Archives of Movement

Milon hails from one of the probably most scenic parts of Bangladesh, the haor – a huge wetland where one would not expect it: far away from the sea, just below the foothills of the Himalaya. As the area is flooded for a large part of the year, the landless haor inhabitants have been seasonal migrants for centuries. Milon, in particular, spends the springtime in the fertile south of Bangladesh to work on paddy, vegetables and fruits fields; summer and monsoon time in his village and the dry season, from November to February, in a stone-and-sand mine close to the Indian border. His status there is not that of a simple labourer, but that of a sardar, a leader or middleman in a bonded labour network.