Instead of coffee, the stalls sell tea and insted of sitting on a chair, customers either squat, sit on wooden benches or stand.
Rest rooms are simply an open sewage always close by.
The menu is quite identical in most places: tea, biscuits, cakes, cigarrettes, bananas and paan (green leaves filled with tobacco and spices).
From a foreigner's view, the prices are rather low: tea with milk and sugar costs about six taka (seven cents), a cake seven taka.
The more established tea stalls cook water in large pots and wash tea glasses in small buckets.
These stalls are covered with a cloth or a roof which gives both shade and protects from rain.
The "mobile" stall is actually one man carrying hot water in thermos bottles and the rest of the merchandise in his hands or on top of his head. When he finds a suitable location for his business, he simply squats down, and the cafe is open.
Most of the customers are men. They hang around, drink tea, smoke, chew paan and talk. I have been told that tea stalls are the place for gossip and political debates.
Dhaka has a couple of "Western" cafees, too. They are mostly frequented by foreigners (in shabby outfits) and rich dhakaites (all dressed up).
Out of security reasons, there are no sidewalk cafees where one could sit and do serious people watching.
The most Western at these places are the prices - a cup of tea can cost as much as a rickshaw puller earns during a successful day.
People may be poor but they are living here with full of happiness.....
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comment, so true.
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