The Bengali Story

Bangladesh has not had it easy.

The people of Bangladesh will be quick to tell you that theirs is a poor country. By purely economic standards, this is largely correct. As the world’s 7th most populous country, average annual income is only $1,400 per person, or half that of neighboring India’s. It is the most densely populated country on earth, with some 150 million people packed into a country the size of the state of Iowa or Greece (or, to view it another way, the same population as Russia packed into 1/120th the land area).

Once part of British India, Bangladesh became part of Muslim Pakistan in 1947 when India gained independence and was split along religious lines. In 1971, isolated from mainland Pakistan with India in between and with political rifts mirroring their physical distance, Bangladesh (then East Pakistan) seceded from Pakistan at a cost of several million lives.

To further round out recent miseries, Bangladesh has also been host to a number of devastating natural disasters, such as flooding in 1998 that affected 2/3 of the country and made some 30 million people homeless, and the world’s deadliest cyclone on record in 1970 which killed upwards of a million people.

Yet for all its difficult recent history and relative lack of prosperity, Bangladesh is superbly rich in culture and hospitality. The amazing friendliness and welcoming spirit of the Bengalis that I met were simply unparalleled. From the poorest residents in the slums of Dhaka to fellow first-class passengers on long-distance riverboats, Bengali natives expressed a genuinely friendly spirit and desire to share the true wonders of their country with the rare tourist in their midst.

Warm handshakes, polite introductions, typically followed by a barrage of questions: where are you from? How do you like our country? Have you seen this or that attraction? Where are you going now? How long are you staying in Bangladesh? And so on, almost universally concurrent with or followed by an invitation to drink tea, visit their home, and meet more of their friends and family.

Whatever natural and historical attractions the country may have (and it certainly has its share of both), it is truly Bangladesh’s people that make the most lasting impression. As the country’s economy continues to improve, one can envision and hope for a Bangladeshi future where its material riches soon catch up to its interpersonal ones.