Understanding Bangladesh

July 30: Water, water everywhere ...

A police-escorted drive into the countryside outside Sylhet provided us with visual images of the current flooding situation. Frequent bus stops gave us opportunities to get up close and personal with the people and scenery we usually only view from bus windows.

We have been assured that what looks like threatening flooding is in fact normal flooding, as the area around Sylhet has annual precipitation of 177 inches, all in the form of rain. At our first stop, Rex Honey interviewed a local retired postal worker who had hired a boat to get there from his flooded home.

The gentleman described conditions in the area--homes are flooded, school is cancelled, and fishing is currently poor. If there would be no more rain, the waters would recede over a week or two. However, there will be more rain.

I observed more lambs and livestock on the roadside than in days past, as they have been brought to safety on higher ground from flooded residences. Children were playing happily with a day off from school--experimenting with oversized fishing nets, riding naked on hand-built rafts, balancing on tops of posts protruding out of the water, swimming, bathing, and carrying siblings on their hips through deep water on footpaths.

I looked out over the floodwaters and kept repeating, as if to convince myself, “This is normal!”

Flooding is normal in Bangladesh, and people have adjusted to flooding as a way of life. In other seasons, today’s fishermen are farmers and small businessmen, women focus on work related to their homes, and children go to school.

Epilogue

Given personal time this afternoon, Linda arranged escorts for the two of us to an Internet café, where I spent a precious hour reading and sending emails for 37 Taka, just over 50 cents. That was a bargain!

But the best “deal” I got was my ride back to the hotel—I’m going to get a lot of mileage out of the tale of my ride in the back seat of a police vehicle. Each tour guide told me tonight at dinner that I had honored the policemen by taking their pictures. I’ll honor them again by sharing one of the photos here.   |    Login or Join to Post Comments