"Mr Safi Ullah was a tall thin man in white beard and white punjabi. He gave me tea and a copy of the headmaster’s report from 1948. As I left I pressed him to accept a 1000 taka note – a little less than £9. “For books,” I insisted. He took it under protest. “For books,” he agreed. I reflected afterwards that I had given him enough to keep a 10-year-old in school for a year." 

© Peter Hughes, Bangladesh, Condé Nast Traveller, 2008