Hi, I've been living in Dhaka for the last 4 years. The first two years I lived a pretty cocooned life in the microcosm called Bashundhara R/A. Still the 'stares' never left me alone. I used to wonder, is it my jeans and tees? One day when I was crossing the road with my colleague, a car stopped right in front of us, the driver rolled the window glass down, gave me a hard stare for about half a minute or so and then went on. I was so shocked that I asked my colleague, 'don't your people get to see women on the street? Why do I get such stares?' He cheekily replied, 'well they do, but not women like you who have their 'headlamps' on!' I did not go on to clarify further as I could vaguely understand what he was getting at. On those early days I did not use to wrap myself with a scarf as is a regular practice here, hence the stares. But at least I was blessed with remarkable colleagues who were totally non-judgemental, an eclectic bunch actually. Later when I shifted to another ad agency whose office is located in the crowded Mohakhali region, the stares became harder. Though by then I started using scarves regularly, still my short cropped hair and the recently obtained red streak manages to garner enough attention on the street, much to my dismay. I'd like to finish my story with a funny anecdote. In Bashundhara the first flat where I stayed got burgled. When the local police came to investigate the matter, my landlady who just came down from Canada was also present. When the police asked me whether any of my clothing got stolen, she promptly quipped before I could open my mouth, 'oh the kind of clothes she wears, nobody's going to touch them!'
