Bangladesh 2019: Visiting My Mother’s Native Land

A long way to home…

I had always wanted to visit Bangladesh, the land my mother and Mamabari left behind so many decades back. In July 2019, I finally made it with the help of my dear friend, Suraiya Chowdhury! The stories were vivid and the emotions were strong.

After a short 30-minute plane ride from Kolkata, my sister Anasua and I landed in Dhaka. We were welcomed with pouring rain, a welcome I had not had in some time! Our next destination was to Cox Bazar and then Chittagong.

Chittagong, or “Chadga” as my mother would say, was the most emotional destination for us. As it was the last stop of our journey, it felt almost like a ‘tirtha’ or a pilgrimage often described as a journey where one goes in search of an experience that leads to personal transformation.

Undoubtedly, visiting Chittagong was a cherished experience which ended in creating a thread, a connection to my mother that seems more difficult to part with in each passing day.