Walking on streets of Dhaka

This city of ours can easily be described as a sprawling metropolis with streets that could challenge even the most perceptive cartographers. Walking around a city is the best way to sample its ambience and beauty, as well as the pitfalls, and Dhaka is no different.

During a stroll through the bustling streets of Dhaka, one would be enveloped in a whirlwind of sights, sounds, and sensations -- there's a unique energy here, a vibrant pulse that beats to the rhythm of everyday life, singular to Dhaka.

The streets are almost always alive with activity during the day -- people scurrying around, going about their daily routines. From the cacophony of honking horns to the calls of street vendors hawking their wares, every sound adds to the symphony of urban life.

Walking through these may become a bit tiresome and the incessant nagging of some sellers irritating, but it is often overtaken by the sheer joy of finding a great bargain or the bigger joy of finding something you were not even looking for!

Walking in Dhaka can also result in an onslaught on the olfactory senses. More often than not, a pedestrian in Dhaka anywhere, would find tantalising aromas of various types of food wafting through.

This could be the nearest window of a simple home where the daily dinner is being made, the exhaust outlet of a restaurant like Star Kabab on Dhanmondi Road 2, or the shrimp heads being fried on the roadside stalls beside the footpath to New Market.

The attractive fragrance of spicy street food fills the air, drawing in passers-by with irresistible charm. From sizzling kebabs to steaming plates of biryani, the diverse culinary offerings reflect the city's culinary prowess and historically multicultural influences.

Walking to nearby destinations to avoid the notoriously chaotic traffic, one would be remiss to not notice the blending of modern and decadent architecture. On the same walkway around the Gulshan Lake, which can help one to walk from points in Gulshan 1 to Gulshan 2, there stand tall structures with glass walls, reflecting off the glare of the summer sun, and nestled in between, at the end of unassuming dead ends, are gorgeous old multi-storied houses with large courtyards, full of character, and not very well taken care of.

I would sometimes marvel, who would own these beautiful places, once built with love and pride, and neglect them so? And I missed each one when these were replaced with billboards advertising the new block of flats set to replace them. No matter how modern and necessary, development comes at the cost of character! 

The mohollas in Old Dhaka are even more intriguing in that way, the majestic architecture of historic mosques standing tall alongside modern skyscrapers, all mushed together around incredibly narrow streets, and a testament to Dhaka's rich cultural heritage and rapid development, no doubt sometimes unplanned and risky!

Walking here is like playing a game of dare -- avoid the pothole, oozing open drain, wildly swinging rickshaws, and look to be rewarded with a view to one of the heritage buildings of the Old Town, housing a wholesale market like Nawabbari or Islampur market, unassuming of its historic importance, or decaying yet graceful beauty.

Within the chaos, there are unexpectedly serene oases for pedestrians too. Walking around the few public parks, like Ramna or Chandrima Udyan or Baldha Garden, or even the wide pedestrian pathways framing Manik Mia Avenue, can feel refreshing, particularly especially before and after peak traffic hours, offering a tranquil escape from the frenetic pace of urban living.  

Walking on the streets of Dhaka is never a luxury or even preferred choice for most of its citizens, and often filled with dangers like accidents, mugging, and even sexual harassment -- I have experienced all of that and more. Yet, walking in Dhaka also felt more than just reaching point A or point B -- it always was an experience, always eventful, and sometimes a celebration of life in all its chaotic, colourful, and captivating glory.