wild, but historic.....

25 February 2011
Dhaka, Bangladesh

it certainly was wild, but it was historic too..... the World Cup Cricket win against Ireland sparked wild celebrations throughout the city and it was time to be a part of it, so that we can tell our grandchildren how it all started.....

Ireland may be one of the low-rated teams in the cricketing world, but its actually difficult to describe the emotions attached to this win..... the opening of this World Cup created such expectations that it was almost taken for granted that people would be emotional about the performance of the national side..... the celebrations that I had seen outside the stadium on the eve of the opening match against India, convinced me that this had to be the cup to crave for.... you simply can't compare anything else against this opportunity to play World Cup matches on home soil...... and its the implementation of this opportunity that we had seen on this night.....

I was out with my family on a short road tour of some parts of the city...... and it surely was an experience.... people were on the streets well into night and doing stuff that one would never even think of..... we have more matches coming and I expect even crazier stuff ahead..... history was being made on the streets as they were on the field.....

From Wild Celebrations, 25 February 2011

they went wild right in the middle of the road!!

From Wild Celebrations, 25 February 2011

they tried to show off their mood in whatever way they could.....

From Wild Celebrations, 25 February 2011

and all on a sudden there was a traffic jam right in the middle of the night!!

From Wild Celebrations, 25 February 2011

there were flags flying everywhere.....

From Wild Celebrations, 25 February 2011

motor-cyclists roamed the street creating heavy noise.......

From Wild Celebrations, 25 February 2011

half out of the vehicles.....

From Wild Celebrations, 25 February 2011

main intersections became absolute chaos.....

From Wild Celebrations, 25 February 2011

people were on all sorts of vehicles.....

From Wild Celebrations, 25 February 2011

people thronged the streets in numbers..... there were pockets of celebrations where colours were being thrown on vehicles.....



to talk cricket, this was one crucial victory...... the India loss was the wake-up call..... and this victory is the reminder of their self-confidence..... it just showed what a confident team can do..... they defended 174 against NZ not too many days ago and again proved that it requires a team effort to win a match, especially a close match.......

Shakib al-Hasan is turning into a great leader..... I think it comes naturally for him..... the way he handled his bowlers and changed the bowling was amazing..... Gavaskar and Athar Ali Khan both said it was wrong decision to give the ball to Shafiul Islam..... but what a decision that turned out to be...... he put left-arm spinners when there was right-hand batsmen.... and put off-spinners when left-hand batsmen were at the crease.... and when there was a right-left combination, he used left-arm spin from one end and off-spin from another...... and his last use of Shafiul when the ball was changed was masterly...... Shafiul was getting natural out-swing after 35 overs of play!!!..... Gavaskar failed to foresee this, but Shakib didn't miss that..... he's destined to make a name as a captain, I think.....

the India loss didn't break Bangladesh.... in fact, it gave them confidence and they can actually win against big teams with a few things going well for them...... and now they were able to defend a pretty ordinary batting display...... this is another boost to their self-confidence...... I think this will give them enough spirit to win at least two more matches in the round robin league...... this is a team that is playing to win, not just to show a good performance.....

big light source should also be called 'lazy light'....

13 February 2011

Mohammadpur, Dhaka, Bangladesh

yes, it should be called "lazy light" too!!..... its one way of killing creativity..... a big light source produces such super quality light that it doesn't require any sort of tweaking to improve further!!.... simply because its just perfect!!..... how can you improve a perfect light??.... the only thing to do is to change the light altogether, not trying to improve upon it.... and that brings a lot more complex picture in front of you, and you tend to yawn and say, "what's wrong with this light? it seems perfectly OK!".... and there you go.... that big light simply dominates.....

it was Pahela Falgun and for some unforeseen circumstances, we were locked-up in our home in the evening..... the day was just eaten up by office work!!...... so, the best thing we could do to feel Falgun was to dress up and pose!!.... the white backdrop provided the low-involvement background and the Elinchrom Ranger provided the low-involvement light source..... as I was planning to cover two people, I decided to create a really big light source..... I used a white cloth to span a couple of lightstands, and that became my 5'x5' light source.... it created an amazingly smooth light source.....

later on, as I switched to some closer shots, I still decided to stick to this set-up, being extremely lazy.... and thats what made me upset when I sat in front of the PC..... why the heck wasn't I taking a bit more time to be a bit creative??..... well, need to work on this next time, I guess....

Dhaka goes into frenzy!!

18 February 2011

Mirpur, Dhaka, Bangladesh

When I decided to go to Mirpur Stadium (Sher-e Bangla National Stadium) in the evening, the first thing that came to my mind was traffic jam. I had already tried this once (on 16^th February 2011), on the eve of ICC World Cup 2011 opening ceremony. That futile attempt cast some shadows on my mind, but also made me more determined to make it happen this time. Not being a professional photographer has its own drawbacks. The push doesn’t arrive, which would’ve automatically made things happen. On the other hand, having the passion to capture moments, it becomes hard to sit idle! So, that no-push-not-idle situation ultimately pushed me and my family into the car! And was I happy that I made that decision!!

The other day, we drove around the City for two-and-a-half hours without calling it a successful night. This time, it took us almost two hours to reach the point when our feet took over. Numerous diversions due to heavy security made the journey tough. And it was tougher for everyone else who went on foot all the way. I saw it on TV how people were celebrating into the night for whatever little (if any) incentive they had. But hardly had any idea how it would’ve looked like being there in person. Now it opened my eyes.

From Mirpur Stadium, 18 Februady 2011

it was a show of passion and attitude.....

From Mirpur Stadium, 18 Februady 2011

it was a show of solidarity......

From Mirpur Stadium, 18 Februady 2011

it was a show of patriotism.....

From Mirpur Stadium, 18 Februady 2011

it was a frenzy!!

From Mirpur Stadium, 18 Februady 2011

it was noisy!!

From Mirpur Stadium, 18 Februady 2011

it was a show of defiance....

I don’t know how many thousands of people were there. But one thing was sure most of those people didn’t have ticket for next day’s Bangladesh-India opening match! Then what on earth were they doing there? You gotta be there to believe this, really! They were dancing, chanting and singing to their own rhythm! Hundreds of flags were waving in the night sky, under the colourful lighting display. Everyone was wearing national colours, either on their body as a shirt, or on their head as a headgear. Fire-spitters were showing off that dangerous game of theirs, reminding us that it was a festival to be reckoned with. People were running with the crowd with children on their shoulders! They had created enough noise with the vuvuzelas (fresh imports since the FIFA World Cup 2010) to make your ear drop off! It was deafening! There were people of all ages and all religion to make this into a real show of solidarity. It was as if they have already won the World Cup!

From Mirpur Stadium, 18 Februady 2011

keeping memory.......01

From Mirpur Stadium, 18 Februady 2011

keeping memory.......02

From Mirpur Stadium, 18 Februady 2011

it was overwhelming for many....

From Mirpur Stadium, 18 Februady 2011

it was almost alcoholic!!

A good portion of the people went there just to have a look at the lighting around the stadium, which we had never seen before in Dhaka. They were making use of any photographic instrument at their possession to record history! Others were there just because they couldn’t stay home once they had seen on TV what was happening there. The opening ceremony created enough hope into those hearts to force them to leave home. There was no way you could tell them to stop and go home! It was a drunken party without a drop of alcohol; it was a winning celebration without actually winning. It was actually a celebration of having something that wiped off the pain of the feel of having nothing. It was history.

From Mirpur Stadium, 18 Februady 2011

Its not that ICC World Cup 2011 made history by coming down here. It was rather the people of Bangladesh, who made history by showing the world how to embrace the Cup!

Dhaka dressed-up for ICC World Cup 2011

Night of 16 February 2011
Dhaka City has never dressed like this before. The ICC Cricket World Cup has arrived and it is time to welcome the world! This is just a short documentation of the drive that would take everyone from the airport to the stadium.

The video was done on a Nokia C6 mobile phone; and audio was omitted. I opted not to use any pirated audio to make this better.

spectacles of expectations......

17 February 2011
Dhaka, Bangladesh

the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 goes under way.... in grand style... and yes, it has to be said, it was a very successful opening show... it was spectacular and it contained that flair of hope that we had been looking for so long....

honestly, the starting made me wonder whether we would be able to smile at the end of it.... but the show contained enough spectacles to be considered captivating..... it was a big challenge for the organizers as there were three host counties.... but it was managed well..... and well balanced too, considering that the opening program had to be in one country only.....

the entrance of the captains on rickshaw was a particular show of uniqueness.... I can remember the Barcelona Olympics for the arrow-fired ignition..... the Beijing Olympics would be remembered for that technological showdown.... and I can surely say that this WC opening would be remembered for the rickshaws.....

I was impressed by the video on "Beautiful Bangladesh"..... I really wonder how come it took so long for our leadership to produce something like this, when others are doing this since stone age!!....... musical performances were good with some great names from the subcontinent playing....... the Bryan Adams flick was a particularly pompous show......


Dhaka on fire!!
320mm on D700, f11, 6.0sec ISO100


the acrobatics were not too sophisticated, but the themes were good for their information contained and way of delivery...... the fireworks were also good, especially for the people watching it at the stadium...... overall, the program was a really good one.... at least, the best we have seen on Bangladesh soil..... for a moment, the program was threatened by those political statements, but ultimately common sense prevailed..... the combination of that good and bad were rightly described by my brother..... "it showed where the problems are and how they can be overcome".....

great expectations....... the cup is here..... for the first time..... I would expect a good world cup.... not too much... too much expectations can end up in disappointment..... on the other hand, if performances exceed expectations, everyone would be over the moon.....

two weeks to do a test!!

03 February 2011
Mohammadpur, Dhaka, Bangladesh

for the first time I now have a seamless backdrop that spans 8ft across.... length had never been a problem.... but this continuous width had always eluded me..... and with the poor availability of stuff in here, a simple thing can become precious......

well, its been around two weeks since I've acquired this new white backdrop..... had been busy of late, and also lazy..... its been a while since my last blog post..... my travel blog has suffered the most for sure.... but would surely want to keep this one running..... some desperation is needed to break the jinx.... the push came from within.... and there we go.... some ready subjects...... just had to set up the new backdrop for a test..... actually just unpacked it for the first time!!



set-up....