400 Years of Capital Dhaka

Today I attended the opening of a very interesting exhibit at the Asiatic Society called "400 Years of Capital Dhaka." This is part of a larger three-year celebration of the 400th anniversary of Dhaka being named the capital of Bengal in the Mughal Empire. (Sure, it stopped being the capital of Bengal for a while in there, but who's counting?) Anyway, the exhibition contained photos and artworks documenting Dhaka at different points.

But my favorite parts were the displays of various objects, quotidian and precious, contributed by Old Dhaka families for the exhibition. Apparently there were many more objects offered that had to be turned away. These items--pottery, inlaid jewelry boxes, a doll's bed, an old phonograph--clearly represent things that people value and have passed down within their families, in some cases for hundreds of years. The love and history emanating from those objects just made them, for me, so much lovelier than even the most beautiful works of art. Though I must say, a series of paintings of Dhaka's riverbanks from 1840 was pretty neat--the city is unrecognizable.

And the best part of all? For a cultural attache, attending an event like this is considered work. Yup, my job is pretty sweet.