We Bengalis are very much part of a collectivist society, where ‘private’ matters are communal, and everyone can have some opinions about ‘other’s business. We describe that as our own unique way of looking after each other and maintaining ‘social well beings’.

With her one-and-a-half-month-old child in the arms, Umme Kulsum was hurrying from one desk to another at the National Identity Registration Wing (NIDW) office.