Another image from my archives. We arrived by bus in a small town in Northern Bangladesh, as we stepped off the bus, the tea shop that had been babbling with the latest chatter and news- stopped. Despite there being a hartal (strike) announced for the entire country to begin the following day which was very serious, the mood of the tea drinkers lifted. We said hello, the man in the brown jacket beckoned us to sit. He told us about the hartal and how he, bus station master would not be working and therefore not earning for as long as the hartal lasted. The other men were coolies and rickshaw wallahs also dependent on the bus station and also would be out of work as from tomorrow.
The tea shop owner of course would have no trade. We drank tea with them, and wished them well for the coming time. (what we didn't know at this time was that a coup would take place during the hartal and we would be stuck in this small town for days not being about to move.)