For them, Baisakh means a struggle to survive in Kalbaisakhi

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Boishakh does not bring the message of festival to the Char area of ​​Kurigram. To the residents of Char, it brought a message of gusty winds and dark clouds. And there is the fear of losing everything in a moment. For them, Boishakh means a struggle to survive the Kalboishakhi storm.

Airmarichar is about two hours by boat on the river Brahmaputra from the district town. About 120 families live in this small char. Some fish for livelihood, some go to Pabna-Sirajganj for weaving, and some work as laborers in Dhaka.

Char resident Shahidul Islam (47) is one of them. Once he was the owner of 100 bighas of crop land. His father’s land in Airmarichar, Rlakata and Purba Daikhawar char has now disappeared under the river. Recently, while repairing the house damaged by Kalbaisakhi storm, he said, “The month of Baisakhi is really scary, this is when storms and storms come.” The house will be lost in the storm, the crops will be destroyed – this anxiety fills the head.

Sarabesh Ali, the 60-year-old of that Char, said, ‘The people of Char again have Baisakh! We don’t have any Baisakh apart from the Kalbaisakhi storm. He said that once the Brahmaputra river was far away. There was wealth in the village, fairs were held on Baisakh, Haddudu and stick games were held. Now everything has changed in the river. Young people move to cities in search of work, mainly women, children and old people remain in villages.

This reality of Char is different from the Boishakh celebrations of the city. While the city celebrates Baishakh with panta-hilsa, new clothes and processions, people in the grasslands look up to the sky—for fear of a storm. Mahura Begum, Shahidul Islam’s wife, said, “City people wear new clothes and have a joyous festival, but we people from the countryside think, ‘Come again, won’t there be a storm?’

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Dharla, Teesta, Dudhkumar and Brahmaputra rivers in Kurigram are the most uncertain at this time of the year. New crops, raw houses and livestock—everything is at stake. Another major problem of Char people is lack of advance warning. Maidul Islam, a farmer in Algar Char, said, “The country has become digital, but we do not get advance information about the storm. If I had known earlier, I could have moved the cows and goats, the house could have been saved a little.’

Monir Hossain, a local school teacher, said that children read the book and Baishakh means a festival. But here in reality they see the struggle to save the house.

Kurigram district relief and rehabilitation officer’s office has informed that every year more than hundreds of homesteads are damaged in various parts of the district by Kalbaisakhi storm. However, there is a lack of accurate statistical storage. At least 10 homesteads were destroyed in Nageshwari upazila in a one-day storm this year.

Char’s life does not stop even in adversity. The day after the storm, some people put up the poles of the broken houses, others sow new seeds. After losing everything, the life of struggle begins again.