Bangladesh visit
August 25th, 2014

My first visit to Bangladesh was in 1998 when we took the body of my father-in-law to Dhaka. His cremation was done in Dhaka with state honours. He was a celebrity in Bangladesh, so his funeral was attended by thousands of peoples. I did not stay there for long. I did visit Dhaka again after one year. This time my family also went along with me. We stayed in the house of Nilidi [Ms. Nilofer Ahmed], she was then the Director in the Prime minister’s office. Her family was very close to my in-laws. She was also a close relative of Sheik Hasina [PM of Bangladesh]. We stayed there for a week. I also visited some of our relatives in Mymensingh. I went there by car and it was a memorable trip. I saw fruit trees both the side of the road I travelled; there were slogans that if you plant a tree, then plant a fruit tree. Moreover, Bangladesh receives heavy rains although the year so the greenery was superb. Another interesting sight was the rivers, in some places the width of Ganga or the Padma as it is known there in Bangladesh was over 10 km.      

My second visit to Dhaka was recently, after about 15 years. I went there with my family and my dad. We stayed in Niludi’s house this time also. Niludi have now became Director General in PM office. A very high profile position, that kept her very busy. The purpose of our visit was to see Niludi’s mom [Pisi], who was now 87 years old. My dad also wanted to meet his aunt who almost 95 now. Dhaka did not change much, but it became too crowded. The traffic on the road was pathetic, some traffic jams took hours to resolve. However, we did not really feel the traffic fury as we were the guest of the Director General PMO so we receive VVIP treatment right from the time we landed at the Hazrat Sahajalal International airport. Hence, most of the time we travelled on wrong side of the road and saved time. My dad and I also visited Mymensingh to visit our relatives. Our stay in the Mymensingh was made memorable by two people Mr. Ajimuddin Biswas, Director PMO who accompanied us from Dhaka and guided us and Mr. Mustiquin B Faruqui the district collector of Mymensingh. We stayed in ‘Circuit house’ and was given accommodation in the VIP guest room. Mr. Faruqui arranged a very good ‘Jalsha’ for us in his residence cum office. His residence was a massive majestic British made bungalow. That might have been built over 100 years ago. He invited good singers from the city just to sing for us. Ms. Joyeta Fahmi, Mr. Sakhwat Hossain, Mr. Azad Dewan, and Mr. Arzo Parves [Tabla] present some sensuous music for us. In fact Mr. Faruqui is not only a music lover, but a good singer himself. He also sang few good songs for us. The 3-4 hours musical evening was the most memorable experience for me. After the ‘Jalsa’ the dinner party was really a treat, 4 types of fish preparations were served along with delicious desi chicken. There were many other dishes; however, the Hilsa preparation was the best. Bangladesi Hilsa from Padma is having a wonderful taste. We also visit some other place nearby Dhaka and the Bangladesh National museum. Mr. Hadi was our guide in the sight seeing mission. It was nice experience to visit the house of the father of the nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahaman. That has been now turned into a memorial museum.    

Some Pictures of Bangladesh