One day in Dhaka

its tuesday night and pretty blah day normally... Cal called out sick and i slept in till 1pm while he worked from home. after i woke up Alom (our cook/servant) had made lunch - he is pretty good at taking instructions and started to cook they way I like things - we had lunch and then bummed and watched TV. I put a load in the washing machine and Alom hand washed a few things and put all out to dry. Cal took a nap and then i sent Alom to do some bazaar - groceries. he came back a little jittery and scared... there have been riots in the area since yesterday and it escalated today. the riots are among the Univ students and the military. the main road/entrance is at the end of the road from us and the market/bazaar is there too. so he was afraid cause there were shots fired and mad rush and he thought he was getting stuck and managed to walk home safely. He came back and then headed out again in the other direction toward our other apartment to see about cleaning up and and checking the water and power situation. he comes back half an hour later... no work being done. so he started dinner... our kitchen window looks out on the street and tuesdays is the hawkers market day so the entire road in front of our house is closed for the street hawkers. he runs into the living room excited and asks us to look out the window.. there was a mad rush of rickshaws zooming past - never seen them drive so fast - and the hawkers just picking up their stuff and running. apparently the riots had gotten to the head of our road. then 5 mins later we hear blasts and see an army truck rolling past. they were exploding tear gas and our street was filled. the kitchen window was the only one open and alom heard it first. Cal and I tried to run to the roof but the door was locked. we come back to the apt and alom is stumbling in from the kitchen... the tear gas smoke had filled our kitchen and bedroom. he was in pain. we made him wash his eyes out and he was fine but excited. he ran downstairs to see more action but the streets were cleared out and gas everywhere. i got some in my eyes when i tried to go into the bedroom. the streets were deserted. we turned on news and it said the riots had moved to the main street on the other side of us. we could still hear the gas bombs going off. we are safe in our house... no one would dare come in and we have like 2 guards at the gate. so I was greatful that Cal didn't go to work cause the news showed that all cars were stuck on the main roads and then abandoned as the riots started and the cars and buses were broken by the students. If Cal had gone to work he would have had to walk home and I would have been worried sick. so now everything is calm on our street - although deserted too early for the day - riots are still happening. we are about to eat dinner... i made some sweet chicken curry, cabbage n peas, aloo bharta, green banana/plantain bharta and daal. and watching some bad movies on HBO.

We get HBO and other channels- never miss out on the shows Entourage, movies, Friends, scrubs, desperate housewives.. we get them all... so thats a day in the life of Ish - the housewife. Cal is encouraging me to try all the things I wouldn't have if I was still in NY so - going art supply shopping and getting clay and going to try my hand at a piece I have been imagining for months.