(NOTE: This is an English translation - with some additional information - I did of my original Dhivehi article to “Adhives Online” magazine. You can read the Dhivehi version from this link on “Adhives Online” magazine: https://adhives.mv/49317)
I am told that Bangladesh expatriates will undertake any type of work for a remuneration amounting to between USD 200 to USD 600. But a recent incident made me realize there’s more to this than meets the eye: something to do with Bangladeshis’ accommodating-of-Maldivians'-nature and vice versa.
I was waiting at the bus stop on the other side of Olympus Theatre on Majeedhee Magu (street) in Male’, the capital island of Maldives, hoping to catch the number R10 bus of Maldives Transport and Contracting Company’s (MTCC) Raajje Transport Link (RTL). The bus crossed the main thoroughfare of the city-island all the way from the east to the west.
Under the presidency of then president Mohamed “Anni” Nasheed, the word “bus stop” was sort of “naturalized” into Maldivian native language, Dhivehi, to read as “bus hutti”, something akin to the meaning “speechless”.
A classmate of mine, who had worked for a long time in the tourism ministry, said that nowadays we don’t have a need to use such silly words.
“When the buses approach, people see them, and therefore know that this is a bus stop,” she said. She herself has to commute on the bus from Hulhumale to Male’ for work.
My inquiry resulted from the observation that other countries use widely known international languages, in addition to their mother tongue, to provide guidance and directions to services for both locals and foreigners. I was surprised that unlike Anni’s short-lived presidency, now I see only “Bus Stop” written in English and our mother tongue Dhivehi was not used for reasons I don’t know. There is a law promoting our vernacular and an authority - an "academy" - assigned to uphold it.
I was waiting for the bus that would come from the east to get me to the west coast where my destination was; I was going for a doctor’s appointment at Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH). R10 made a stop directly in front of the hospital, the largest government hospital in Maldives, which was a gift from India to Maldives.
I didn’t keep checking whether the bus was visible from the easterly direction; due to heavy traffic in the morning, there was no way to see the bus even as close to as crossing the Sosun Magu and Majeedhee Magu junction.
While I was whiling away the minutes, an elderly Maldivian woman arrived at the bus stop and asked me: “Is this a place where the bus comes?”
This is a literal translation as she made no mention of the phrase “bus stop”.
I thought the better way would be to gesture at the “Bus Stop” board, my reasoning being that even if the Dhivehi translation was not there, the logo of a bus would clearly indicate that this was a bus stop.
Therefore, I gestured towards the “Bus Stop” board but the Maldivian “sister” still repeated the same question to which I decided to reply with “Aan”, the Dhivehi equivalent to “Yes”.
However, the sister still seemed unsatisfied with my response.
“Check whether the bus is coming!” she exclaimed.
I replied: “I cannot see because of the heavy traffic. However, taking into consideration the experiences of the past days, this is definitely a place where the bus comes.”
However, the sister still seemed unsatisfied with my response. She insisted: “Can only know bus comes here when we actually see it arriving here, right?”
By that point, I ran out of words. I became speechless, not being able to figure out how to knock some sense into her, at least from my personal logic. Therefore, I decided to remain silent after that.
While I was waiting quietly like that, two Bangladeshi men were coming toward us from the east. Just as they were about to pass by us, the sister immediately told them: “Check whether the bus is coming!”
Just as immediately, one of the Bangladeshis, without even looking back towards the easterly direction, on the spot replied to her: “Annanee!”, the Dhivehi equivalent to “Coming”.
The Bangladeshi then looked at me and somewhat gave me a smile. Then without saying another word, he and his companion resumed their walk towards the west.
The Maldivian sister also didn’t remain quiet. She immediately turned to me: “See, they just said that the bus is arriving now.”
I didn’t respond: was there anything more I could say after the Bangladeshi “bondhu” (“friend” in Bangla or Bengali language) told her what she had wanted to hear in the first place?
My thoughts then veered to various aspects of the presence of Bangladeshi expats in Maldives.
My first thought went to the number of Bangladesh expats in Maldives; in the most recent revelation by Minister of Homeland Security and Technology, Ali Ihusaan, Maldives currently has 90,624 Bangladeshi expats (https://mihaaru.com/news/129226). Maldivian citizens number 382,000 according to the latest census.
My thought process then went to the subject of the strengthening of socio-economic relationships between Maldivians and Bangladeshis including the trend of both upper class and ordinary class Maldivian women getting married to Bangladeshi men.
My thoughts then went to the fact that, due to the foreign exchange rate, with the remuneration that Bangladesh expatriates obtain from employment in Maldives, they are lucky to consider any type of jobs in Maldives as lucrative enough for them to be able to run businesses back in their hometown in Bangladesh and be considered “tycoons” by their country’s standards of living.
As Bangladeshis are Maldivians’ fellow Muslim compatriots, we should be happy for them that they are able to make something out of their lives in a home back where economic and job opportunities are limited.
I also salute Bangladeshi citizens for undertaking almost all the manual labor in Maldives which Maldivians do not want to do themselves, thereby in the process, making Maldives reach new heights of developmental progress.
My thoughts then steered to a recent day when I visited Novelty Bookshop’s Alikilegefaanu Magu outlet. A book titled “Magey Bangaalhu Mudharris” (loosely translated to “My Bangla Teacher”) caught my interest; it was authored by Iyaz Naseem to teach Bengali language to Maldivians. Novelty had published it and put on sale at the rate of MVR 80.20 (USD 5.2).
I shot two snapshots, one of the front cover, and the other, the back cover (pictured here in this article). I showed the two photos to a Bangladeshi expat who comes to clean the rooms and toilets of one of my relatives. I showed him the two photos and told him that my friends joked that this book was published in preparation for a Bangladeshi “takeover” of Maldives when it will become useful when Maldivians would have to learn Bengali language as “about 30 years later, there would be half-Bangladeshi half-Maldivians elected to Maldives’ parliament and even leading to them been elected as prime minister or president of Maldives”!
His facial expression became serious as he took a good look at the two photos I showed him from my phone. Then, quite unexpectedly, he gave a hearty laugh.
I asked him what could possibly be funny and he replied that the book’s cover had a “major mistake”, specifically to do with the Bengali phrases: that, even though, it was written “My Bangla Teacher”, the word “teacher” had been misspelt as “cheater”!
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