So close, yet so far
This distance of just about six feet between them seems painfully huge. And agonising, too. When they come to see each other here as two bamboo fences separate them, they know they are so close and yet so far.
A mother cannot touch her daughter; a son cannot hold his mother in his arms. And yet they come here.
Every day hundreds of people from Bangladesh and India gather on the Burimari-Changrabandha border to meet their loved ones living on the other side. Most of these people cannot afford to have passports to travel, as they are very poor.
The Bangladeshis wait near Burimari Customs Check Post in Lalmonirhat's Patgram upazila while their relatives in India stand at Changrabandha Customs Check Post in Cooch Behar of West Bengal.
The meeting is held between 10:00am and 4:00pm every day.
People who visit the place can only meet their relatives from a distance and exchange greetings. They are not allowed to share goods or any other items, sources said.
This unofficial arrangement is made by the immigration police and customs officials of both the countries.
Sufola Rani Bala, 68, a widow who went there from Gaibandha, said she met her daughter and talked to her.
It was painful as she could not touch or embrace her daughter, she said.
“I was in tears, so was my daughter,” Sufola said, adding that she goes there to meet her daughter six to seven times a year.
“As I don't have the ability to have a passport, I take this opportunity to meet my daughter here,” she said.
This correspondent managed to talk to Sufola's daughter Saraswati Rani. She came from an area under Dinhata Police Station in Cooch Behar.
“I brought some sweets and a sari for my mother, but I couldn't give her. It made me very sad,” said the 36-year-old woman.
“My husband isn't capable of getting a passport done for me, so I can't go to Bangladesh to meet her,” she added.
Sixty-five-year-old Fazlu Miah of Lalmonirhat's Aditmari upazila said he met his younger brother Firoz Ali who lives in Jalpaiguri of West Bengal.
“I wanted to embrace my brother, but I was not allowed to do so. I had to take back a lungi, a Panjabi, and some gifts I bought for him,” he said.
Fazlu said he could not get a passport due to his poor financial condition. “So I come at Burimari-Changrabandha zero line to meet some of my relatives in India.”
Romel Islam, an immigration police at Burimari Customs Check Post, said at least 500-600 people from different areas of the country visit the zero line to meet their relatives in India.
“People who gather here are only allowed to exchange greetings. They cannot share any goods,” he said.
Surendra Nath Roy, an immigration police at Changrabandha Customs Check Post, said, “We keep a strong vigil when people meet their relatives on the other side and never allow anybody to share goods.”
For the last five years, people from both the countries have been happily taking the opportunity to meet their relatives along this border.
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