Desk Report,
The tiger took away her husband, the river gave her livelihood, the Sundarbans’ Julekhar’s constant struggle
She goes into the river with her hands. She pulls her net from the other end of the river. No risk seems risky to her. The Mamudo River of the Sundarbans feels very close to her. Her life is tied to this river. After her husband Karim Gazi went into the belly of a tiger, this river gave her direction. Bibi (52) has been fighting for her survival by pulling nets there and catching shrimp for almost 22 years.
The tiger took away her husband, the river gave her livelihood, the Sundarbans’ Julekhar’s constant struggle
Julekha Bibi lives in Golakhali village, in the very heart of the Sundarbans in Shyamnagar upazila of Satkhira. Suddenly, you would think that this is not a village, but the Sundarbans. The Sundarbans surround her on three sides, and the Dhanchikhali River on one side. More than five hundred people from 78 families live here. No modern amenities have touched the people here. The Sundarbans and the rivers adjacent to the Sundarbans are the only means of survival for everyone.

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Tiger took away husband, river gave livelihood, Sundarbans Julekha’s constant fight
Kalyan Banerjee
Satkhira
Published: 09 June 2025, 09:00
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Julekha Bibi catches shrimp by pulling a net in the river. Recently, the Mamudo River flowing past Golakhali village in Shyamnagar, SatkhiraPhoto: Prothom Alo
Not in the morning, afternoon or night, she goes into the river with a net in her hand whenever the tide is low. She pulls the net from this head of the river as well. No risk seems to her to be a risk. The Mamudo River in the Sundarbans feels very close to her. Her life is tied to this river. After her husband Karim Gazi went into the belly of a tiger, this river gave her direction. Julekha Bibi (52) has been fighting for her survival for about 22 years by pulling nets and catching shrimp.
Julekha Bibi lives in Golakhali village in Shyamnagar upazila of Satkhira, in the very heart of the Sundarbans. Suddenly, you would think that this is not a village, but the Sundarbans. The Sundarbans surround her on three sides, and the Dhanchikhali River on one side. More than five hundred people from 78 families live here. No modern amenities have touched the people here. The only means of survival for everyone is the Sundarbans and the rivers adjacent to the Sundarbans.
Golkhali village is about 100 kilometers from Satkhira city. I spoke to Julekha Bibi standing in front of a recently vandalized house. It was 10:30 in the morning. The people of Golakhali village were preparing to go to the river. Julekha Bibi is also preparing to go down to the river.
Julekha continues her life story, ‘I would have been 29 or 30 then. I am the mother of three daughters and a son. The youngest son in the family is Mustafa Kamal. He is barely his age. One fine day, five or six people including her father Karim Gazi and Nausad Sardar, Gani Sardar, Yusuf Molya from the same area went fishing in the Sundarbans. The next day, on May 27, 2001, news came that my husband had been eaten by a tiger. A day later, in the afternoon, her father’s body was found. I could not recognize the mutilated body. I buried it in this Golakhali grave.’
Julekha, a mother of four, had been speechless for a few days after losing her husband. She was worried about how the family would run. At one stage, she was forced to leave one-year-old Mustafa at home and go down to the river to catch Renu.
Julekha Bibi said, ‘That jump I made. Even now, every day, when the Mamudo River is low, I jump into the river, ignoring storms, rains or disasters. I catch fish. I sell it and raise four children. I have married off three daughters. That one-year-old Mustafa Kamal is now studying in the third year of honors at Khulna BL College.’
Julekha said that after her husband died, she made a living by catching shrimp from the river. After her husband was killed by a tiger, no one helped her. Around 2008-09, she bought five kathas of land in Golakhali village for 12,000 taka and built a house.
