Ms. Nath's advice

My language teacher, Ms. Nath, told me three things when I first arrived in Bangladesh.



1. Don't talk to boys

2. Don't chew pan

3. Don't go the theater



Before she gave me advice #s 1 and 2, I had already done them both, with in the first 3 days of arriving. Talking to "boys.." generally a bad idea unless you know them through a family or friend. They will end up calling your mobile incessantly, and have all sorts of ideas about you as a western woman, before they even take the time to get to know you. You will end up being a piece of prestigious arm candy that they can show their friends. It's true, I am not being unreasonably harsh. Talking to random boys in the park= bad idea.



Pan.....is a leaf with a betel nut inside. You use a bit of lime paste to make the leaf and nut react to eachother. People chew it like tobacco. It's pretty addictive, apparently, and stains your teeth red. I tried it on my 2nd day here, and one time was enough for me. There was a large crowd of men watching me stuff it in my mouth (I have never chewed tobacco, I have no idea how this works) and then my mouth went numb and I started drooling and spitting it out. gross.



Going to the theater. Until yesterday, I had abided by that piece of advice. But I was curious, and so was my friend Reba, so we decided to go and check it out. We arrived and were shown into the "ladies waiting room." Two other women were waiting for the movie to start. Finally the movie was going to begin so a man escorted us up 4 flights of stairs to a tiny seating section in the upper left corner of the theater. This was where women sat, I assumed. The movie began, on using reel to reel. I looked down and could see through the floor boards. My chair was swallowing me and wouldn't stay unfolded.



The movie contained several bad guys, shooting innocent people who ended up ooozing with fake blood. The women were helpless damsils in distress wearing "scandelous" (by bangladeshi standards) clothing, batting their eyes at these beefy men. Several Hindi movie esqu dance scenes came out of nowhere. There was a hanging seen. Lots of Bengali style camera"zooming" in and out to capture the contorted reactions of people watching their friends get hung or shot. More fake blood. More beefy men rescuing the women. More bad costumes. It was entertaining...for the first hour.

After the First hour, they had to change the reel, and a Coca-Cola vendor came around saying, "tanda!" (cold!) I wanted a cold drink, so I bought a coke in a glass bottle to enjoy during the movie. I paid using a 100 taka note. It cost 20, so I needed 80 back. Apparently they wanted me to drink it really fast and give them the bottle back. So I gulped it down while the vendor watched and then I asked for my change. Over the next hour, my change came to me via several different men and a little boy in incriments of 10 takas. It was amusing.

After I finally got my change, I asked the lady next to me how much longer the movie would be. Thinking it had to be over soon. She said it was at least another hour until it was finished. I nudged Reba and asked her what she was thinking about leaving or staying... and we decided to go Sari shopping instead.

Overall, not a bad experience. Didn't get hurt or mugged. It smelled a little, there were no women's bathrooms, it was old and dusty...not unlike many other things in Bangladesh. Shamosha nae. No problem.