Street thrill in Dhaka

Matsuda MashimaruLeave a comment
MYS_3198-Edit
A woman we met at a village outskirts of Dhaka

It was all about capturing moments of human interest when I was in Dhaka, Bangladesh recently. My first time and like always, I have a zero expectation of this place … I was like ok Dhaka surprise me, please.

IMG_3803
Friends shading from the early morning rain on the street of Dhaka

It rained cats and dogs during the first 3 days of my 6 days stay. But being a hardcore wanderer … the rain couldn’t subside my curiosity. I was out wandering along the markets and back lanes of Dhaka … in the rain.

My first impression was that the street smells pleasant.

Surprisingly Dhaka is way cleaner than India, 10 times cleaner than India … I shall think so. At least the street is not treated as the public toilet by the 18.2 million city residents. People everywhere seemed busy and fully occupied here.

NEP_9845-Edit
A peak from the train window in Dhaka

My second impression is … the food is good.

It tastes about the same as in India, Pakistan and Nepal.  And my taste buds think that the biryani here is very delicious and I had mutton biryani for almost every day here too. Sharing a clip video ↓ of my obsession with mutton biryani … obsession lol?

We traveled in a big group this time around … 15 of us scattered around the street yet we saw completely different views. How awesome was that? When I saw my friends posted their version of ‘the street of Dhaka’, almost always I would pound my head and asked myself about why oh why I did not see it from their angles.

It is proven then … every each of us is unique in our own way.

NEP_0169-Edit
Hard life for an honest living in Dhaka

As I strolled along the streets, villages and some back alleys I saw hard work and hard life here … yet the people of Dhaka is rich in hospitality. Walking and talking with strangers has never felt a burden here … some even invited us to their homes for a cup of cha or tea.

MYS_3938-Edit-Edit
A boatman trying to make an honest living in Dhaka

To be honest, there are hundreds and probably thousands of Bangladeshi working here in my home country Malaysia. I see them everywhere and every day too. When I posted my whereabouts to a group of friends … they jokingly teased me on why the need to be in Dhaka when I can just hang out at Pasar Borong Selayang (a wholesale market in the heart of KL) or the famous Chowkit road and just be surrounded by them?

It is normal to have that tendency to treat foreign workers at your country home differently ( I guess I am guilty too)  but being in Dhaka … experiencing just a few days living in their home country does change my perspective.

I see them in a different way now … a more human way of looking at fellow humans trying their best to survive in the high-density human populated area on our one and only earth.

DCIM100GOPROG0118425.JPG
Boats at Buriganga River in the middle of Dhaka

Would I recommend Dhaka for your next trip? Should I repeat for another round of trip exploring Dhaka?

………. absolutely, yes!

Thanks for dropping by here at my space… on the last day of 2017. Resolution time … resolution … resolution. Bye …

Cheers

MM

ps: my January article in NST bots on ‘People at Work’ with Dhaka as the background story. NST 01:18

Grasp of Technique

Matsuda MashimaruLeave a comment

Being an organized freak, I always wanted to organize my thought during each photo moment that I had. What is the best angle, compo, light, subject positioning, mood etc? I would go back and forth figuring out on how to do it right and fast.

I want to simplify that process and reduce my mistake during each photo moment.

It goes back to the right technical knowledge, mastering the tools in your hand and having the technical understanding of visual compositions. As my mentor told me … before you decide on bending the rules, master the rules first.

So, I started with something simple as the classic six design elements. Understand the elements of color, line, shape, texture, space, and form are an advantage.

In the NST Bots Click! column for this year, I had covered 5 of the elements (line, shape, texture, space, form) and my friend Razz Rossfaisal of Travelberdua.com covered the element of color.

Sharing it here for my easy reference.

IMG_3519
1. The classic 6-design elements: COLOR
April2017
2. The classic 6-design elements: LINE
The classic 6-design elements: Shape
3. The classic 6-design elements: SHAPE
3 July2017
4. The classic 6-design elements: TEXTURE
31 July2017
5. The classic 6-design elements: SPACE
Sept2017
6. The classic 6-design elements: Form

Knowledge sharing works in both ways, the giver and the giving gained. As we are moving closer towards the end of 2017, I feel sad. Have I learned enough during this year? Have I worked hard enough?

Life has its own karma … if I didn’t work hard enough and if I didn’t learn well enough … life would come back and hunt me again with regrettable errors and mistakes.

Thanks for dropping by. Gotta run …

Bye

MM

 

ps- still trying to figure out on what topic to cover in 2018 … hmmm hmmm hmmm

 

 

 

 

 

 

Quiet Sense

Matsuda MashimaruLeave a comment
MAG_9813-Edit
People are often so busy living that never stop to wonder why ~ Terry Pratcett

Rushing life throughout my given 24 hours a day doing chores (yes … I call it chores) felt heavy on my soul. My mind is always occupied with the idea of being busy but at the end of my 24 hours, I realized that there is not much accomplishment that I could be proud of.

I want to have a full control of my busyness. So that I have more excess time to do things that I love … things that I want to do, not others expect me to do. Time flies. Juggling my responsibility and my dream, I felt that 2017 has been a heavy year for me.

And, I am wishing for a flamboyant 2018 … so, I started by setting up my new year resolution and planning earlier than usual. Spelling out clearly on priorities that I want to accomplish in 1- 2 years time.

Filling up details of my 2018 planning in my Evernote app with rational resolution In Sha Allah. More traveling, exploring, writing, reading, creating, crafting, daydreaming … more me time. Am off to bed now … will write more in a few days.

KUN_4919-Edit
“The quiet sense of something lost”

Cheers

MM

ps- letting go of his hand … you weren’t even mine in the first place

Yes … the street of India

Matsuda MashimaruLeave a comment

IND_9528Re-visiting my India’s photos for my latest NST assignment to celebrate Deepavali or Dewali. All these photos bring back memories of me surviving India and I think its time to repeat India again.

I am yearning to experience another round of emotional burst … in India maybe in 2018.

Sharing a few more photos of the bustling street of Old Delhi, New Delhi.

And my article on India for the NST readers is turning out well too, alhamdullilah. I am sharing it here for my own future reference.

22522527_10214429080743733_643092219_o

Bye for now.

 

Cheers

MM

 

ps- buzzing head … need to stay focus!

Still I Rise

Matsuda MashimaruLeave a comment
Am learning to be at peace with myself

It’s either that I don’t get enough sleep or cause of this mild flu that I had since a few days ago, my head felt like it’ll burst, a headache … better than a heartache, I hope so. Pretty busy these few days … writing and trying out something new.

I am aiming for something different in my life so that I can be free doing the thing that I like the most … which is daydreaming :-).  Hope it’ll work out well …

My girlfriend sent me a poem of Maya Angelou … just the right motivational boast during my downtime. Keeping it here … cause I like it so much, hell yeah! I rise … jom layan …

Still I Rise

You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I’ll rise.
.
Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
’Cause I walk like I’ve got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.
.
Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I’ll rise. 
.
Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops,
Weakened by my soulful cries?
.
Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don’t you take it awful hard
’Cause I laugh like I’ve got gold mines
Diggin’ in my own backyard.
.
You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I’ll rise.
.
Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I’ve got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?
.
Out of the huts of history’s shame
I rise
Up from a past that’s rooted in pain
I rise
I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.
.
.
.
Off I go … exploring life. Bye for now …
Cheers,
MM