Shorn of its sacred grandeur the Padma has embraced its secularised and earthier image with some muscularity, audacity and flair. The meeting points where it combines with the Brahmaputra/Jamuna and later the Meghna in romantic and raucous exuberance, make the river almost “oceanic” in its scope, and create a river system that is not just mighty and heroic, but almost epic in