Portrait Series

From my childhood, I used to see Bede people on street and I remember always being attracted to their fetching behaviors especially the Bede woman. I think almost every child in Bangladesh have seen Bede people around on the streets and stopped to stare at them and their unusual works. I used to wonder how some people on this planet have no permanent place for living. Bede people generally used to be the gypsy- like people who used to have no house and used to wander around rivers in boats. But they have recently built houses around riversides and started living in a small circle of people of their community. Bede people have been a part of Bangladeshi heritage for a very long time. They go to different places in groups for work. They follow the steps of their ancestors to be engaged in works of Singa (gets rid of people’s tooth worms, relieves toothache and muscle pain) and other unconventional mode of treatment. They learn to work from a young age and most Bede girls get married of their own free will by eloping at a young age of 15-16 and have a family of their own. Upon interviewing multiple girls, it is extremely surprising that none of them remember anything from their childhood. When they were asked to tell something memorable from their childhood or anything that they remembered doing as children, they seem to have no recollection, no stories or memories of their past. How such thing is possible one may wonder! Being alive on this earth for more than two decades has got to offer some sweet and some bitter memories. Due to poverty, they live from day to day. They eat what they earn and solve the problems they face as they see fit at the moment. They have no plans for the future, no ambitions to chase nor any social responsibilities to secure. They focus on the time being present and flowing through them. On this earth lived such people with no past and no future but the present revealing whatever life offered.