I live in a place called Banani. It is full of prostitutes, thieves and bakeries. It's basically halfway around the world from where I come from and is not where I ever expected to be, but life is like that apparently.
I am married to an Indian man named Kannan. I am totally in love with him and we work at the same company. Somehow we met in this Bollywood love story type of way and now we are living together and plan to travel the world together. But, lets get back to Banani and moreover Bangladesh. Bangladesh is not a place I ever expected to live, or honestly even knew. My aunt thinks I am living in Pakistan and I haven't seen my family in almost a year. That's what happens when you come here.... I guess. By trade and profession I am a fashion designer. Sounds glamorous, but in reality I am just the link between the sweatshop and Walmart. I came to Bangladesh because of a job and then somehow convinced Kannan to come with me. He must really love me to live in Banani. We have a really nice apartment "Fantasy Palace", but you would never know the name because it is written in Bangla. Apparently some brothers got together to build a house for their families and then whatever happened and they decided to rent it out instead. Our apartment is 2A. Apparently, according to the previous couple, this place used to be haunted by a Hindu god that tried to ruin their marriage and curse them. The curse still prevails according to them and that's why the rent was so cheap cause no one else wanted to live here.
We luckily got this place but a small and sneaky overtaking. That's another story. We live with 2 other girls and have a cook and a maid. Apparently the curse didn't want to mess with us, so we are planning to stay for a while. It's a really nice place, but the trade off is Banani. The main road in Banani is so packed that if you don't walk while looking over your shoulder at all times you are likely to get hit by a car, rickshway, motorcycle, or even a coconut. You never know what you'll come across. There are many small restaurants with sneaky black cats lurking to get a bit of masala, saree shops with glittering fabric in the windows and of course the bakeries. Our favorite is an authentic Korean bakery attached to a restaurant. It is called Domiok. You can get red bean buns, eclairs, croissants and really nice brown bread. Our roommate is obsessed with the donuts probably because they taste like funnel cake. We usually get croissants on the weekend and a treat or bread for the next week. I like it because it is authentic and it is not Bangladeshi. You can buy fresh coconuts to drink from the corner for 30 taka, but when you walk back to the apartment afterwards you'll be swept up in a dust storm from the passing traffic and wild motorcycles. Sometimes I think of the main road in Banani as a speedway. I think Nascar fans would like it as long as they stood on the sidelines. Loud, bumpin', outdated rap music booms and blasts from the air conditioned cars. The young cool crowd shows off when they drive down the drag while trying to impress their friends and avoid an accident.
