Dhaka at night
Tahsin Mahmud, 2 December 2009
I jumped out from the bus and walked back home. I could not even think of taking a rickshaw on the way as I was running out of cash. I probably had a ten taka note and some two taka notes in my pocket. I desperately needed to go back home as fast as I could as it was already dusk in Dhaka city. Well, it is absolutely unsafe walking down streets when night approaches. And if caught by any robbers or street gang, I could be even tortured and embarrassed for just having two taka notes… I fast-walked towards a dark alley, when suddenly someone poked me from the back. Initially I was staggered and my first thought was to run away from the world! But I was brave enough to look back to see a small girl staring at me.
The girl was around eight years old. She was almost half naked, barefooted, wearing torn and dirty trousers and nothing else! I could not imagine how she was surviving at that time when the temperature dropped to almost 18 degrees… She was holding a crushed bottled which was ripped off from the top. Her dark face was filled with pimples and scars. The street lamp reflected her red and dry hair. “When was the last time she took a shower?”, I thought. She had very innocent eyes that never blinked till I stopped staring at her. “Ahh! It’s the same old street girl who would probably be asking for money.” I turned away and walked. She kept on poking and grabbing my hands.
“Sir, please give me some money! I didn’t have any food since morning. My mother and brother are hungry, too! Please, Sir,” she said, with a sweet and convincing voice. I was used to these sorts of encounters and knew what would happen in the end. I ignored her a few times but she would not let me go! I almost walked a mile and she followed all this time! I thought once, she probably was freezing! Being generous once again to them, I took out my ten taka note and gave it to her. Even before bending down to give it, she jumped up and snatched it away from me. She smiled! And took a few steps backwards. She stuck her tongue out at me and started laughing. She took out a bunch of ten taka notes from nowhere! “Oh my God, she had more money than me!” I was a bit angry in the beginning but was smiling at the way she made her plan! She saluted me with her limped hands and ran back. I thought: “She could be a good negotiator in the future!”
This is the spirit and the level of intelligence of street children here in Dhaka! They are simple human beings like us but they are guided to the wrong path since their birth! All of them are talented in their own ways but they never get the opportunity to show it to the world of dreams and ambitions.
