Most national anthems are dramatic and grandstanding, praising the motherland/fatherland as the most glorious nation on earth, or words to that effect. Some, like the French La Marseillaise, are rather blood-thirsty, created, like many others, after horrific wars had claimed thousands of lives. It goes, "Do you hear in the countryside/ The roar of those ferocious soldiers?/ They're coming right into our arms/ To cut the throats of our sons, our women/…Let's water the fields with impure blood."

Given this patriotic, knife-at-your-throat singing tradition, it is utterly disarming to discover that the Bangladeshi national anthem would rather rejoice over a motherland, the scent of whose mango groves drives you crazy.