Dawn at Dayaganj. In a corner of the market, the smell of wet earth mingles with fresh fish. Baskets full of snakehead (shol), taki, magur and prawns seem to carry memories of rural Bangladesh's flowing waters. People crowd in and haggle, and some scan the stalls for "deshi" fish, whose taste carries the rivers of childhood, the mud of the beels and the village sun. But behind this full market lies an emptiness: the fish come from water bodies that have now dried up, where there is no water and no current, only cracked mud and a silent death.

Such scenes are nothing new after the monsoon, but this time is a little different, because these fish have come from canals, beels, rivers and channels that have dried up, bringing a trace of rural life to the city's markets.

With the water falling, catching fish in small rural water bodies is now much easier. Canals that once sang with current now hold only layers of silt, dry mud and fish trapped in low hollows. Local fishers set traps in those hollows, drag nets and fill their baskets. Once these fish fed their households; now they are a product to meet urban demand.

In the rural markets of Rajbari, Gopalganj, Faridpur and Madaripur, fish of many kinds and sizes are being caught: shol, taki, magur, koi, shing, prawns and even small puti. With less farm work to do, villagers have taken their nets into the mud of the drying beels.

Their fish now drive brisk trade at Dayaganj, Karwan Bazar, Shyambazar and the Mirpur markets. From dawn, fish arrive by truck, van and pushcart. City buyers crowd in because the taste of this fish is different: natural, native, with the smell of the river in it.

Dayaganj market now smells of fresh fish and rings with calls and bargaining. Buyers are eager; one asks whether a rui is from a river or a beel, another looks for shol or prawns. City people happily buy this fish, but those who catch it see another reality. With the water shrinking, they know this occupation may not exist next year. The fishers smile, but behind the smile is uncertainty.

Every canal and beel that dries up loses not just water but life. Local water conservation, re-excavation of canals and protection of natural reservoirs are now urgent needs. Unless the government and civil society come together, "deshi" fish may in future survive only as a remembered taste.

In the smell of Dayaganj's morning market, the colour of its mud and the voices of its fishers, the true picture of Bangladesh remains: the beauty of water, fish and life together. But if that water disappears, will only the fish be lost, or a piece of culture too?

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.