Project Description

Chittagong, pre-Covid.

I was at this store - browsing. I have absolutely no memory of what I was there to buy.My wandering eyes landed outside the shop, on a moving rickshaw. Now, rickshaws aren’t something we really look at. They’re just… there. Part of the city, like noise or humidity - completely essential, yet mostly ignored. But this one didn’t let me ignore it.

The puller was carrying a mountain of utensils in the back, like pots, bowls, metal things stacked so high they almost lost their identity. From a distance, they looked like small round balls floating behind the rickshaw, like some strange, glimmering orbit. And I couldn’t help but think of those folktales—you know, the ones where heroes casually carry mountains like it’s just another Tuesday. Except this wasn’t mythology.

No background score, no divine intervention. Just a man, pedaling through traffic, carrying his own version of a mountain. An urban rendition of ancient folklore. I took out my phone and clicked a picture. Obviously. Because if something feels unreal, we need proof. But then the phone got lost. And so did the picture. What stayed behind was the memory, and a rough artwork I made afterwards, trying to hold onto it in some way.

And here’s the thing- while a rickshaw carrying a mountain of utensils felt extraordinary to me, it didn’t quite land the same way with my peers. To them, it was just… a rickshaw. Which makes you wonder, how many extraordinary things do we collectively agree to treat as ordinary?

I guess I’m just glad I stopped looking for what I thought I needed to buy, and ended up seeing something I didn’t even know I was looking for.