Insights

Bangladesh’s woes are unending. Try negotiating streets of Dhaka and you are face to face with problems this tiny nation is grappling with. Country’s burgeoning population has virtually no trace of role of the Government in their lives. People and more people keep pouring out on the city’s thoroughfares from the narrow, slushy alleys. Aerial view might impress any newcomer what with skyline dominated by thousands of high-rises. But try accessing these edifices, you realize that they are no better than slums hung in the sky.

No moment of the day is dull on Dhaka streets. Cycle-rickshaws are all over the place, crawling like caterpillars, weaving their way into empty pockets of the hybrid traffic. Estimates of their number vary between two to five lakh in a city peopled with over 12 million souls. Floods and pressure on lands feed the influx in cities. Unskilled folk have no other option than plying the tricycles, eking a livelihood out of the raw physical energy. A few buses provide the apology for the public transport. They look no better than cubicles beaten into shape out of the junked tar drums.

Traffic signals on crossings demand a heavy toll on time. Consider yourself lucky if you got the passage to the other side the third time it turned green as you wait. Eroded steps of the overused pedestrian over-bridges are a challenge for the limbs. The awkward traffic, heat, dust and congestion can defeat the best of the schedules of visitors.

Yet Dhaka is a lively city, ever pulsating with life. People are jolly and ever helpful. The warfare between the two famous begums which often spilled over streets, has made people weary of politics. But army’s nearly two-year rule has made no difference either. Economic hardships of the common man are growing harsher by each day. Housing, power, pressure on the land and the perennial floods know no answer.

Global warming has ominous forebodings for the nation of 150 million people. A metre rise of sea level would deprive Bangladesh of 19 per cent of its land area. Economic, social and political repercussions of this deluge for this whole region are difficult to be surmised. No wonder then why one gets the feeling that Bangladesh is a prison of people from which every single individual is looking for an escape. Unless there is responsible governance, visionary planning and a corruption-free regime, its worries would not know any end.

Into Lalbagh Fort
I was in Dhaka for five days to attend a symposium on South Asian civilization sponsored by Istanbul based IRCICA. After two days of hectic sessions, a day had been earmarked for going around Dhaka. Mughal built Lalbagh Fort in the old parts of the city is a pleasing garden dotted with three Mughal monuments comprising a mosque, a palace (which is now a museum) and a mausoleum. People must be thanked to have spared the 40 and odd acres of the green space in the densely populated old sectors of the city. The monuments were built by Shaista Khan, the governor of Bengal during the reign of Aurangzeb. It is the same Khan who was later treacherously killed by Shivaji in the ongoing warfare in Deccan. Shaista Khan’s daughter Bibi Pari and a son lie entombed in the mausoleum that constitutes the centerpiece of the complex. The three buildings are simple and lack the embellishments that are characteristic of Moghul architecture in and around Delhi.

Ahsan Manzil
Our next port of call was Ahsan Manzil, a building of ample proportions on the bank of river Buriganga. It is now a museum since 1985 but it witnessed many a momentous events during the last one century. It was here that Indian Union Muslim League was founded. A gallery of portraits has pictures of Mohammad Ali Jauhar, Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, Rabindranath Tagore and several other worthies of the time. Built by nawabs of Dhaka in early 19th century, it has undergone several repairs and renovations. The serene view of the barges and steamers on the Buriganga is obscured by the chaotic riverfront dominated by ugly shacks, fisherfolk and their wares and transporters. When Zamindari was abolished by the erstwhile Government of Pakistan, the descendants of nawabs could not afford to maintain the building. They shifted to another demi-mansion like building and handed it over to the Government.

Jagannath University
It is rather bizarre to have a university named after a Hindu nobleman in a Muslim country. But Bangladesh rulers must be lauded for the magnanimity in recognizing the contributions of the founders of Dhaka Brahma School and according it the due place. Brahma School was set up in Sadarghat area of Dhaka in 1858 on the bank of Buriganga by a group of Hindu philanthropists. It was taken over by zamindar Kishorilal in 1872. He named it after his father Jagannath. It first started a law college in 1882 and introduced the degree course in 1908 in other subjects. In 2005, it was accorded the status of a full fledged university. It has 22 departments and 27,000 students pursuing higher studies. I remember to have seen a Jagannath Hall in the Dhaka University campus during my first visit in 1991.