Shakrain Festival @ Old Town, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
I went to the Shakrain (Kite Flying) festival tonight. Peoples were cheering and dancing with dancing colorful lights above them and heavy music beats around them, after the original program which was flying kites and sky lanterns. I was longing to capture some beautiful images from this festival since ages, as this festival takes place every year during the 2nd week of the first month of the year.
Just like DOL UTSHOB, Shakrain is one of the most significant and colorful events for the residents of Old Town, Dhaka. I saw loads of foreigners from different corners of the world has come to witness this event in person. There are so many kite flying festival around the world, but still it is more likely one-of-a-kind event for Old Towners, now for the entire Dhaka city in the age of social media.
All those cheering and lighting and music made the winter environment so warm and lively. It was well worth been there and watching this event, experiencing joy and colorful moments. One more thing tonight I have realized again, that the girls from Old Town are cuter than you actually thought they are.
I bought a sky lantern (local name ‘Fanush’) but couldn’t let it go off of me, ate a full plate of ‘Kacchi Biriyani’ (an extremely famous traditional dish) and one glass of cold ‘Lacchi’ (a local milkshake) with some ice cubes in it from the legendary ‘Beauty Lacchi’ (the shop’s name) on my way home.
I have an extremely firm intention to reach over there at Shakari Bazar before 5 PM next year, by any means possible. No way I want to miss the show next time. But the overall experience was not that bad as a first timer whatsoever.
I climbed on the rooftop of a nearby seven-storied building as soon as I reached the locality, and saw the local teenagers were dancing together with heavy bit music playing on a hi-fi system, the colorful spotlights around them were dancing too along with them. They welcomed me cordially. It’s a tradition for the old towners as well as Bangladeshi’s, to welcome a guest or stranger wholeheartedly.
Looking at my DSLR, one of the boys suggested me to go to the rooftop of another building so I can capture better images from there. I climbed down the stairs of that seven storied building and climbed up all the way up to the rooftop of a six-storied building again. Uff.
When I was getting out of the locality happily after more than an hour of staying there, taking hundreds of photos of the event, I could not be aware enough of my camera hanging from my shoulder for a while as I was eating a snack that time, with all my concentration. When I finished the snack, I noticed the camera strip fell apart my shoulder and the camera was nicely sitting on my camera bag. I didn’t put the camera into the bag as I thought there might be some more great moments on my way back which I could capture without any moment wasting.
It was after sunset, so the environment was dark. Anyone could have snatched my camera and run away. But I was unbelievably lucky not to lose my camera that evening. If I would have lost it, it would have been one of the most unpleasant evenings of my life. So, I thank almighty Allah wholeheartedly to let me keep my camera with me. And I promised myself that I won’t be that careless ever in future, insAllah (if Allah permits).
If you want to see some more latest hi-res photos from Sakrain, click here.
