Remarkable Women

It felt like the best kind of luck, to meet Lala and her mother, Hasna Begum (see Note), on my second day in Dhaka. I’d dropped by to deliver a message to Lala from a mutual friend, and then found myself sitting eating a wonderful lunch in Hasna Begum’s light airy kitchen with two very unusual and accomplished women.

“This is all leftovers, I’m afraid,” said Hasna Begum. Several dishes were placed on the table, and each of us had a plate of rice. “We eat one dish at a time,” she explained as she placed several serving-spoonfuls of the first dish, niramish (mixed vegetable curry), on one area of my rice. Once I’d eaten my portion, she carefully spooned some of the next dish onto a fresh portion of my rice.