We have moved from the NW to the NE of the country, and landed in Sylhet, billed as the most touristic location of Bangladesh. Except that Sylhet itself doesn’t have many interesting sites itself, the most famous one being the shrine of Hazrat Shah Jajaj. The shrine is part of a whole complex, complete with fish pond – for the holy fishes -, dove till – for the holy pigeons -, and offering hall, where the true believers bring their contributions, in the form of food, that subsequently will be cooked up for the poor, that visit the site.
The shrine itself is obviously very important, attracting lots of people praying for something good to happen to them. As everywhere, this also attracts lots of beggars; not only feeding the fish or the pigeons helps, giving alms could also cleanse you from your sins, and the beggars know this. Behind the shrine is a cemetery, where not necessarily the most pious, but definitely the most famous are being buried, including an actor and a hero from the liberation war.
Sylhet being very close to the Indian state of Meghalaya, this is also an opportunity to renew the group’s focus on borders again. We are going to visit no less than three border locations – perhaps next time I need to more carefully check the purpose of a trip before I book it!
Zakiganj
The first crossing is one in Zakiganj, where the only way to get into India is by taking a boat. The border is in the middle of the river, and indeed, we see small boats with the Bangladeshi flag staying close to the near shore, whilst a boat with an Indian flag carefully stays on the far side of the river. A friendly customs officer invites us for tea with his boss, and we chat a little about border crossing affairs; he claims there are some 20-25 people crossing per day, but I don’t believe a word of it. At least in the time we were around, nobody left or entered Bangladesh. And since the departure into exile, in India, of Sheik Hasina last August, relations aren’t very good between the two countries, which has a direct effect on the number of visas issued.
The country side is not much different from the area around Saidpur and Rajshani. Rice is the dominant crop, there seem to be more trees here, and around Sylhet we also encounter tea plantations. Many of the rice paddies are kept dry, apparently for crop rotations, or so I am being told; in the meantime, cows are roaming the dry paddies.
Lala Khal
Our second stop of the day is touristic, never mind the border. In Sarighat we board another wooden boat, this time with a sunroof, for a cruise on the Lala Khal, a river which supposedly contains the most beautiful turquoise water in the entire country. And it is indeed another wonderful river trip, moving upstream past women doing the laundry, men quietly fishing – the nets are not being used today, they mostly remain drying on the banks.
But the dominant activity is sand mining, digging buckets of river sand, and emptying them in the boats that carry the sand to either intermediate holding stations, or directly to Sarighat, where they are being used for construction, or being taking away by the trucks. This is big business here, we may have encountered perhaps 40-50 boats active, all with two or three diggers standing up to their waist in the water.
And at the end of our cruise? There it is, the Indian border again! And crystal clear, turquoise water.
Jaflong
From Sarighat we drive to Jaflong, another border crossing, supposedly far more relaxed, where Bangladeshi and Indian people can interact. Well, not really. It is a kind of a fun fair, a sizable market on the gravel banks of the river, all kind of stalls, selling all kind of things, food, ice cream, cloths, souvenirs. Boats for rent. And lots of people, mostly local tourists I guess, wandering around, and slowly moving towards the far end of the river. This is where the actual border is, roped off and with soldiers on guard. On this side, Bangladeshi. On the other side, behind the rope, Indians. Not really talking to each other, of course.
next: Barishal
