Nijhum Dwip- Part 1

Nijhum Dwip, which translates to the island of silence, is an island located in the Noakhali district of Bangladesh. It is a popular tourist spot, and on one side a major tropical forest is being developed. This is the island that showed me of my true dream and the nightmare.

On the first week of August of 2022, I flew to Bangladesh with my family, after living in New Jersey for five years. One begins to long for their birthland as time passes, and we had a lot of our relatives there too.

The first month in Sylhet was just as expected. Sunny weather with thunderstorms in between, switching from cricket to football depending on it. A lot of relatives coming to see us and vice versa, which means a lot of tea was involved.

Coming back to Nijhum Dwip, somewhere within the fifth week me and my friends decided to go to Cox's Bazar (the largest sea beach in the world) but some of the guys had been to it one too many times, so they suggested Nijhum Dwip.

It seemed like a good idea, so the next day around noon we came to the island. There were shops around of various nature, some of them emitting tasteful odor towards the visitors. Weather was sunny with a nice breeze, and the ground was solid. Folks were in a good mood, which reflected on the landscape as well.

Our idea was to explore the area, then eat at one of the stores there and go back to mainland to find a suitable area for the night. We would come back the following day to check the tropical forest that was developed. The plan was solid, weather was in our favor and money for the first time in my life was not an issue.

It didn't go exactly like that, because I happen to meet a girl from my school days who I had a huge crush on. Her name was Sadia ( last name redacted for privacy ) and we used to be in the same class, only that she immigrated to USA somewhere around 2010. I am a person who is dead inside when talking to girls but she made it very easy for me to communicate with her.

We ended up talking for an hour or so, stopping only when her brother ran and said they were going on a hike. Sadia gave me her number, saying nothing but smiling in return. I was smitten again like my early school days.

I couldn't pay attention to the rest of the day's activities, which was noticed by my friends and was attributed to my chance meeting with Sadia. I told them to go drown themselves, protesting that wasn't the case. It was only friendly chat.

Or so I thought, as when she sent me a text that night, telling me to come to this lamppost by the a huge Banyan tree, I ran to it. It should have been an easy run, but either I lost my way or she gave me the wrong route. What that did was to make me very late to the meeting, by the time I came she had left. I texted her, with no replies.

I waited for a bit, but a very strong wind started coming from the sea, indicating the arrival of a thunderstorm, so I began walking back to our quarters. Her text came back saying she waited long enough for me, and that I should have to wait too, at least till the following morning.

Knowing me and my weirdness, I knew I would have waited till the next morning. The growing tension in the sky, however, prevented that.

As I walked back, the ground started shaking. At first I thought it was an earthquake, but then sounds of screams and roars came to my ears. I was inside the forest, as the huge banyan tree with the lamppost was inside. Owing to an eerie sensation I felt in my spine, I climbed a huge tree and peered in to the open sight that lay beyond the green foliage I walked.

The sight that lay before me was of this nightmarish landscape, wild wind blew in from the sea, bringing in these dark clouds with lightnings attached and the thunder roaring their arrival. What the lightnings revealed was the strangest, thousands of people were running wildly throughout the areas, screaming with terrified expressions on their faces. But as I looked closer, I could see their rotten, destroyed bodies and their lifeless eyes. These folks that were running weren't alive, they were dead.

Just as that realization dawned on me, a branch swung at me by the wind's force, knocking me to the ground and out cold.

I woke up the following day, on the bed of a local clinic. My friends were there, and duly answered my questions. They saw that I was not in my bed and went in search of me. Someone had found me on the ground by the forest and brought me to the clinic, it was the doctor who contacted my friends. They also, with sheepish grins, mentioned Sadia asking of me and then telling them to contact her when I get better.

My head was in a daze from the night before, so I didn't inquire any further that day.

Two things came from that trip, one was I found a true friend, and maybe my companion, in Sadia. The other one was a mystery to be unraveled. The latter was the first one I dealt with. My uncle, who was a high government official, arranged a meeting for me with the head of the forest rangers of the entire north Bangladesh upon my request.

It was the forest ranger's frank statement, which cleared the mystery for me. Below is his statement in, brief but to the point.

" In the 60s, a cyclone took away something 50 thousand lives from this island and the surrounding areas. We don't know why, but during wild storms these dead people rise from their graves and started running and screaming. To protect the public's wellbeing, the Govt decided to develop a coastal forest here, so that this phenomena can be kept in the dark.

I assure you, there is no big conspiracy going here. But at the same, please keep your story to yourself."

Due to the recent release of the Barisal Guns papers and the events surrounding the mysterious wedding in Delhi, I felt obliged to write this short account of what happened last year.