Kushtia

Kushtia is a city of about 850,000 people in the southern region of Bangladesh.

Understand
Located about 150 km west of Dhaka, Kushtia sits on the Bengal Plain along the Padma River, or to be more precise, the Gorai-Madhumati River that branches off from the Padma. With a mean temperature of about 23°C and 1,467 mm of rainfall annually, it's rather sultry.

Kushtia was founded in the 17th century under the Mughal emperor Shahjahan, but didn't develop much until the British arrived and set up indigo production. By 1860, fomenting unrest against the British resulted in the Indigo Riot across Bangladesh, with its first onset here. After that and the Partition of India in 1947, Kushtia became a central player in the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971, with several battles taking place between the Pakistanis and Mukti Bahini in this locale.

Kushtia is probably best known for being the birthplace or home of noteworthy figures like Indian freedom fighter Bagha Jatin, writer Mir Mosharraf Hossain, poet Rabindranath Tagore, and iconic philosopher Lalon Fakir. The latter two have landmarks associated with them in the city.

Get in
There is no commercial air service to Kushtia, as the closest commercial airports are in Rajshahi or Dhaka. Hanif Enterprise [phone: 01911-920666; email: info@vromonbilash.com (good luck getting English)] offers bus service between Dhaka and Kushtia, about a 5.5-hour journey, with ticket price around Tk 600, depending on the bus type.

Get around
Just hail a CNG or auto rickshaw to get you wherever you need to go, or drive. Walking around in the sticky heat might get old fast.

Do
Relax on the ghat of the Gouia-Madhumati or Pabma Rivers or at Renwick Park alongside the river. This may end up being the most enjoyable activity of all after being around a swarm of tuk tuks all day.

Sleep
Good choices are very limited in Kushtia, sadly.