I spent the morning in Tongi – just north of Dhaka – at the second largest annual gathering of Muslims in the World – the Biswa Ijtema. The three day prayer meeting attracts between two and three million pilgrims from across the Bangladesh – and more than 150 other countries. The largest tent imaginable accomodates the crowds, who nevertheless are squeezed into a pretty small area relative to their number. The traffic is a nightmare, but the organisation of the gathering is pretty impressive. On the other hand last year I was allowed to walk and film pretty much where I wanted. But this year, a polite young man carrying a bamboo stave told us not to enter.
My TV report: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/7860584.stm
Rains last year turned the whole place into a giant mudbath, and several people died, so it had to be called off. But this year the weather is fine, and the mood is peaceful. In fact for the radio I wanted to record some sounds illustrating the sheer vastness of the crowds, but they were more-or-less silent, streaming over the pontoon bridges which the army has laid over the Turag river or queueing up at communal baths.
Some of the Bangladeshi pilgrims say that the Biswa Ijtema is so popular because they are too poor to go on the Haj to Mecca, while they can afford the bus trip to Dhaka.
There are lots of beggars. One couple crouched next to their infant son, who looked like he had a large, bloody tumour growing out of his stomach. I couldn’t believe they chose to be there, with him in that condition, and not go to a hospital. However poor they are, a government one would be bound to treat him.
1 Comment
February 6, 2009 at 5:28 pm
It looks so good. Several thousands of Muslims gathering at a point which is in Dhaka, Bangladesh-my motherland