Dhaka
Diary
Dhaka
Pollution on Film
A
few days ago, I was going by Noyabazar in Old Dhaka where
I saw some foreigners standing by the side of the road. One
of them was recording with a video camera in the middle of
the road, which was crowded and dirty with an overflowing
dustbin at the side of the street. The man with the camera
was filming the filth from the dustbin and was also capturing
the noisy ambience. He was also trying to capture our shabby
vehicles and the venomous smoke coming out of them. I went
over to the group and asked them about their activities. One
of them informed me that they had come from Latin America
and were working for a prominent TV channel. They were making
a documentary about the ever-increasing pollution in our country
and also how people actually live in this filth. I thought
it was a good idea, especially if they would give the Dhaka
City Corporation a chance to have a look at it after the release!
Rifat
Sagor Notre Dame College
Chill
out while you Fly-over
I
was passing through the newly constructed fly-over in Mohakhali
when I noticed a crowd there, forcing vehicles to move to
a side of the street instead of occupying the entire road.
Traffic as usual was at a snail's pace. As I passed the crowd,
I saw that an ice-cream vendor and a coke vendor had parked
their merchandise by the road and were catering to the people's
whims. People you say, on the fly-over? Yes, there were about
fifty people standing idly here and there, taking in the scene
from the fly-over. It seems that this new structure has opened
a floodgate for all those people who have been to most parts
of the city and were in dire need of somewhere 'new' to go.
Even the sight of Singer's factory seemed a panoramic view
for some people. I felt really bad seeing all these people,
hungry for new places to go to.
IHK
Gulshan 2
Private
Clinic Scam
My
grandmother was admitted into a private hospital last week
with stomach complications. The room itself cost over 2000
taka, and of course there were the separate doctor's fee,
bills, etc. The sad thing is that, in the middle of the night,
when she really needed a doctor, there were none to be found.
My grandmother's attendants, (who seem to be needed at every
hospital to clean the bed, the room and even give medicine
to the patients), and even the nurses, had to bang on the
door of the doctor's room for several minutes before a sleepy-eyed
on-call doctor very reluctantly opened the door. Compared
to the doctor who almost operated on her, saying it was an
emergency case when it was not (as we later found out), he
was almost an angel. I know public hospitals like DMCH are
in much worse condition, but then, what is in good condition
in this country and who can we really trust, if not the very
people in whose care we put our well-being and our lives?
KAT
Gulshan 2
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