The Second Interview: Bangladesh

Interviewer: Quyen Tran

Interviewee: Walid Bin Rafiq

Preparation

The person whom I interviewed this time is Walid, a person that I have never met before. He is one of my friend’s friends. I thought that there would be a lot to get to inform from a person who I totally not know. To be prepared for this interview, I had researched about Bangladesh in brief to get a little bit of ideas because I’ve not known much about this country. I made an appointment with Walid in a studying room which was an appropriate place to do an interview because a studying room in the library is a separate space, so that we would not bother or be affected by anybody. After getting into the room, I set up my recorder and did some trials to make sure the volume and value of the sound is good enough to be listened to. I gave Han a page which has pretty much all the questions that I was going to ask, so that it would be easier for him to follow. After that, the interview was conducted as it’s recorded.

Country Report

Bangladesh is located in Southern Asia with its capital Dhaka and a population of 144,319,628 (July 2005 est.) (Kwintessential) It’s a developing and populous country. The climate here is tropical. Among a year, it has a mild winter; hot, humid summer; and a humid, warm rainy monsoon. Bangladesh has its own language which is Bangla and the predominant religion is Muslim. There are a lot of festivals and holidays in this country based on religions. People here usually communicate in an indirectly way and gender is still somewhat matter but not really a gender discrimination currently. The nature here is diversity with lots of rivers and large forests. “A major part of the coastline is marshy jungle, the Sundarbans, the largest mangrove forest in the world and home to diverse flora and fauna, including the Royal Bengal Tiger.” (Wiki) 

  

1. "Bangladesh - Language, Culture, Customs and Etiquette ." Kwintessential. N.p.. Web. 4 Nov 2012. http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/resources/global-etiquette/bangladesh.html

2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangladesh

Interview Transcript

Me: Hi Walid, can you tell me a little bit about the value of family in your country?

Walid: It’s the very big thing back home. Father is the head of the family. He’s going to take care of the whole family and it doesn’t matter how many children you could have, no discrimination. It’s just a very valuable thing and sometimes, if you have a really big family, like you have your father, uncle and aunt living all together, doesn’t matter how big the family is, they will take care of themselves and help and help each others, so I think it’s a valuable thing in our country.

Me: What is your family structure like?

Walid: The head of my house is gonna be my dad and my mom also but mostly my dad works, so it’s not like in America, both of them gonna work. My mom is a house wife. She’s gonna take care of us, make food, do laundry, take care of our education, and she’s goona work as a money provider with everything else. That’s pretty much it.

Me: Dose gender matter in your family?

Walid: Yes, it does, especially when guys are the head, so men gonna take care of the family. In some points like some exceptions such as when the dad is absent like he’s working outside of the country, then the mom’s gonna be the head of the family. But for mine, it’s my dad, so gender is pretty much matter in my family, actually in my country. Mostly guys are head of the family, it depends on the circumstances.

Me: How does your home country culture different from the US culture?

Walid: Very different. In the US, you have the freedom of everything, like you can do whatever you want, doesn’t matter ages, doesn’t matter gender, doesn’t matter sex, and doesn’t matter anything you want but in our country, guys get the  most privilege because our country follows Islam, it’s predominant. They actually follow the rules of Islam, so guys are privilege and powerful more than girls a little bit, but girls also have to maintain like, you know, cover themselves. If you are talking about culture, then the same thing, US is the free country whereas my country is not. You need help from other people but in the US, you can do everything by yourself. I would say our home country culture is very different from the US.

Me: What are the highlights in your culture?

Walid: First of all, our country is a developing country you know. It has suburb, but lots of rural areas. Those are very beautiful, green, and that’s the best part of our country. The nature is very diverse. There are different kinds of forests that I know such as the largest men grove forest. You also get some rare animals there. That would be the biggest highlight I would say. Also the people, recently, we have a statistic in the world which is our country Bangladesh has one of the eleven most happy people. I’m very proud of it because I didn’t know about it and I found out. That’s amazing to see that no matter how poor you are, how rich you are, you are happy. It’s the biggest part. Those would be the highlights of our country.

Me: What’s your hometown? Where do you live?

Walid: My hometown in Bangladesh is Dhaka but I live my whole life in Saudi Arabia.

Me: Ok, could you tell me a little bit about the city Dhaka?

Walid: It’s very crowded and everything that could be bad is in that city. People are kind of messed up because they have lots of corruption and I don’t like it at all. The worst thing I would say is the crowd like when it’s in rush hours. Suppose like you want to go from the library to Atwood, it’s gonna take you half an hour if you go by a truck or a car. If you want to go from campus to Cross Road mall, it’s gonna take four hours.

Me: Okey, I see. So what do you think about the music culture in your country? Is it significant?

Walid: Yes, music is a really big thing right now in our country. Our music industry is really good comparing to our movie industry. Our movie industry is a little bit messed up. We have really good music. People love Bangladesh music as well as they are following English music and now after the Gangnam Style is released, I’ve seen a lot of flashmobs in Dhaka. It’s like they have every kinds of music, English, Indian music, and our Bangladesh music is really good. People also follow it. I think it’s pretty significant.

Me: Do people dance a lot?

Walid: Oh yea, they do dance a lot, but not publicly. In America, if you have permission, you can do a concert everywhere, but I would say our country is a Muslim predominant country, so they have to be in-door. If you have a dance party, it has to be a private in-door dance party. You can do concert like singing concert and music concert but not dance concert. So, they do dance a lot, but privately.

Me: Is marriage important that everybody pursue?

Walid: Yes, marriage is a really important thing. Especially, I would say about ten to twenty years back, marriage was a very big thing. Love marriage was actually not accepted by the society. If you do that, you will be looked at as a really bad person. Parents were going to look for brides and grooms. You have to get marriage and you have to spend the rest of your life with that guy or girl. However, things are changing now. The society is getting westernized, so now they are accepting love marriage. If somebody is going to get marriage according to his/her parents, it doesn’t matter because it’s his own choice.

Me: Is there still gender or race discrimination in your country?

Walid: Not now. In the past, there was a very common discrimination in the villages because most people were uneducated that time. They had a thing going on which is if they get marriage, they actually expected sons rather than daughters. They would accept daughters but I know that in some families, they don’t like their daughters because first of all, girls back home, they don’t want to work that much because they have an idea of themselves as house wife. That’s why the parents especially the father, he expected sons, so that the son can help his father earn money and compute in the family economy. That would be the only gender discrimination. There is no race discrimination actually.

Me:  What are the top three social pastimes in your country?

Walid: First would be sport which is Cricket, it’s like baseball but it’s a little different. That’s the biggest sport in our country. They are crazy about this sport. And then the second one is going to be soccer. Then if I talk about hobby, people mostly they do a lot of fishing. There are a lot of rivers in our country, like it’s totally covered with rivers, so that’s one of the hobbies.

Me: Do you think that people in your country generally reserve when meeting new people?

Walid: Hm… Not really, they don’t. They do like to meet new people but they are not like people in here America, you can go to a random person and you gonna say: “Hey, how are you? How’s everything?” and other stuff but in our country, If you do that, they gonna give a weird look like: “What? I don’t know you. Why are you asking me this?”

Me: So, how can you get to know new people?

Walid: The only thing I know is that suppose I’m having a party in my place, I invite you and you get along with my friends who you don’t know. That’s how people get to know others. Or if you feel like working or going to another party, that’s the only way you meet new people. Otherwise, if you walk on the street by yourself, no one is gonna come to you and say “Hi”.

Me: Okey I see. How many children can each couple have in your country?

Walid: In the present, we have education which encourages people to have one child. We have a policy that each couple should have one child. It’s not mandatory, you could have more but one is the best and it doesn’t matter if that’s a son or a daughter. Before, it used to be a little different. Personally, my dad, he has twelve siblings and my mom has seven. The good thing is that my grandfather didn’t merry two or three wives. They are from the same mother. People didn’t do family planning but now they do and it’s changing everything.

Me: So men can only merry to one wife?

Walid: Yes but there are some exceptions you know. They can have two or three wives and the other wives have no problems with this.

Me: Is that illegal?

Walid: No, it’s not but people don’t do that actually because the woman who left everything to go with the man, so they would share everything.

Me: Where would you suggest people to travel to in your country?

Walid: I know that we have the longest beach called Cox’s Bazar. Also, we have one place; it’s a small island but it’s really beautiful because the island has white sand and it’s very clean.
Me: What’s the name of the island?

Walid: It’s Saint Martin. Also, we have a men-grown forest. That’s the biggest men-grown forest in the world. We have the Bengal tigers. It’s called Sundarban. The best part of this forest is that it has some rare tigers which are Royal Bengal tigers. It gets more than 150,000 of those and the most are in Bangladesh. That’s one of the most beautiful place that you can visit as a tourist. Most tourists actually go there.

Me: Which age is considered adult in your country?

Walid: 18 is adult as usual but it’s not like in America that after 18, you can do whatever you want. Still you have to be under expectation of your family. For me, I’m 21 years old and still, my parents are paying for my everything so still I’m under their expectation. If I go home, I will stay with them. It’s not like I will have an extra privilege. So, as long as you are done with studying and start working, I would say that’s the time they call you adult when you earn money by yourself.

Me: Do you think that people in your country are hard workers?

Walid: Yes.

Me: Like Japanese people?

Walid: No, not like that. They are not that hard workers. They work hard but it depends on people. If the economy condition is really bad, they will work hard. In our country, majority of people are poor, so they work really hard for 15 to 17 hours a day. It depends on the economic conditions of the family. If they are poor, they would work hard; if they are middle class, they would work hard but just like normal.

Me: What is the education system in your country?

Walid: Our education system in Bangladesh is mainly Bangla curriculum which is like British curriculum but we have our own exams, our own education board, and our own syllabus. There are also schools based on Cambridge and Oxford. They also have American schools too. In American schools, they follow American curriculum, so it’s pretty much like in America. In British schools, they follow British curriculum like A level or B level.

Me: Is it like primary schools, middle schools, and then highs schools?

Walid: Yes it is.

Me: What is the most important subject in your country?

Walid: The most important now, I would say it’s English. English is our second language, so English has to be in every curriculum. Generally, American schools have their policy that students are not gonna use Bangla for communication. They speak English all the time. The students, they keep practicing by themselves. That’s why when I have friends here who from Bangladesh, they used to study in British schools back home, they are more fluent than me because I was in Bangla schools. So, yea, English is the most important subject.

Me: Do students have to wear uniform?

Walid: Yep, they do. Personally, I had uniform. It was white shirt with black pants and tie. That’s the standard uniform in every schools.

Me: Do you like wearing uniform?

Walid: No, I don’t. It looks weird like all the guys wearing the same thing. I prefer it here in America, everybody can wear anything. I like that because you can be yourself and that time, you can concentrate more because you are feeling good about yourself.

Me: Do a lot of people get a chance to attend colleges in your country?

Walid: No. For some reasons, after tenth or twelfth grade, it’s enough to get a job. But now it’s changing. Most of people are going to universities to get a higher degree and they are somehow encouraged to study abroad. But usually ten years back in the days, the highest education level in our country would be twelfth grade. You are done and you could really find a decent job with that degree too. It’s not good enough, but still enough to maintain a family. Now most people are going to universities and higher education, and even in abroad.

Me: Is it hard to get into a college?

Walid: Yes, it is. If you are going to a medical college, it depends on the seats available. If there are 100 seats, it’s gonna be like 10,000 people running for 100 seats. So it’s pretty hard to get into colleges.

Me: What are different religions in your country?

Walid: The predominant religions are gonna be Islam, and also Hindu, Christian, and Buddhist. These are pretty much four main religions in our country and Islam is the predominant one.

Me: What is your religion?

Walid: I’m Muslim.

Me: What are some holidays that you celebrate in Bangladesh and how do you celebrate them?

Walid: We have lots of holidays. The Islam is the predominant one. We have two big holidays in our religion. Those are called Eids, very festive. They are the two major religious holidays in out country. They are like governmental holidays. Also we have holidays for Hindu. I think it’s called Dulga. That’s the biggest holiday in their religion. Also, we have Christian and Buddhist holidays. There is also one more major holiday which’s gonna be Mareh, the Independence day. That day we got our first independence.

Me: So what is the biggest holiday?

Walid: The biggest is the Independence Day and the two Eids days. And we have one more which is 16^th Dee. It’s our victory day.

Me: What you gonna do on that day?

Walid: We basically have parties, lots of food, and people just gonna go out and have fun like in the parks and concerts such as music concerts. And the significant thing about Eid is that on this day is that you will buy new clothes and you go out with your new clothes and you are gonna show off the clothes. Eid is very sifnificant for kids too because the kids will actually get money from the elders. That’s the most amazing part about this holiday like you get a lot of money and you can spend them for yourself, go outside, eat somewhere with friends.

Me: That’s exciting. So, what is the most famous food in your country?

Walid: It’s rice. We eat a lot of rice. That’s why we are so fat. Fish and rice are the main food in our country because we have lots of rivers and we have plenty of fishes. Personally I don’t like fishes but all people in Bangladesh they love to eat fishes. Also, they eat lots of chicken, beef, and lam.

Me: Do people eat pork?

Walid: No, we don’t. For Hindu, they don’t eat beef. Muslims they don’t eat pork but Christian they do sometimes.

Me: What are your meals like? What is the size, number, and times of day?

Walid: Size is huge. I would say that the amount of three American people is gonna go for one person. We love to eat and we have three times a day. Breakfast is pretty small. It depends on the person who makes it. But sometimes they have really delicious breakfast. And then, lunch is the biggest one.

Me: You put all the stuff in one dish?

Walid: Not really. We make five or six dishes and then you get food for yourself and put all the things together. I forgot to tell you that the size of the dish is three times bigger than American dishes size and people usually eat two plates of them, so usually, one person in Bangladesh eat six times more than American.

Me: Can you eat that much?

Walid: Yea, I could eat four plates, so I actually ate 24 times more than American do. It depends on the people; if you want to diet you will eat less.

Me: Do most people eat spicy food?

Walid: They love spicy food. Our spicy food is gonna be really hot. The most popular chili we have is called Ghost chili. It’s so hot, like ghostly spicy. I saw American who has that chili, when they eat it, they have the mask on because literally it goes in to your eyes. It’s gonna burn.

Me: In conclusion, what things that you don’t like about your country and what things make you proud of?

Walid: First thing that I hate about my country is corruption. The counry is pretty much really corrupted. There are also a lot of criminal in our country, lots of murders, robbers, and everything. That’s what I hate about my country and also I told you about the crowd. In rush hours, if you are driving a car, like for 7 to 8 hours, it’s unbelievable hot in Bangladesh even in winter, it still get hot and really humid, so you sweat like crazy. What else do I hate about my country?

Me: You can tell me what you like about your country.

Walid: Oh yea, actually, I like a lot of things about my country. Sometimes you would see some really good people and the best part is family. For me, I have a really huge family. My grandfather village is actually full of my family members. It’s a very long distance family member. We have more than 1200 family members. One village has more than a thousand people and all of them are related to each others. It’s a very long cycle. I love that part when you go to every place and say “Hi”. And then the second thing which I’m proud of is my language. In 1971, we have a war with Pakistan for language. I heard that no other languages actually shed that much blood. There were three millions people died in that time just for the language. We got our own language and I’m proud of my language. For that, the Feb 21th is our International Mother Language Day which is celebrated everywhere to honor those people who died in the war. Also the nature, I love the nature. That’s what I’m proud of.

Me: Alright, thank you for the interview.

Walid: No problem.

File Recorded: http://soundcloud.com/quyenkit/bangladesh-interview

Interview Report

One more time I luckily got such a great interviewee. Out of what I expected, Walid gave me plenty of information about Bangladesh. He tried to not only answer my questions but also tried to explain and refer to many other sources, so that the answers that he gave me are so meaningful. After interviewing Walid, I could see that Bangladesh has its very own culture. Holidays, lifestyle, and dinning etiquette are so different from other countries. In Bangladesh, each religion has its own holidays. Muslims is the predominant religion, so its biggest holidays are also the whole country biggest holidays basically. If in America, people play baseball, Bangladesh people would play Cricket, a sport which is similar to baseball but a little different. They love this sport. Bangladesh love their music and love to dance. However, they don’t dance in the public but in a private space. One more thing is that, gender is somewhat still matter in this country. And then about the dinning etiquette which I think is interesting that most people eat a lot as what Walid said. A Bangladesh person could normally eat six times more than an American do which is so surprising. Those are some facts that I think are unique about Bangladesh. I was really enjoying asking questions and listening to Walid’s speaking. I definitely got a lot more knowledge about Bangladesh, a country which I had not known much about.