Whenever someone mentions Sonargoan, it’s very likely that he’s referring to Pan Pacific Sonargoan, the luxury 5-star hotel in Dhaka. What most people don’t know is about 25 km away from Dhaka lies the former capital of Bengal, the great historical city of Sonargoan. It’s not their fault either — other than Shipakarja Jainul Adedin, no one, no goverment ever took any initiative to protect and promote the great heritage of this this city. Pathetic, but true.

On the entrance to Sonargoan Rajbari is the famous sculpture of bull wagon by Jainul Abedin, which symolises toil and struggle. Jainul Abedin has always been one my favourite artist and I took a chance to get a pic of mine infront of the sculpture:

Just a few steps ahead to the left is the 2-storied palace, or the Rajbari, which is now being used as a museum:

The palace has over 100 small rooms, and it’s completely like a maze inside. All the rooms are of same size and design, and now they are home to different cultural and architectural masterpieces collected from different parts of Bangladesh. I was told by my guide that this palace was used by few rulers, including the Hindu Jamidars who ruled during the British regime. It’s open for visitors from 10:00 to 17:00 everyday, except for Thursday.

Brief history of Sonargoan, as told by Dr. Abu Sayeed:

Sonargaon, which literally means “golden village” in Bengali, was the capital of the Banga province or Eastern Bengal, which was one of the three political units of this territory during the Delhi Imperial rule. In 1338 Fakhr-al-Din-Mubarak seized the provincial government of Sonargaon and declared himself independent from Delhi and was the first independent Sultan of Bengal.

In 1352, he was overthrown by the Sultan of Gaur Ilyas Shah, and from this time Sonargaon formed a part of the independent kingdom of united Bengal until the advent of the Moguls (1575).

In the reign of Akbar, it was the chief city of Isa Khan, who maintained his independence for several years. After Isa Khan’s death it became a part of the Great Mogul Empire. The decline of Sonargaon started with the establishment of the Mogul capital in Dhaka in 1608, and with the conquest of the kingdom of Isa Khan by the forces of Islam Khan in 1611 it became one of the Sarkers of the Bengal Subah, losing its former prestige forever.

The history of Sonargaon for the next two hundred years until the establishment of the commercial belt of the East India Company in Panam is still unknown to us. The colonial city of Panam came into being in the nineteenth century and continued to flourish till the end of the Second World War.

Timeline: March 27 – March 29

Stuffs that happened this time:

- Mr. Faruque was me
- We took Jack’s car (he’s in Australia now)
- Akram was fired due to his poor performance at work

I visited both our Comilla Internet Learning Centers today — Yusuf Multi Purpose High School and Chowara Girls High School.

Details later.

The training is finally over. Seems like I overestimated the learning capability of the teachers. I wasn’t able to deliver half of what I intended to since they could not catch it easily. Any how, my office doesn’t really care about how much they have learnt. The management is concerned mostly about the *number* of trainees. More the trainees, more the funding.

My cell phone’s battery died yesterday night, and I couldn’t recharge it since I forgot to bring the charger! Big mistake. Sadly, my laptop’s battery is about to die in a while… can’t recharge it since I left the “round-pin” converter at office. Who knows, after a while I might find that the camera’s battery is dead as well!

I’m here at Chittagong once again, and this time my job is to conduct a technical training for local high school teachers. Teachers from 14 public and private high schools are supposed to participate in the training program. The venue is Agrabad Kala Kakali High School, one of the core ILCs of Relief International.

Here’s what I’m going to talking about in the training:

• Overview of computer software and hardware:
  • Capability of computers
  • Hardware and peripheral devices
  • System and application software

• PC configuration and maintenance:
  • CMOS/BIOS setup
  • OS installation
  • Driver settings and installation
  • Tips and tricks to keep the machines running smoothly
  • Virus protection
  • Backup procedure

• Overview on networking
  • Advantages of a networked environment
  • Topologies, LAN, WAN, switching, routing, cables, sockets
  • Peer to peer networking concept
  • Security issues, firewall
  • Practical session
  • Connecting RJ-45 plugs
  • Hub/switch settings and installation
  • Connecting PCs with 10 base T cables
  • Sharing peripheral devices

• Overview on Internet:
  • WWW, e-mail, bulletin board, relay chat
  • Connection types
  • Netethics

I gotta sleep early tonight, the training starts at 10:00 tomorrow!

Timeline: Jan 15 – Jan 19

I reached the port city on Sunday evening, on the very comfy Shohag Volvo Bus. I stayed at Asian SR Hotel this time, and I’m extremely happy about their service. It’s very apparent that the hotel authority has taken extra special care in training the staff. The room was great, so was the food! The hotel has a bar as well, and I tried out some Chinese liquor!

I’ll skip the reason why I went there, since it will only bore you. Instead, I’ll leave you with a few impressions and observations I had about the city of Chittagong.

- With so many small and not-so-small hills around, the natural scenery of the city is a truly magnificent. It’s an old city, and the buildings and the oak trees bearing the sign of it. One of the attractions of the city is Patenga sea beach, which is about 10 km away from downtown. This small beach has increased the beauty of the city by a large scale. Foy’s Lake is another attraction, and it’s a very romantic place to visit!

- No offence, but people in Chittagong speak in a weird dialect! I should better call it a language, since it has a very little similarity with Bengali. If Sylhety and Dhakaiya is considered a language, then it should be counted the same way.

- Since there are numerous hills all over of the city, setting up point to point wireless connectivity can be very tedious and expensive. Putting up a 180 feet (almost 55 meter) tower on top of a 10-storied building is a lot of money! In case of DSL/ADSL, cables get stolen regularly and therefore the ISPs only provide connection within 1.5 km diameter of their POP! One ISP guy told me that their fiber optic cable got stolen! How pathetic!

- Chittagonians seemed to be very conservative (read: Islamic). Foreign Muslim preachers stayed this part of the world since centuries (they used to come mostly from Middle East on waterways). I’ve seen a very few young women on the roads, even in the posh areas of the city. Most of the women wear borkas, which is an Islamic dress (usually black) that covers the entire body except for fingers and eyes. I always thought men hated shopping, but Chittagonian men seemed to do it with a lot of enthusiasm! Since I found guys buying sari, cosmetics and ornaments, I’m sure they lock their wives at home and buy the ladies’ products themselves! Very strange breed of men! Another important point of their conservativeness: I found only a handful couples dating around at the parks or at the romantic hillside spots.

- There are too many graveyards around, at least one in every five kilometers. What a terrible waste of land!

- When I went to Chittagong for the first time in October, when the CNG 3-wheelers didn’t had fair meters. Transport authority forced them to install meters, but the drivers don’t want to use them since it wouldn’t be possible to overcharge the passengers any more! Fucking thieves!

- Since there isn’t much cars around, there isn’t any traffic jam in the city except for the road in front of the sea port, and it’s a valid reason. But still, this jam is nothing compared to the jams of Elephant Road, Mogbazar, or Motijheel in Dhaka!

Any how, I’m way too tired now, and I seriously need to get some sleep. Before I go to bed, here’s a little yucky fact for you guys:

Chittagong, also known as Chattagram, Chatgaa, and Chattrala has the largest homosexual population in Bangladesh!