This time of early winter every year witnesses the season of foggy nights and foggy mornings. The current year is no exception. Fog has already started enveloping rural Bangladesh, as well as the cities. In the large busy cities, the age-old fog has been metamorphosed into 'smog' (smog=smoke+fog). It's a portmanteau. The modern, fast developing cities have long been trying hard to cope with the scourge of smog. It has been unanimously accepted that fog mixed with automobile exhausts or chemical fumes in the urban air helps create a gaseous menace. As the city residents inhale the harmful airy concoction, they directly fall victim to all kinds of air pollutions. However, exhaust fumes are a threat to urban environment.
Likewise, the fog covering the rural or suburban swathes is considered a threat to all kinds of movement, especially those undertaken by buses and trucks as well as smaller vehicles. When it comes to movement by river vessels, especially ships, motor-launches, trawlers and, even, country boats, a constant threat looms; it comes in the form of frontal collisions or sidewise brushes --- all occurring in thick fog already made non-navigable by the nighttime darkness. When it comes to winter movement by waterways or roads, people and operators in the country nowadays are more cautious than in the past. In the days not long ago, the general people behaved recklessly. Quite often, they used to force the launch 'sarengs' to start the engine and set out for veritably a fraught journey. In those days, winter-time accidents in foggy nights were a common feature. So were the cases for long and short-haul buses.
According to surveys conducted by the relevant authorities, not a single year in those times would pass without a number of launch mishaps and highway accidents --- many deadly. Hundreds of people used to die and receive injuries from road and river accidents a year in those days. Thanks to the stringent actions taken by the relevant bodies against the errant transports, the incidence of mishaps witnessed a remarkable drop. In the earlier days, nor'westers and cyclones used to cause a panic among the passengers of the river transports. It's a relief that the frequency and intensity of both summer and monsoon storms has declined lately. But fog remains a threat. According to the river-way experts, the country's water transport authorities have yet to ensure that the vessels are equipped with adequate fog-horns, fog-lights etc. It's the cautious people on board long-distance launches or ships in a foggy winter night, who can feel the acute need of all the emergency paraphernalia. Those are sine qua non for a safe journey.
When compared with the weeks-long snowfalls, blizzards etc in Europe, America and Canada, the winter fog in Bangladesh appears so mild! The fog in Bangladesh still follows its centuries-old nature. Traditionally, fog in Bangladesh doesn't bring with it the feared cold bites. But erratic climate behaviour may change the whole cycle and nature, and of the age-old fog. Days may not be too far when the foggy winters of the country will see people busy devising ways to fight the severe cold and wintry nights. The anachronistic rejoicings over winter 'pithas', the other delicacies and outdoor jubilations may keep people confused for several decades, if not an era.
