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Floating hotels, a fading heritage

Masud Hasan Khan
The k(ngs or landlords of historic Dhaka may be only tn books now. but for a few. the day* and style of aristocracy Is too difficult to give up. They are the torch bearers of our rich heritage.
Nawab Mia and few other owner* of Dhaka* floating restaurants arc among them When 55 year-old Nawab Mia ■ life on the river come* to an end. a chapter of Dhaka * Ira dtlionai Inn-keeping will come lo a cfoac.
He is the last of the genera lion of hoteliers who run the pinish-the floating inns on the river Buriganga.
Not far from the bustling Sadarghat terminals and the trading centre* vibrating nearby, there moored in a row arc three piniahe*. the last of the Dhaka species Those were Faridpur Muslim I lotel. Uma-
Ujala Hindu Hotel, Dhaka Port Naz maBoarding.
.Several gang planks arc stretched on the miry bank of the river for the guests to board. Nawab Mia sat on his empty "Dhaka Port Nazma Boarding" "pinish'.
Once these house-boats or bazras were the symbol of prestige for the "raise admis' (aristocrats) of old Dhaka. "Unless you had one you didn't belong to the aristocracy." he said.
Besides the inn-keeping business, the boats were used for cruising, political campaigns and by the peers and maulanas who visited the rural areas during the monsoon season. Dhaka's Nawabs owned the "Dilrooba" while the Bhawal estate prided on "Mamata Sultan".
Leader of the masses ^foulana Abdul Hamid Khan
lihssanl was among the guests of the 'pinish'. Maybe It I* no more there to speak of the great leader's arduous journey from one corner of the coun try to another seeking emancipation for millions of downtrodden .
Pinish' sometime* called "bacra'. "green boat' or 'lai dtngl', 1* a kind of house-boat, may be one or lwo *toried Finish' Is an adaptation of pinnace, a small boat with eight oars. There are small cabin* upstair*. The ground floor has just enough -space lo accomn»odatc a dozen visitor* each night.
Each cabin, a bit larger than a coffin, is without furniture. The hotelier supplies pillow, quill and bed sheet* when a guest rheck* IM. 1‘lnlshes arc generally lighted by tallows, with a single washing closet nt
the stern for common use.
'll* a dying business... and it's hard time for us," Nawab Mia says sitting on his deserted boat. 'You don't know what great days we had.'
Mia. who has been in the business for straight 35 years, recalls there were 365 simi lar hotels when he entered the business. During the l94Os. Sadarghat was the nucleus of Dhaka's trade and commerce and there were only two hotels tn the growing city.
And now in the land of rivers, when cruising has ceased to be a luxury. Nawab Mia feels like a misfit. Only three of the 21 pinishes owned by him have survived the frequent storms and cyclones and the onslaught of modern-day hotel business on shore.
"Not even my four sons
ever drop by lo sec my bust- I ncss ... the modern boys".he regrets.
The Inn-keeper earns around Taka 7,000 a month and a big chunk of the money goes for salary of his three employees, taxes and for re pairs.
The guests of the 'pinish' are however less romantic about passing nights on the river. They are mostly working class people — day labourers, peddler*. small trader*— or the passenger* who arrive at the dty for business. The price for sleeping and eating on the pinishes is surprisingly as low a* Taka 10 for a cabin every night and the bill for food never exceeds Taka 20 for two meals. For the regular guests there is cone-esrion
in 1946 the charge was
only 25 paisa for each cabin during the hey days of his business. Mia recalled. The money could be considered equivalent to several thousand taka in I he present market, he said.
"In those days you could not aboard a 'pinish' without a fresh shine on your shoes", the old inn keeper said.
The charges began soaring and guests thinned with the 'growth of the city where nu , merous cheap brick and cc ment hotels came up lacking the beauty of the rocking boats.
TH stick to the trade until my death ... and may be that's not too far." Mia said, but his guests pray that their host and tradition he has kept alive so far docs not meet an early end. taking away with ft one of Dhaka's lesser known heritage.