Rangpur
The village where Begum Rokeya, pioneer of women’s education in Bengal, was born in 1880, with the ruins of her family home and a memorial centre in her name.
Rokeya Day on 9 December is the village’s big day, with discussions, cultural programmes and visitors from across the region; the government’s Begum Rokeya Padak for women’s advancement is also awarded around this date.
Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain, known as Begum Rokeya, was born at Pairaband in 1880 into a landowning family. Girls of her class were kept from formal schooling, and she learned Bangla and English largely through her elder brother’s help.
She went on to write Sultana’s Dream, an early feminist utopia, and Abarodhbasini and other works, and founded the Sakhawat Memorial Girls’ School in Kolkata. She died on 9 December 1932; the date is now marked as Rokeya Day in Bangladesh.
At Pairaband the remains of her family home survive, and the Begum Rokeya Memorial Centre nearby keeps her memory with a small collection and a library.
Bus or CNG south to Mithapukur and on to Pairaband.
See the remains of the house where she was born.
Visit the Begum Rokeya Memorial Centre if it is open.
Return to Rangpur for lunch, stopping for mangoes in season.
October to March; around 9 December for Rokeya Day programmes
In Mithapukur upazila, south of Rangpur city: about an hour by road. Take a bus towards Mithapukur and a local auto-rickshaw to Pairaband, or hire a CNG or car from Rangpur.
