All our Writing: Traffic in Dhaka city,Bangladesh

Situated on the banks of the river Buriganga, is Dhaka City, the capital of Bangladesh. In year 2011, it’s population was 16 million, it is the   ninth  largest and 28th most densely populated city in the world.

The climate is mild in winter and extremely hot in summer. The monsoon season gives some relief , it cools off the temperature to a certain extent.

After  partition in 1947, the population has grown more than the city can handle. With the increasing number of people one would expect the transportation should improve, it hasn’t. There are a large number of the population who drive without a license. driving schools do not exist, but life goes on.

I left the city after my marriage and occasionally visited it because of the expensive air fare.

In 2010 I went to Dhaka for some personal reasons. When I got out of the building to find my brother, what I saw around me was not only unbelievable but scary too.Inside the building passengers with valid tickets are the only ones who are allowed to go in. Outside there are thousands peeking in, may be they came to greet their family members. Some that were there did not belong, they ranged from pick pockets to kidnappers to other miscreants.

I cautiously came out and looked for my brother, there were beggars a plenty asking for money, cab drivers came forward asking me if I needed a ride home. Then there were young boys with their cell phone volunteering to let me use it if I wanted to call my family members.Amidst all this chaos it was tough to stay calm.Thankfully I spoke the local language. All these people realized I was not just a visitor, but a bona fide citizen.

After crossing the hurdle of getting out of the building in one piece. Next my brother had to tell these people who were crowding the place to get out of our way. I finally  got inside my brother’s car, the ride from the airport to my brother’s home was another obstacle I had to overcome.

The roads were blocked by all kinds of traffic, the car was crawling, even then it seemed it was a trying experience, just when the driver thought he’d speed up, crossing in front of him was  a herd of cattle. The driver had to let them go, but the cycle rickshaw driver thought it was an opportune moment for him  to overtake the car.

We had probably gone a few yards, when to our dismay we found behind us a  huge public bus roaring in, the driver stopped on the side, unfortunately there were several other buses following the first bus driver one after the other, each of these   buses have one guy who yells out, “move  on  the side.”

Then there are personalized chauffeur driven cars, the drivers  are extremely arrogant, because they don’t own the vehicles they drive like lunatics, the feeling is if it is damaged the owner will fix it. If one had to deal with one mode of transportation, it probably would not be that bad.

The types of transportation are private, public, and personalized vehicles . The primary ones are a) pedestrians, b) cycle rickshaws, c) transit and non-transit.

Transit mode is motorized public transport system which includes bus,small motorized vehicles e.g, cars, and light vehicles such as three wheeled cycle rickshaws which can have only one or two passengers. There are very few lights, most of the time they do not work. The traffic is mostly controlled by traffic police.

Personalized services are taxis, auto rickshaws are three wheeled mechanically operated vehicles ,  its body is manufactured locally, the chassis and the engine are imported. Next  there are human haulers these are small four wheeled contraption hauled by humans, used mostly to  carry various kinds of goods.

Dhaka city is also known as the ‘Rickshaw Capital Of The World’, there are four hundred thousand cycle  rickshaws moving on the streets of Dhaka city, along with all the other modes of transportation.

When I finally reached my brother’s home, I realized how difficult it is for the people who live there, or may be they do not think about it because they are used to it.

I was not used to it, when I lived there, the population was manageable. There were not that many cars, buses or auto rickshaws. Life was simple, very few people owned cars. It is completely different now.

I live in a small city. There are private cars, buses. What’s more people obey the traffic signs.

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Just my writing: As others see us

The title of one of the books in our ,”Teaching English As A Foreign language,” was ,’As Others see us’. We had fun reading some of the things pointed out by foreign travelers to the city of London, England.

A gentleman  was visiting London from somewhere in Africa. On his first day in London, he went to see the famous tube station , “King’s Cross”, not long after he arrived, he noticed a train coming in , it made a moments stop the doors opened, hundreds of passengers came out with long umbrellas which to him looked like guns, he thought all those people were  pointing at him and were coming to attack him, without waiting even a second, he ran to the exit and disappeared.

On another occasion there was another traveler  visiting London for the first time. At 6 pm he walked out of his hotel to see what the  evenings in London’s residential area looked like.

He walked along a posh neighborhood street, as he was walking he noticed the drapes of  houses were drawn, the street was dark.

When asked about his impression of the city, he smiled and said,”I would call it a dead city.”

I wanted to make a comparison of London with Dhaka city.

Dhaka as you know is in Bangladesh, it’s the capital. I went a few years ago, I could not believe how different it was when I lived there.

Now the city is several times larger and there is no law and order anywhere, on the streets, neighborhood, shopping, one just has to pretend it will be okay, but is it?

You will find all kinds of vehicles moving on the most important roads, there is the rickshaw driver taking his time peddling with a passenger or two, the shepherd is going along the road with his herd of cattle. There are public buses, that look like giants driven by  lunatics . They have a man who tells everyone to move to be safe.

There are private cars, school buses, cabs, auto rickshaws , then there are pedestrians who probably pray all the time they are on the road so they are not killed.

I was appalled by the situation, we do have travelers who visit the city, I wonder what kind of impression they take home with them.

The best part is there are traffic lights, but  no one follows them, when it is red the vehicles  start moving. I ask the question, “why do they have lights if they are not going to obey?”

You’d be surprised what one of them said to me, “At least we have lights!”

“For what”? I asked.

He could not answer my question.

I sat and wondered, which is better a quiet residential area at 6 pm in the evening or the roads of a city with noisy bus drivers,all kinds of vehicles, from a rickshaw to a cab, to shepherds with their cattle and those innocent pedestrians, who cannot be sure  they will arrive home safely.

If I had to give my honest opinion I’d say, “No wonder we are one of the developing countries!”

……………………………………… 🙂