Tahsin Mahmud, 9 December 2009
Kamalapur Railway Station
After pushing my way away from the hustling and bustling crowd I entered the grand gate of the Kamalapur railway station. The terminal was almost abandoned. I placed my travel bags on one of the fixed benches and settled myself right beside it. Why was it empty? Oh well, I was too sluggish to take out my calculator sized mobile phone from my tight jeans pocket. I looked around and searched for the “Big Ben” of Kamalapur. But sigh! I forgot this was Bangladesh! And the Big Ben can only be in London. Anyways, I forced it out and realized that I was one and a half hours early. What do I do then? Oh yeah! Observe the daily life of the street children dwelling in the station. Here are some of my clinical observations which I would love to share with everyone.
Most of the kids there are trained to be experts in begging. Their motto is “Maximum donation with minimum effort”. So their main source of income is to run from one passenger to another for alms. Their efficiency, I tell you, is just unbelievable! Alright, a four year old kid was the first one to approach me. Half burnt with no hair on one side, his innocent voice of asking was just too irresistible. I refused instantly to check what he does next. He waited for five seconds and suddenly ran away to the next incoming passenger the moment his eyes caught him.
After some time, a train from a terminal behind was being parked. The children were enjoying the slow free of cost (wonderland) train ride, two of them were trying to stop the momentous train pulling it backwards. I wish they knew physics!
Street children are never bored! I guarantee you total nonstop entertainment. One condition though: Only if you concentrate solely on their activities. At times I get so focused on them that even when a hawker offers me a Kit Kat or Lay’s I feel exasperated. If you miss one second of their action, you miss the movie!
The future wannabe Ethiopian style Bangladeshi sprinters run, jog, or even compete on either ends of the 200 meter long terminal to win the “Ultimate Dry Cake” that was littered seconds ago by someone!
The best part: A pair of innovators were having a competition of peeing on the empty rail track. It seemed that whoever pees in a straight line wins!
A two year old architect was drawing “something” on the floor of the terminal with a pebble of red brick. His brother, a bit older, was running towards him with two papers in his hands. Probably using them as wings and dreaming of flying one day, but he seemed to enjoy the air resistance for the time being!
Alright, the most amazing part: If one day the electric board of the station gets out of order (it can happen anytime), the street kids will be the only one helping us with the train schedule (the government officers sleep most of the time). But still the kids have good brains of memorizing!
Now on a more serious note: The teenagers were different. Their activities were more matured, but some really dangerous. They were in basically two groups I encountered. One of them was the working class. I mean, working hard picking up leftover and plastics. They usually become the Coolies (luggage carriers) in the future; the other group was basically the rejected class, relaxing on one side of the station with puffs of weed and what not, all day and night.
Well, finally the whistle blew and there came the best train of Bangladesh. I closed my notebook and stepped into the train. Even though the street kids weren’t allowed to enter, they enjoyed making funny faces on the reflecting glasses of the train. I thought: “That was one breath-taking experience and the one and a half hours were worth it!”
