Bangladesh Information: I can always remember what I noticed in Bangladesh in the previous couple of days, and now I really like India extra! |

The day Shaikh Haseena fled from Dhaka I used to be in Bangladesh. I noticed sloganeering, jeering, rowdy crowds cheering the opposition and total chaos that ensued. It began on seventeenth July 2024. I went to show on a sabbatical to the scholars of the Asian College for Ladies, Chittagong, Bangladesh on thirtieth Could 2024. Initially, it was nice and I explored the nation and the town as a newcomer would.My household accompanied me and we travelled to Cox Bazar seashore, then to Dhaka on the highway. Chittagong port is large and the town is bustling. Dhaka regarded just like the Bandra Kurla Advanced in Mumbai, India. The realm we lived in in Bangladesh was Banani, a tony upscale a part of the town. Visitors was chaotic, and the warmth was oppressive nevertheless it felt good. We did Jamdani saree buying and ate Hilsa, the queen of the Padma River. My household left for Kolkata and I settled again in Chittagong, as my instructing started. Since it’s a college for girls my college students had been all women and oh, boy they got here from societies that are oppressive and a few from warzones like Afghanistan or Sri Lanka. They’d a troublesome previous and instructing them gave me a way of objective in life. By my lectures, I didn’t solely educate however supplied them hope which stokes their hearth within the stomach. It was a satisfying humanitarian expertise I had. I’ve been a instructor since 2004 however this time it was completely different. I had all the time taught college students who principally got here from advantaged backgrounds, few college students I had handled had been from disadvantageous sections of the society. However these women, a few of them had been rescued from warzones, a few of them had been fatherless, and a few of them got here from international locations unparalleled like East Timor. So it was a problem in addition to a fulfilment to show them and buoy their optimism.

The difficulty started on the seventeenth of July when the Haseena authorities elevated the quota of jobs for freedom fighters’ progeny. College students had been up in arms, and virtually 250 college students had been killed in a police assault. There was an web outage for six days, and ISD calls between my household and me had been patchy. There was a curfew. I fully stopped going out from the campus on the 18th of July; it was unsafe for everyone to enterprise out, significantly the foreigners. The Asian College has 750 Afghan refugees, 400 Rohingya refugees and greater than 50 international academics, some from USA and UK. So the campus in Chittagong was sealed, nevertheless, meals was out there within the canteen and groceries and veggies might be purchased from an inside store and push carts. From the night of the twenty fourth of July, the web was restored and cellular information was usable. The federal government rolled again the quota reforms and I believed issues can be regular. Curfew was relaxed from 10 am to 4 pm at first, then from the twenty seventh of July, the relief was from 8 am to six pm. Nonetheless, issues heated up once more on the thirtieth of July. Scholar-leaders had been detained by detectives and the protesting college students now needed their leaders to be launched and households who misplaced their youngsters to be compensated for the lack of lives. The opposition events jumped in, all of them proposed civil disobedience from the first of August. From the 2nd of August, I heard enormous crowds had been combating in GEC Extra, New Market, Tigerpass space of Chittagong. Regardless of heavy rains on Friday, simply after namaaz, there have been heavy crowds and rallies on the streets of Bangladesh. I went out to eat lunch with a pal on Saturday 9the third of August) in Copper Chimney, GEC Extra however received caught on account of a rally. Then we went buying in Sanmar Ocean Metropolis however the shutters had been down for half an hour on account of rallies. We had been scared. I returned house within the night. On Sunday, the 4th of August, the state of affairs worsened with crowds going out of hand. There was sloganeering, jeering, lathi-charge and firing within the New Market space of Chittagong. My passport went for visa renewal within the final week of July and I now needed my passport again. Riyaz, the college logistics supervisor, helped us in acquiring our passports. On his manner, he was stopped on account of firing. He couldn’t come house that night time, he stayed at a pal’s place. I admired the dutifulness of Riyaz and gifted him money as a result of a passport was important for leaving the nation which I had determined after a name to the Indian Embassy in Chittagong on Sunday afternoon. After I known as the attaché’ on thirtieth July he recommended me to remain again since he thought issues can be higher. Nonetheless, on Sunday (4th August) once I known as him he appeared panicked and advised me to go away ASAP. He was additionally fearful since I advised him my passport will not be in my hand. The place was tense Sunday night time as a result of the scholars deliberate an extended march to Dhaka on Sunday night time.
Then got here the day of fifth August which I shall always remember. We had breakfast within the college lounge and Sanaul Karim handed me over the ticket for my early exit to Kolkata that morning, Shama apu helped me with ticketing. Sanaul Karim is an FBI-trained personnel and he appeared panicked. He advised me to go away ASAP. The state of affairs was worsening each hour. I packed my baggage by Monday morning, the ticket was in and I used to be about to go away on Tuesday (sixth August) early morning. By 1.30 pm I went to the closest ATM to withdraw money, within the worst-case situation money is extra necessary. The roads had been empty, the state of affairs was severe. The campus was already closely guarded. Nonetheless, inside an hour by 2.30 pm there was jubilation on the highway. Native channels confirmed that Bangladesh PM Shaikh Haseena has resigned and fled. Now, we had been all sitting in entrance of a TV within the college lounge. The web was out from Sunday night time. Monday morning there was a complete web outage. Immediately after 2.30 PM the web was restored and I known as house. My spouse was panicking your entire episode, via patchy ISD calls we linked within the final 2 weeks and she or he was fearful about my well-being. I began receiving calls and messages from family and friends from India. Folks had been rejoicing on the streets. Outlets opened. Automobiles began plying on the streets. Little did I do know what awaited me on Tuesday morning.
I wakened at 4 am on Tuesday sixth August and received prepared. We had been transported to the airport by an Ambulance. I noticed burnt automobiles on the best way. There was zero site visitors in that wee hour. The true hassle started after we reached the airport. There have been few college students leaving for Nepal by way of Dhaka, one professor to Sharjah and one other British citizen to Dubai by way of Dhaka. Since Dhaka airport was closed all of the flights had been cancelled, and the airport authority was initially not permitting anybody to enter the airport. Nonetheless, after pleading and prodding the passengers had been allowed entry after 7.30 am. I used to be stranded outdoors the airport from 5.30 am, then US Bangla airline introduced their flight to Kolkata was on time. I jumped and entered the airport. Instantly after check-in, I used to be nonetheless anxiously ready within the lounge, considering ‘What if the flight didn’t take off?’ There was just one plane standing on the tarmac. Nonetheless, by 10.30 am they began boarding, and there have been Bangladeshi passengers additionally flying to Kolkata for medical check-ups. That was essentially the most harrowing flight I had ever taken in my complete life. The second the flight landed in Kolkata I felt a way of aid in my thoughts. By no means earlier than had I preferred Kolkata a lot. I deplaned and picked up my baggage. The customs officers and airport authority got here and spoke to me asking about my well-being. They advised me, “No baggage verify at customs, simply go house and recuperate from the trauma”. I got here house and residential by no means felt so protected and blissful.
I by no means anticipated an occasion like this may occur once I stepped in Bangladesh. I by no means knew I might see a authorities topple and alter in regime in a international land below such a dramatic and harrowing flip of circumstances. It was drama on a regular basis since seventeenth July. My pulse shot up, I used to be scared, I had sleepless nights and the place did nothing to encourage confidence. My family and friends panicked and always tried to contact me. Each time the web was out there, my spouse known as up on the Chittagong Indian Embassy and requested about my well-being. Some kinfolk and buddies began praying for me. I thank all of them from the underside of my coronary heart and I thank the Asian College officers who helped in my protected passage to India.
Ultimately, I need to inform you other than a number of days I by no means felt and spoke about Bangladesh, it’s their nation’s residents who will determine their destiny and who am I to touch upon who is true and who’s unsuitable? And the scholars I taught had been from various international locations and communities, instructing whom I felt happy. However I can always remember what occurred to me in these three weeks, ranging from seventeenth July 2024. Indians should know what a gorgeous nation now we have the place the rule of regulation is supreme and freedom of speech is unrivalled. I got here from a rustic again the place college students gave their lives for upholding the liberty of speech. I returned from a rustic the place mayhem and bloodshed had been common and the place the navy took over the nation. I now have a good time the greatness of India. A blood-stained change of fascist regime in a international land taught me to worth what now we have essentially the most in India- “Peace”.
(Authored by: Dr Biswa Prasun Chatterji, PhD (IIT Bombay), Professor, College of Science, Assam down city College, Guwahati, India; International Visiting Professor, Asian College for Ladies, Bangladesh).