On the Brink in Bengal

Rolt has elicited myths, stories and tales from those he met during his extraordinary journey through tribal villages along the eastern border of Bangladesh, a densely populated region where tribal people and Bengalis mix, fight and trade.

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Whether hunkering down on a boat deck next to a prostitute, or drinking tea out of a dainty china cup while surrounded by a mob chanting the name of Allah the Merciful, Francis Rolt managed to elicit myths, stories and tales from those he met during his journey through tribal villages along the eastern border of Bangladesh. Stranded on a tropical island in the Bay of Bengal, detained by the army in the forbidden jungles of the Chittagong Hill Tracts, arguing with a snake charmer, Francis Rolt and photographer Peter Barker got themselves into and out of a surprising number of scrapes. The border region is densely populated and confusing. On one side are tribal people, different in every imaginable way from the people of plainsland Bengal, and the tension produced by the dramatic, historical clash between these two great cultural blocks is the starting-point for the journey. "On the Brink in Bengal" takes us on a trail down the border region, where tribal people and Bengalis have mixed, met, fought and traded for centuries.