A Different World – Sadarghat, Dhaka
The road was teeming with people, gaily painted rickshaws, green CNGs and roadside stalls and I sat watching from inside the small cage of the three wheeler which I knew earlier as the ‘baby’ but now christened ‘CNG’ in deference to the fuel it used. I had been in Dhaka many times before but today I was eager in my anticipation of seeing the Buriganga and the Sadar ghat. I had heard stories of this venerable river and also of how the river transport from Sadarghat formed a backbone of the transport system of Bangladesh. Dhaka had always reminded me of Kolkata, the city I grew up in and so my expectation of Sadarghat was that it would be somewhat like Chandpal Ghat or Babughat on the Strand Road. The CNG deposited me in front of a long red and yellow brick building which looked like cross between a warehouse and a railway station. There was not a hint of a river in sight and I asked the driver whether he was sure this was where the Buriganga was. He assured me and I tentatively bought ...