In Azfar's home village

We just got back from a trip to Rajshahi. We went to Azfar's home village and to his cousin Shammi's wedding. We were there for a week. Here's some shots in Azfar's village. The top shot is a view looking out into the rice fields that surround the village. The shot below that is of a hay stash for the cows, who often roam through the village. The third picture is of a typical clay house in the village. The clay is really strong, and holds together even through the monsoons. And clay has its own built-in air conditioning system! Sitting inside the clay rooms on a hot afternoon, you would think there was an AC running! But of course most of the houses in the village don't have any electricity. The fourth shot is of fresh red peppers that had just been picked--drying in the sun. In the fifth shot you can see what people use for firewood in the village: cow dung dried on sticks. There's just not enough firewood to go around, so dung works very well to keep the fires going. Very ingenious, if you ask me! Nothing goes to waste in the village, not even cow dung! The last shot is Azfar and Salma--this is Azfar's first trip to his home village in eleven years! Some of his family members there just cried when they saw him. They've been waiting such a long time to see him again. It was really moving. Anyway, his family in the village was very welcoming to me, and extremely hospitable. What little they had to offer, they shared willingly, and served us a huge feast, something I'm sure they couldn't really afford to do. We also went to two other villages--Azfar's dad's brother's village (in other words, Azfar's uncle), and Azfar's mom's home village. In his mom's village we saw the mud hut where Azfar was born, which is now part of his uncle Tuku's house. Azfar's mother also wanted the midwife who helped her give birth to Azfar, to see him again. We went to the midwife's house, and it was really sad to see her lying basically on her deathbed. Azfar's mom brought her a sari and told her who Azfar was, but she could barely open her eyes and I'm not sure she was fully coherent, but she did say hello. We all had tears in our eyes. So that was three villages in one day. Whew! It was a long but special day.