Thai Air News Newsletter from Connectedglobe.com
19 January 2003
http://www.connectedglobe.com/travlog/thaiairnews/newsletter21.html

Jacek Piwowarczyk's Pictures of Bangladesh
His pictures are remarkable and you really feel as though you are there, looking out of a window at something real and close enough to touch. The beauty in most of the photos is breathtaking, but Jacek Piwowarczyk doesn't want you to get the wrong idea. His comments are so in contrast to his pictures that it shocks: "Bangladesh is one of the least visited country in Asia...Last week I spent alone traveling around the country but unfortunately it was not the nicest experience and I even shortened by trip. I found Bangladeshi people not very friendly and combination of such approach, religion and poverty was honestly quite horrible. However, Bangladesh is quite photogenic with unique culture and a good destination for a photographer...Visiting old Dhaka is an experience of a lifetime with a huge crowd completely unaccustomed to foreigners, pointing them with fingers or just starring at them. The town is dirty, especially near the Buriganga river with narrow streets crowded with people and millions of bicycle rickshaws and thousands of beggars. Old Dkaha is really shocking even for an experience traveler and even Calcutta fifteen years ago appeared to me like a civilized world. I even know some foreigners who were crying after visiting old Dhaka."

This, then, is Bangladesh through the camera lens. A filtered view of the great natural beauty of the place without the dirt, smell and clatter of the real world. And yet, despite Jacek's comments I can't help looking at his pictures through the eyes of Ihtisham Kabir's children (see above) and remembering that happiness can be found in unlikely places if you know how to look. Decide for yourself on:
http://www.jacekphoto.com/bangladesh/bangladesh1.htm