August Sunset Over Dhaka, Khilkhet

It was sometime in August, deep into the monsoon season. The air in Dhaka had that heavy, wet weight to it — the kind that sits on your skin and does not move. I went up to the rooftop of Lake City Concord in Khilkhet around half past five in the evening, just to get out of the flat and breathe something that was not air-conditioned.

The western sky was thick with haze. Not cloud, not fog — just the monsoon humidity mixing with the city dust until everything beyond a few kilometres turned into a grey wash. The sun was already low, and instead of the usual orange blaze you get in winter, it had gone pale — this soft pink disc hanging over the rooftops, barely cutting through. The buildings below looked flat, like cardboard cutouts stacked against the sky.

This is what Dhaka looks like before the winter arrives and clears everything out. In December or January the same rooftop gives you sharp light and blue sky. But in August the city wears this filter, and sometimes that filter is the photo. I pointed the camera west and let the haze do the work.