Locked in during Corona, I reflected on faraway places I love. Dhaka in Bangladesh is one of those cities I love intensely. The traffic is hideous, but only some degrees worse than peak-hour Mumbai. The civilised people, rich culture, restaurants, bookshops, music, architecture, markets, the Buri Ganga (Old Lady Ganga) river—there's always so much to delight in.

Invited to the Dhaka International Film Festival in January, I took time off on my last day to visit Bangladesh's spectacular Parliament, the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban (National Assembly Building), designed by the outstanding Estonian-American architect Louis Kahn (locally adopted as Louis Khan). I had already found the buildings of the Indian Institute of Management (IIM-Ahmedabad), designed by Kahn, intoxicating, when I once lectured there. But, the Parliament was far more mind-boggling.