Netrokona

About Netrokona

Netrokona lies north-east of Mymensingh, about 160 km from Dhaka, with the Indian state of Meghalaya along its northern border. The district changes character from north to south. In Durgapur and Kalmakanda the land rises into the foothills of the Garo hills, cut by the clear, sandy Someshwari river; in the middle lie rice plains around the district town on the Mogra; and in the south-east the land sinks into haors, huge seasonal wetlands around Mohanganj, Madan and Khaliajuri that become inland seas in the monsoon.

There are ten upazilas: Netrokona Sadar, Atpara, Barhatta, Durgapur, Kalmakanda, Kendua, Khaliajuri, Madan, Mohanganj and Purbadhala. The hill border is home to Garo and Hajong communities, whose churches, villages and cultural academy at Birisiri make Durgapur one of the most distinctive corners of the country. The name is usually explained as netra (eye) and kona (corner), from the eye-like bend the Mogra river makes around the town.

History

Netrokona was a subdivision of greater Mymensingh from 1882 and became a district in 1984. The northern hill tract belonged to the Susang zamindars of Durgapur, whose old estate buildings still stand. In the 1930s and 1940s the area was the scene of the Tonk movement, a peasant uprising of Hajong and other farmers against a crushing crop-rent system, led by Comrade Moni Singh; the Hajong woman Rashimoni, killed in 1946, is honoured with a memorial at Bahera Toli near Durgapur.

The district has produced an unusual number of writers and singers. The novelist Humayun Ahmed was born in Mohanganj and built a school at his ancestral village of Kutubpur in Kendua; the poet Nirmalendu Goon comes from Barhatta; and Baul composers such as Ukil Munshi, Rashid Uddin and Jalal Uddin Khan made the region famous for mystic song. Former president Shahabuddin Ahmed was also from Kendua.

Economy and livelihoods

Netrokona is overwhelmingly agricultural. The haors produce one huge crop of boro rice each year, harvested in a race against early flash floods, and in the monsoon the same land becomes fishing ground. Mohanganj grew up around its fish ghat, where catches from the haors of Netrokona and neighbouring Sunamganj are auctioned and trucked to Dhaka. In the north, the white and coloured china-clay hills of Bijoypur in Durgapur have long supplied the ceramics industry, and sand and stone are collected from the Someshwari. Duck rearing on the haors, small dairy and sweet-making round out the rural economy.

Food, culture and festivals

This is Baul and pala gaan country: the Maimansingha Gitika ballads come from this landscape, and evening song sessions are still common in the haor villages after harvest. The Garo community celebrates Wangala, its post-harvest festival, with drums and dances, and the Hajong keep their own songs and weaving traditions.

Netrokona's signature sweet is the balish, a large pillow-shaped chhana sweet soaked in syrup and coated with thickened milk, first made more than a century ago by the confectioner Gayanath Ghosh. Haor fish such as rui, boal, ayre and small native species, and duck curry in winter, are local favourites.

Places to visit in Netrokona

1. Bijoypur china-clay hills

   Near Birisiri in Durgapur, decades of china-clay mining have left low hills of white, pink and purple clay around pools of startlingly green-blue water. It is the most photographed spot in the district and is best seen in the dry season.

2. Someshwari river, Birisiri

   A clear, sandy river flowing out of the Garo hills, with wide sand banks in winter and the Meghalaya ranges on the horizon. Boats cross at Birisiri and Bijoypur, and the riverside is the starting point for most visits to Durgapur.

3. Birisiri Cultural Academy for Small Ethnic Groups

   A government cultural academy in Birisiri that documents and stages the music, dance and crafts of the Garo, Hajong and other communities. Its campus, auditorium and small collection make a good introduction to the hill border.

4. Rashimoni Hajong memorial

   A memorial at Bahera Toli in Durgapur to the Hajong woman killed during the Tonk movement in 1946, one of the few monuments in Bangladesh to a peasant uprising.

5. Dingaputa haor

   A large haor about 5 km from Mohanganj, called a mini Sundarbans by locals for its trees standing in water. In the monsoon it is a sheet of water best explored by hired boat; in winter it turns to rice fields.

What Netrokona is famous for

• Netrokona balish mishti
• Haor fish
• Garo handloom textiles
• Dried fish (shutki)

How to get to Netrokona

By rail, the Haor Express and Mohanganj Express run from Dhaka's Kamalapur station through Mymensingh to Netrokona and on to Mohanganj, taking roughly four and a half to five hours to Netrokona. By road, buses from the Mohakhali terminal take about four hours to Netrokona town, and some services go directly to Durgapur for Birisiri, roughly five to six hours. From Netrokona town, local buses and CNG auto-rickshaws reach Durgapur, Kalmakanda and Mohanganj; the haors are explored by boat.

Markets and haats

Gayanath Mistanna Bhandar, Barhatta Road

The sweet shop in Netrokona town where balish mishti was first made. Visitors from across the country stop here to eat it fresh and buy boxes to take home.

Mohanganj fish ghat

An old fish landing and auction market in Mohanganj, where haor catches from Netrokona and Sunamganj are sold by open bidding to traders who ship them to Dhaka's wholesale markets.

Netrokona at a glance

Shops from Netrokona on Midmart

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Questions about Netrokona

More districts in Mymensingh Division

• Jamalpur Nakshi kantha country, between the Jamuna and the Old Brahmaputra
• Mymensingh Old Brahmaputra city of zamindar palaces, ballads and Muktagachha monda
• Sherpur Garo hill forests, Tulshimala rice and chhanar payesh