Fantastic Bangladeshi Hospitality

One of my friends came to Bangladesh from United States in December, 2007. He was a University student as well as a voluntary worker. It was actually his first visit to Bangladesh. Staying a couple of days in the capital city, he expressed his desire to visit the affected areas by devastating cyclone SIDR. I asked some people and selected a seriously affected area called Koykhali under Shatkira district (southern part of Bangladesh). We decided to visit that place the next day. We went to Khulna by bus from where we were supposed to go to the destination by another bus. As the road was not so good, we decided to go by a motorbike. We managed to get one person who agreed to take us to Koykhali by next morning.

The next morning our journey commenced. The road was partially damaged and was unfit for a bus. But we were traveling well by our motorbike. After 3-hour ride we reached the location. What did we see? Actually it was an unbelievable sight. For, the entire area was entirely damaged. No house or tree was found standing. All were flat on the ground. Almost all the villagers were under the open sky. There was no food, no shelter and no cloth. What made us grief stricken was the sight of about 100 newly made graves. We came to know that the death attacked mostly women and children. My US friend was afraid watching the extreme natural havoc.    

To collect information about the cyclone, we visited a family under a polythene shade. The people of the family expressed their terrible experience of that night. We were amazed to learn that the owner of the house lost his wife, a son and a brother that night. While he was telling the story, he had to stop many times because his speech was frequently blocked by cry. We sat on the floor and heard his entire story with rapt attention. After a whole he invited us to take our lunch in their house. We did not agree. But he began to insist on he ground that we covered a long distance and we must be hungry. We noticed that while we were busy speaking, his daughter finished her cooking rice and eggs. Therefore, there was no way to avoid his invitation. What was more, the man sought apology to us for his inability to entertain us well though he wanted to do so.

Anyway, after the memorable lunch under the open sky in the territory of Bangladesh, my friend asked the man about how he managed the rice and eggs. The answer was that he lost everything but he could collect 2 kilograms of rice from Government relief after walking 2 kilometers. And his daughter managed 4 eggs from the neighbour on credit.  We asked him what they would eat the incoming night and the next day. The silence was the only answer.

Learning this, we only looked at ourselves. My friend uttered, “This is Bangladeshi hospitality”.