MOHESHKALI ISLAND

Moheshkali Island you will find close to Cox's Bazar, a small island (268 square kilometers) that was probably separated from the mainland by an earthquake. A lot of boat traffic takes place between Cox's Bazar and Moheshkali, small speedboats as well as large wooden ferryboats, trawlers and rowing boats. Travel times therefore vary very much. Our trip only took us 15 minutes, since we took the speedboat. The captain had much fun in turning sharply from left to right in the crowded harbor to evade the other ships as late as possible. On the way back we decide to take some people who are already waiting for a long time. We feel a bit embarrassed, since everyone is waiting but we, being foreigners, are leaving on the first speedboat. Even though we chartered the whole boat, I see in the corner of my eye that  the captain makes the extra three passengers pay for their trip. If you are poor you must catch every Taka you can.  And people are poor, on this island. Families on average are very large, 6 to 7 children is normal. Most of the inhabitants are fishermen, some grow rice and some make handloom and are gold and silver smiths. Unfortunately, even though there are two temples on the islands, the amount of tourists visiting is very limited, as in the other parts of Bangladesh.  Coming from the boat, there is a load of rickshaws waiting for a passenger. There are very little cars on the island. A bridge and a small cay connect the landing to the body of the island. On the cay, nets are spread out to dry. The rickshaws simply ride on top of them. Left and right, you can see boats of different sizes waiting for their captains.  The first thing you see on the island is a square concrete building, a cyclone shelter. The coastal areas are sometimes hit by tidal surges and cyclones. 40 major cyclones have hit the country since 1960. Even though the normal season is between November and March. On the 29th of April 1991, 130,000 people got killed during a cyclone. On the 19th of May 1997 another cyclone struck Moheshkali. Luckily this was during low tide and it was properly forewarned, so many could save their lives buy using cyclone shelters. Only 95 were estimated to be killed, but over 2 million people were affected by the storm. Many boats and houses were destroyed by the devastating wind. A lot of damage was done to the crops and cattle got lost. Moheshkali was struck severely. Of the 39,000 families living here, over 34,000 suffered damage to their houses.  On the island two religious sights can be found: one Hindu sight, the shrine of Adinath, dedicated to Siva. Apparently Hinduism has millions of gods and some of them have even different forms. It makes the children wonder how anybody can know all of these. Further down the road is a Buddhist Pagoda. Inside is a sequence of paintings, like the “Way of the Cross”, the story of the life of Jesus in painting you can see in Catholic churches, that depict the life of Buddha. The site is run by Buddhist monks from Myanmar. One of the crops you will find on the island is the betel nut. There are two varieties in Bangladesh, sweet and bitter, and the sweet ones grow on this island. Bangladeshi love betel nuts, which you can see by their frequently red colored teeth and mouth.