Azimz Ventures

A visual travel book for my descendants.

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A Dusty Whirlpool | Dhaka City | Episode 3

A Magical Island 

After filling our lungs with dust and carbon monoxide we decided that it’s enough! We needed a getaway trip. During the conference lunch, we got introduced to Shahriar, a prominent academic figure in Bangladesh, and he offered us to tag along with his crew to visit an off-grid island in which he built a solar power house. That was what we all were waiting for.

7 in the morning the next day he picked all of us up from the office and we head towards the island. Our driver was probably the most fearless human being on this planet. I mean lanes were meaningless for him but according to Shahriar “he’s a PRO”. As we get close to the shore, from which we need to get a boat to the island, we pass through a mystical village market. Almost 60% of the shops are selling flipflops. Old men are holding a bunch of living ducks from their neck like they are grocery bags. It was awesome! We arrived at the shore and we got on a boat heading to the island.

Once we got to the island, we were faced with the warm welcome of the residents. They were extremely excited to meet us but at the same time a bit afraid and shy. They kept following us as we headed towards the power house. Once we got there, we were served with fresh coconut juice.

The battery room was filled with huge batteries. The thought of villagers having to transport tons of material to the island by boat and hand was unbelievable for all of us. However, the project was absolutely rewarding for the residents. Their lives were transformed massively. Motors ran on battery, many shops played Bangi music on their speakers, and villagers were mesmerized by watching Hindi soap operas.

There was even a digital photo shooting studio running Photoshop on its computer. I’m talking off-grid island here!

Some of my friends went with motorcycles to the other side of the island to interview villagers that were not receiving solar energy from the power house. These people were extremely excited about our presence and expected us to implement similar projects for their area. Many of these villagers had incomes as high as 400 EUR a month. Their relatives usually send them money from countries such as Qatar or UAE. Even though the cost of energy on this island was 4 times that of the national grid, the project still had a very long payback time. The viability of such capital intensive remote projects still remained a mystery to us.

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A Dusty Whirlpool | Dhaka City | Episode 2

Everyday Routine

We start the day at 8:00AM. The one who wakes up early makes the breakfast for everyone else. I’m not quite sure why we have this reverse incentive as a rule in our flat. Anyway, the breakfast is usually fried potatoes, onion, tomatoes and eggs wrapped within fried Naan in butter. We are also very serious on tea and honey every morning. Some days before breakfast we go on the rooftop and do circuit exercise for an hour. We then take shower with cold water not because we’re hardcore but because there’s no hot water. Then we head to office to work on our secret project.

The Epic Conference

Early in the morning on Saturday, we all gathered in front of the office before heading to the conference in the south of Dhaka. We knew there would be a ride arranged for us but we didn’t know it’s going to be this souped up TukTuk. It was probably one of the scariest roller-coasters I’ve ever got on. Going against the traffic sometimes and never stopping for a pedestrian seemed like everyday business. Can you imagine that these vehicles can go on the speed lane in highways?

At the rooftop of the conference building, one of the key academic figures of Bangladesh, standing in the most left position in the photo, built a research lab powered fully on solar panels. It was quite a unique project funded mostly by the World Bank and he was incredibly proud of it. On the right hand side, you can find me ruining the formality of the photo by holding a red bag from a Bangladeshi fashion brand called “Lubanan”. Check’em out they have cool outfits.

After getting frustrated by attending many technical sessions in the conference, we all decided to venture out in the south of Dhaka city and visit the National Museum of Bangladesh. Our jaws were dropped on the way by bumping into the following scenery.

This looks like a race but it’s not! It’s business as usual. The dense pile of electricity wires hanging over sidewalks is an unforgettable sight.

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A Dusty Whirlpool | Dhaka City | Episode 1

The Encounter

I looked at my watch; 2:00AM. I’m not even sure which day of the week. I just got out of plane and stood in the foreign passport holder’s line. One of the officers had a scarf wrapped around his head. Apparently what I considered damped spring weather was Bangladeshi winter. Some were even wrapped in blankets. I couldn’t exchange my Euros for Bangladeshi Taka since all currency exchanges at the airport were closed.

I got out of the airport and a soldier welcomed me to the country holding an AK47. The weather was densely foggy and smell of the air was strange. As I started walking on the street I was quite shocked by my surroundings. People all looked extremely poor, some of them addicted to substances and few were crippled and begging for money in every other corner. It was a shocking first encounter. All you could hear was the honking of buses coming into the square. I crossed a bridge over the street and walked towards Holiday Inn Express. I was an alien looking creature with long black beard carrying a giant backpack. I guess I was as strange for people as they were for me. Finally I arrived to my room in Holiday Inn facing a herd of mosquitoes welcoming me.

Ignoring the Earthquake 

After arriving at the Dhaka airport in midnight, I was picked up by one of the employees of the company and his friend. They seemed quite excited by meeting me. One of them, Shamim, looked like a well-educated person and he spoke good English. His friend was much shorter with a peculiar hairstyle and very limited language skills. He quickly got a cab for all of us and we headed towards an unknown destination. Once we arrived at the apartment I thought I am going to meet up with the rest of my classmates but I saw a stranger inside the flat. He was another employee of the company and indeed the flat was the former lab of the company. This was exactly what I wanted to avoid, the Lab. There were only two beds in a tiny room and that’s pretty much it. Nowhere to sit in the living room, a shabby kitchen, and a tiny bathroom. I assembled a mosquito net on top of my bed and put myself to sleep without changing my cloths. I was still awake struggling with my random thoughts until around 5 in the morning I felt I’m moving on my bed. Yes, it was an earthquake! I was so tired and jet-lagged that I didn’t move from my place. The shaking maybe lasted for 10 seconds. Then I heard people coming out of their flats and shouting. Surprisingly, I was ignorant to all of that.

No Veggies!

It was 5 in the afternoon and none of us had anything since breakfast. We all decided to go to a big mall close to us to exchange cash, get SIM cards, and find a place to eat. After getting all the admin things sorted out we decided to take the safe bet and eat at Pizza Hut. After 2 minutes of sitting at the table we all regretted the choice and went out of the restaurant to hunt for some Indian food. We finally all agreed on one restaurant. I ordered two dishes, Masala Dosa and Tandoori Chicken Tikka. I asked them to not give me salad with them as I was terrified of touching raw veggies in Bangladesh. The food was really good but super spicy. One of my friends, despite everyone’s advice, started eating from the raw veggies. In a matter of 10 minutes, I spotted him running away and separating from the group desperately looking for a bathroom. Luckily it wasn’t anything serious.

We came back to the flat at 7:00pm. No Internet and practically nothing to do. It was a strange feeling. It has been a while that I didn’t feel the urge of accomplishing something. It got to a point that Patrick and I found ourselves laying on the couch, drinking from a 5 litter bottle of water and watching Titanic. That was probably the lowest point of my journey so far! I asked him to “turn that shit off” and go to bed and we did.

Amazing variety of street food in Gulshan, one of the wealthy neighborhoods of Dhaka city.

TAWA restaurant: One of the best dishes I had so far in Bangladesh: Chicken Jalfrezi | recipe 

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The Jewish Museum

Exile Garden

It was cold and dark!

The Cross View to the Garden

Torah Writing Arm

I was amazed with the magnificent architecture of the building.

The floor was covered by metal faces making sound as you walk over them. A truly mesmerizing scene. 

Our pomegranate wish was a bit out of place considering the fact that we entered a Jewish praising venue. 

They went everywhere.

Modern story telling room.

The first organization in the world dedicated to research about homosexuality. 

The blue dude.

Hardworking of course.

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In Praise of Experimental Music @ Atonal

On August 24th 2014, I attended the most bizarre and peculiar event of my life. It was held at a gigantic abandoned power plant in East Berlin. Crowd was classy and a bit close to the dark side, black leather and lots of piercings and tattoos. As I entered the plant, I was faced with an inviting strange empty space confined by concrete walls.

The 4D Sound

Unfortunately I didn't get a chance to attend this show because we arrived late. The 4D sound experience is achieved connecting multiple tower speakers. When you sit down on the floor the sound travels all around you and you will be taken to an acoustic journey. This is the picture of the 4D sound section.

We saw that all the people are going up the stairs.

And there it was! A huge stage ruled by experimental gods.

Mind-blowing visuals were projected on a 100 feet screen.

I was truly fascinated by the master mind behind the lighting.

I'm glad that I shared this with my buddies.

The captured moments @ Atonal

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What Artists Did To The Ruins Of A Luxurious Hotel

It was Saturday night on 16th of August. My friend Sasan invited me to his mystical room in an old building in Kreuzberg. This is what I saw at the entrance:

History 

The building was an luxurious hotel 70 years ago with enormous rooms and expensive furniture. Unfortunately half of the building was completely demolished at World War 2. After that the building was purchased by a wealthy individual who rented it out to artists to turn it into an art project. These are few of the artworks on the walls:

The Spooky Path To The Rooftop

At the last floor, the artists carved into the wall and made a tight path to a previously inaccessible huge loft. This loft could easily accommodate 1000 people.

I had to pull my self through this opening into the loft.

This is me taking a selfie standing on the loft's wooden floor feeling that I'm back in the Nazi Germany.

Then we all climbed up a ladder and got to the rooftop with an amazing view over the East Berlin. It felt just like movies. 

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Berlin Zoo

Once I saw the line up, I was like no way! We actually walked for a minute or two to get to the entrance gate, where we found out there was a second line which was probably 30 times shorter than the main line but no one saw it. So we got into that line and went in after less than 10 minutes. Don't be a sheep!

Quick fact: elephant's trunk contains up to 150,000 separate muscle fascicles, with no bone and little fat. 

A good friend once told me only half of the flamingo's body sleeps when the bird is resting on one leg.

Zen Master

It was amazing to observe the social hierarchy of baboons. It was entertaining to the level that the zoo actually built a bar overseeing the baboon section and called it the "Monkey Bar".

The Real Me

This one was my favorite. He was looking into your eyes leaving no doubt that he has some kind of consciousness. He was staring at us telling himself: what the hell these guys are looking at.

Laziness to another level!

Absolutely Brutal -  It's not fair to put a polar bear outside in hot summer days.

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A journey through history @ British Museum 

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Ed Atkins' Synonyms: Five or six noise-making rifts

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Serpentine Pavilion

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Serpentine Galleries in London

Marina Abramović - Silence

Serpentine Pavilion designed by Smiljan Radić

A doughnut-shaped temporary structure that illustrates creative design in architecture.

The Albert Memorial 

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The Bigger Picture @ Tate Modern

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London is Delicious

Wood fired oven pizza and wine @ a cozy hipster place called Homeslice

Juicy hippy-style burgers and fries @ MEATliquor 

This place was dark, punk, and noisy restaurant in the hear of financial district in London. A unique burger experience. Just look at the size of that baby onion ring.

Healthy snack @ Food for Though 

This place was magnificent. The ceiling was low and I got a hobbitish feeling but food was tasty and healthy.

Modern Indian Fusion @ Dishoom

By far the best restaurant I've been to in London. Drinks are magically spiced with secret ingredients. Food was very tasty and the service was great. If you end up going there, go early because there is always a long queue. 

Simply perfect chips & steak @ Le Relais de Venise L’Entrecôte

2 trips of crispy fries accompanied by prime quality Angus beef steak. Just lovely! High quality ingredients and the restaurant's secret steak sauce are keys to this place's success.

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Visiting BBC

Live broadcast in a high-tech studio with tons of robot cameras.

Ground Floor - The brain of BBC network.

Ali walked us through his everyday tasks and how he puts together stories for the noon news session of BBC Farsi. He used two different software to fetch stories from other sources and combine them with videos from BBC’s monstrous archive. It was very engaging to see how news as we know on our TV screens takes shape in reality.

The most stressing situation for the news people was when a breaking news hits the studio. Now everything needs to be shifted and sometimes reporters have to cover it without any written script. It was chaotic but full of excitement.

This gigantic network was trying its best to unify news across all of its subdivisions and language departments in order to avoid overlaps among employees. I wonder who’s the master mind behind this operating system?

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Contemporary Art @ Saatchi Gallery in London

The Brick Ball

The Oil Pool

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We had to stay quite in the BBC Farsi's control room. They were on air, covering the Gaza story.