Rivers of Life: Living with Floods in Bangladesh

Abstract

For Bengalis, these songs by the two most famous folk singers of Bangladesh resonate with the duality and paradox of life and death, of replenishment and devastation, caused by recurrent high floods. They also reflect the Bengali peasant world-view that is deeply rooted in the relationship of the lives of ordinary Bengalis to water. During each monsoon season, almost all of Bangladesh's deltaic plain is submergedmost of it for about half the year. Rice and fish, the main staple of the people-indeed, Bengalis are widely known for their love of rice and fish (machhe bMate Bangali) over all other food-need tremendous amounts of flood water to grow and flourish. Jute, the country's principal cash crop, is also highly dependent on flood water.