Sometimes I moved ahead after asking local people for directions, and sometimes by asking about rivers over the mobile phone. After spending the whole day travelling around the border areas of Hatibandha and Patgram in Lalmonirhat, I eventually found four rivers named Kharp, Kochua, Shalmara and Sangli. The rivers exist in reality; they also live in the memories and songs of local people. But they are not on any government list.

I visited the rivers on 26 August, when the Rangpur region was in the grip of the sweltering heat. Patgram upazila of Lalmonirhat is about 100 kilometres from Rangpur. There is no easy mode of transport to make this journey. A train leaves Rangpur for Patgram early in the morning and returns at noon. It is not possible to gather information about rivers while travelling by train.

That day, I had to travel around 250 kilometres across different areas of the district on the motorcycle of Mosharraf Hossain, coordinator of the Lalmonirhat River Protection Committee of Riverine People, an organisation working to protect rivers.