He smiled — for the first time.
“He’s not crazy,” says a local BGB official who prefers anonymity. “He’s obsessed. There’s a difference.” Before sunset near Chimbuk, I finally asked Sikandar Box directly: “Why Bandarban?”
But one thing is certain: Sikandar Box ekhon Bandarban — and Bandarban seems to have welcomed him like a lost son returned to his mother’s hills. If you see a silent man with a notebook, sitting alone near a waterfall — do not disturb him. He may be listening to answers the rest of us forgot to ask. sikandar box ekhon bandarban
Now, in Bandarban, he claims he’s searching for something no map shows. Bandarban, home to the highest peaks in Bangladesh and over a dozen indigenous communities, has always been a land of secrets. But Sikandar Box’s arrival has stirred quiet excitement.
When asked what he hopes to find, he whispered: “Not treasure. A question that answers itself.” He smiled — for the first time
“Because flat land remembers nothing,” he said, gesturing at the hills. “But mountains… mountains have memory. And Bandarban is the only place in Bangladesh where the ground still hums an old song. I’m here to listen.”
Then he stood up, adjusted his bag, and walked toward a trail disappearing into the pines. The day after our meeting, Sikandar Box vanished again. Some say he headed toward Boga Lake. Others claim he crossed into the remote Nafakhum waterfall. No one knows for sure. There’s a difference
“He came walking from Thanchi,” says Rina Tripura, a schoolteacher. “Carrying nothing but a worn-out bag and a notebook full of drawings — symbols, mountain shapes, and what looked like Marma script.”