Bangladesh: Now in festive mood

| by Swadesh Roy

( August 14, 2012, Dhaka, Sri Lanka Guardian) You can never touch a festive mood but you can fell it, see it or imagine it. If anybody lands in Dhaka now, he can fell from the airport that Dhaka has a cheerful mood. He or she would see that some joyful faces are waiting in the airport to go to Bangkok, Malaysia or Mumbai of India. If anybody asked them if they are going for travel or any business works, their answer would be “No, we are going for Eid shopping”.

Dhaka is now a city of shopping malls. Thousands of quality-oriented shopping malls are now in Dhaka. You can get the entire brand shirt, trousers, shoes, watch, and all types of brand cosmetics in this city. Last three to four months businessmen of Dhaka have imported all types of brand items for this Eid occasion. They have imported exclusive women garments from India and Pakistan and in these last twenty to twenty five days people kept purchasing that. Moreover, Dhaka is famous for Sharis. There is an exclusive Shari market at Baily road in Dhaka. Baily Road is a posh area of Dhaka and the Shari market of Baily Road is for the elite class. Last twenty to twenty five days the traffic on Baily Road has always been stagnant and all the Shari shops are always full of customers from ten in the morning to night at ten. However, if you asked any lady at the airport who is waiting with a joyful face for Air India or Jet airlines, why she is going to Mumbai, she could give you a long list of items, which she will purchase, from there. You will also find on her list that, one of the items is Shari. If you say, there are many Sharis in the markets of Dhaka, why you will purchase a Shari from Mumbai? She will give you the answer with a smiling face that, "On Eid day I would like to wear an extraordinary one, not one that is common". For these exclusive garments, they are going abroad.

There are a number of people who have a huge budget in this Eid occasion. Some days back, a young woman reporter of a television channel asked a middle class woman in a shopping mall, what is her budget for Eid, she told; her budget is near about a million taka. She told that, she would purchase Shari and some other items from Bangladesh and after this shopping; she will go abroad for purchasing shoes, purses, trousers, ornaments, and other things. This is only the budget of Eid of a semi upper middle class family of Dhaka, and it leaves the impression what would be the budget of upper middle class and the upper classes. Some upper class women purchase just one set of ornaments for Eid by one million or more.

However, this is not the total picture of the Bangladesh or even Dhaka, it has also to be admitted that this open market economy makes the difference between rich and poor. Still it is also true that poverty of Bangladesh has reduced in the last few years. Therefore, village people are not too much have not; they have enough money. There are many people in villages, who have more money and they will spend more than one ten or one fifth million of taka on this Eid occasion. Many people will purchase their clothes from the local markets. For these local market clothes are produced by the Bangladeshi factories. There are huge factories at Karanigonj, by the side of River Buriganga, opposite of Dhaka city, where Bangladeshi garment productions are produced. More than six months before Eid, these factories work whole day and night. Before one month of the Ramadan, businessmen from all over the country come to the markets and they purchase many items. Even a large number of businesspersons of Dhaka city also purchase goods from Karanigonj markets. In Dhaka and in the district towns, most of these garments would be sold as a garment that is made in Thailand and China; when these are all made in Bangladesh.

The economists and the businessmen are thinking that, in this year on the Eid occasion total transaction would be more than three thousand five hundred million taka. In addition, there is another trend, which shows from last two, and three years, that young people, the students buy new laptops and cell phones for this Eid occasion. So now, the computer market and the laptop market in Dhaka city are over crowded by the young people. There are also many special laptop markets in Dhaka city.

More than seven to eight million people of Bangladesh work aboard. They will send gifts for their relatives on this occasion, and they will send more foreign currency also at this time and they have already sent it. According to the Bangladesh bank, now the foreign currency reserve is 11 billion dollars. It was 10 billion just two weeks ago. Therefore, in the last few days they have sent more foreign currency. Therefore, Eid is now not only a religious occasion in Bangladesh but also an economical occasion.

Swadesh Roy, Executive Editor, The Daily Janakantha, Dhaka, Bangladesh, he can be reached at swadeshroy@gmail.com