Dhaka Diary

Inhumanity on the Streets

On the 13th of August it was a rainy day. Our cook, Ahmed, was going to the market through Sonargaon Janapath Road. A garment worker was walking ahead of him and she wanted to take a shortcut, so she jumped across an open drain, when suddenly she fell with one foot inside the drain and the rest of her body outside. There were people walking, many people were buying tickets from the bus counter and some were sitting idly, but unfortunately no one came to help her. The poor woman looked around for help with a disheartened smile and tried her best to crawl out slowly up to the ground. Then with an embarrassed expression on her face, she walked on with muddy and filthy clothes. Ahmed stood there watching everything, but could not help her despite wanting to because of what people would say. What kind of human beings are we developing into? This only shows that we have become worse than animals.

Rehana Ahmed,
Uttara, Dhaka.

Suddenly the rickshaw stopped, the puller said that he had to fix the chain. While he was fixing it up, four unknown figures approached me. They conversed in such a way as if they knew me. One of them, with a pallid face, unexpectedly took out a knife asking me to give my mobile. My heart plopped into my mouth and without any delay I gave them everything I had. That was when the puller interrupted and was given a beating by the men. Soon they disappeared in the darkness and I returned home a little shaky. Next day, passing through the same street, I was shocked to see the same rickshaw-puller selling my mobile phone to a student of a nearby school. I realised that a vicious gang was out there targeting people at night. They would rob people in the darkness and then go on with their lives during the day. And no one could do anything about it.

Imran Hasan Siddiqui
Maple Leaf International School
Dhaka

A Smokey Tale

It was 2 PM in the afternoon during the usual afternoon rush hour, as cars came from various schools and other institutions to join the traffic. I was one of them to get stuck in the traffic. At one point, another car came and joined the other cars in the traffic. A uniform-clad student who looked like he belonged to class VIII or IX, was seated at the back. Other than the student and the driver, there was no one else in the car. Judging by the car and the student's behaviour, it was obvious that he was well off. Suddenly, the driver took out a box of cigarettes from his breast pocket. He brought out two two cigarettes, gave one to the student and kept one for himself. He lit both of them, and from their looks, it seemed that both of them were relishing the smoke. In no time, the car windows got misty. I was shocked by this incident. It was certain that the boy's parents do not have any idea as to what is happening to their son. It just shows that while different campaigns are trying to make people aware of the dangers of smoking to the young, the matter just worsens and more people are being inducted into the harmful addiction of smoking.

Wahid Tamzid Khan
Dhanmondi Tutorial

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