from the trip on my Picasa photo gallery. You can check them out if you want.

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