The young man carried a large basin on his head with a calm expression on his face
Walking through Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, I came across a young man balancing a large tray and a metal basin on his head. From a distance, it looked almost as if he were carrying an oversized soup plate. Both were made of metal, and even when empty, they must have been quite heavy. Yet he placed them lightly upon his head, striding forward with a calm, untroubled expression. Head-carrying is an everyday sight here—at once a symbol of hard labor and a silent art of poise, showing off a body’s inner balance.
If I tried to imitate him, I’d lose balance in seconds. To walk without dropping the load requires a bodily awareness cultivated over generations. Across Bangladesh and the Indian subcontinent, it still serves as a practical alternative to carts and trucks. Medieval European paintings often depict figures balancing jugs on their heads, but where that practice faded away with “progress,” here in Dhaka it survives as living tradition.
The young man in my photograph twisted his full lips into a faint, almost defiant smile. Above him rested the heavy tray; in his hand, a cell phone. It was as if he were declaring that holding the phone was more important than steadying the weight above. The coexistence of tray and smartphone, tradition and modernity, seemed a perfect miniature of urban life in Bangladesh. For him, it was a casual act—mere morning routine. But to me, it looked every bit like a street performance.
| Mar 2014 BANGLADESH PEOPLE | |
| BASIN DHAKA TRANSPORTER TRAY YOUNG MAN |
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PHOTO DATA
No
8419
Shooting Date
Sep 2009
Posted On
March 21, 2014
Modified On
August 26, 2025
Place
Dhaka, Bangladesh
Genre
Portrait Photography
Camera
CANON EOS 1V
Lens
EF85MM F1.2L II USM
