Dhaka has grown significantly and very fast especially within the last decade. And it is still growing. There are new developments and constructions everywhere. All kinds of foreign products are available in the city and local products have been developed to attain extremely good quality. Food and snacks are sold everywhere and there is a wide range of restaurants offering cuisine from all over the world to please the palate. Coffee shops, which were a rarity before, appear to have sprouted up everywhere. I have enjoyed some caffeinated offerings at a few of these establishments and was impressed with the quality and taste. The vibe was always good and was set right for a coffee shop. One other thing that I could not help but notice is the increase in the number of people. I had been in Dhaka before and it seems like there are more and more people with every visit.

Dhaka is notorious for its traffic but little is known about it to the outside world. One has to experience it in order to appreciate the total chaos. Cars, buses and rickshaws are everywhere and traffic laws have no meaning over here. Vehicles operate very closely and can come at less than an inch of each other. It is nothing unusual to see traffic going in opposite direction or in any direction for that matter. The motto here seems to be “if there is space then drive into it”.

 

This shot was taken in the Gulshan area. Usually, there is heavy traffic here but I was fortunate since I got here during office hours when traffic was a little sparse. There seems to be massive billboards everywhere and all types of stores around this area.

 

I was on my way to visit the older part of Dhaka city. The national mosque was on the way and I took a quick stroll through the mosque compound. It was impressively vast which I was not expecting considering its location is in a city where every bit of space comes at a premium.

 

One of the most popular modes of transportation in Bangladesh is the rickshaw (not pictured). This three-wheeled human powered people hauler seems to be everywhere but unfortunately, I did not take any shot of them. Buses ply the roads to every part of the city but most are in dilapidated condition. Surprisingly, they all seem to work given their poor condition. I also noticed quite a few people riding bicycles and there seems to be a whole bike movement going on in the city.

 

The crow is a common sight in Bangladesh and sometimes I felt there are more crows than people in the city. They are noisy and rummage through anything and everything for food. While they are irritating, I have to admit they are great scavengers and help in keeping the city cleaner by gobbling up all the organic waste.