No matter how many times, you swear not to visit that country ever again, you change your mind the moment you land in Dhaka or Chittagong or Jessore, or any remote corner for that matter.
For, the people of that country will always greet you with a warm smile and a large heart.
You are sure to be flooded with dawat, shown by the guy you met on the bus and his uncle; the spread on offer sumptuous enough
melt a box of bon-bons.
And then there will be a host of 'poets', 'journalists' and 'publishers'.
Take it from me, every third person in Bangladesh is either a 'poet' or a 'journalist'.
The 'mad Bongs' are in love with the printed word, so much so that when it's time to return home, you either have to dump magazines, books, anthologies, booklets, leaflets et al that you have received as gifts during your stay in the hotel room or get yourself a Bangladeshi carrybag made of jute.
"There is something in the air of Bangladesh, name it hospitality, generosity, friendliness or whatever; the country instantly strikes a chord; makes you a part of it," says Biman Behari Mazumdar, a co-passenger of the inaugural Maitree Express.
Image: An Indian passenger waves to onlookers from the Maitree (Friendship) Express, the Kolkata-Dhaka train, as it leaves the Kolkata station
Photograph: Deshkalyan Chowdhury/AFP/Getty Images
Also read: 'The soil here smells like Bangladesh'
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