It is impossible to travel somewhere new and leave behind all your preconceptions about the place. Yet I would like to believe that an opening can be made in all that pre knowledge that allows a new place to unfold, gracefully and without prejudice.
With each passing moment, the visitor adjusts her understanding of the people and the place—blending what she knew or thought she knew with what is presenting itself. It is this internal dialog or adjustment that is so fascinating about new places. It is even better when you have a like-minded traveling companion with whom to share this experience.
Bangladesh is no exception to this only that I came to this country with a bag full of supposed knowledge about the place. Beginning with George Harrison and his concert for Bangladesh, this country has been on the disaster radar since the Partition. It would be hard not to hang the framework of poverty and hopelessness on this country.
This is a crowded place. The water is overtaking the land. The air is polluted. The roads are choked with traffic. The infrastructure is in decay, Garbage and rubbish are strewn everywhere. And the people are poor – unbelievable poor.
Yet Bangladesh is captivating. We have traveled through beautiful rice fields and lush tea plantations, visited tribal villages, ridden a boat along the Indian and Bangladeshi border where the men dive for rocks that wash down from the Indian mountains, walked through markets, hiked through a tropical forest, and been warmly greeted wherever we go.
We are already planning to come back.
