“Which way to Tikoil, the folk-art village?” asked Mani, our guide about a place where even he had never ventured. An old farmer in the paddy fields waved us on, so we drove on for miles more along serpentine lanes. I wasn’t really sure what to expect of the village as it wasn’t in the plan. A few craft shops full of things we didn’t want or need? I was wrong of course, for I could see nothing when we pulled up near some adobe mud houses; northern …

There is something both deeply disturbing and perversely fascinating about a visit to the dockyards in Dhaka. For starters, the shipyards are located on the banks of the Buriganga – the country’s most polluted river – and the stench that emanates from the oily gloop isn’t pretty. We crossed the busy waterway on a small wooden sampan, and it took the strength and skill of the ferryman to row us to Keraniganj, on the other side…

Of all the beautiful temples we visited in Bangladesh, Kantaji Temple at Dinajpur was a standout. Clad in lace-like pottery ornamentation, Kantaji is without doubt one of the finest examples of terracotta architecture in Bengal. In essence, it’s a temple of love, dedicated to the Hindu god, Lord Krishna and his supreme Goddess, Radha. Today, the temple is still popular with followers of the divine couple and Radha-Krishna pilgrims, who stay in simple accommodation in the temple grounds. By coincidence, on the day we visited it was Holi, the Hindu “festival of love” or “festival of colours” that signifies good over evil and the arrival of spring, so we watched pilgrims perform rituals of devotion in the temple surrounds …