Every time I get back from work and am exhausted, I freshen up and lie down on my couch. It is made of bamboo and I have put a few pillow-cushions over it to make it very comfortable. I turn on the television and randomly change the channels as I start drinking a litre of water. This is what I do most times when I am tired and exhausted from a long day’s work. Tonight, as I was editing this picture, something came into my observation.

The picture was taken in the Kawran Bazaar area (the same place where I took the earlier few pictures). The little boy was scampering around his hut and doing some chores. His mother was sitting in front of the hut and cutting some vegetables. The boy was doing his work very quickly as I heard some other kids of similar age calling him from a distance. Maybe they wanted to go play somewhere or do something else. The mother was constantly cursing at the boy saying that he is becoming like his father who is nothing but a worthless being (in fact, those were the most polite and civilized words that she used).

The heat was getting worse and the boy sweating. Suddenly he stopped scampering and sat down on top of the rail track. He sat in this exact position as I captured it in frame. The boy got up after a few moments, finished his chore and ran off towards the other kids who were waiting for him. As the boy as sitting there, I could hear him breathing in and out. He was exhausted. But I do not know how much of the exhaustion was relieved by sitting in this position. First of all, there was no place for putting his back, unlike what I do in my bamboo-couch. Secondly, he was not even sitting in a relaxed position. Thirdly, the track was very hot because of the heat. I really do not know how he could keep both of his palms on it. And lastly, there is no way, this posture could help him relax. However, the boy seemed full of energy when he got up.

As I was looking at this picture tonight, I was really envying the little boy! When I get tired, my couch, no matter what I do, would never re-energize me so fast!

This picture tells me a lot. If fact, it laughs at me. Just the mere thought of what we do to make our lives comfortable and then complain about it, is embarrassing in front of this picture. Just thing about it, how many times have we thought of getting a new chair because the one that we have is not comfortable enough? How many times have we looked at the ones who live more lavish lives then us, and have complained (even to ourself!) that that person has a more comfortable live then us? We all know the answer: a lot of times.

So what should this little boy DO?— This question, we can ask ourselves. But what I know is what this boy DOES? He gets up, completes his work and goes off playing…. And I feel I am mocked at my life!

]]> http://munafchowdhury.wordpress.com/2010/07/26/the-relaxing-couch/feed/ 3 munafchowdhury One has his own relaxing couch edited http://munafchowdhury.wordpress.com/2010/07/22/devoted-housewives/ http://munafchowdhury.wordpress.com/2010/07/22/devoted-housewives/#comments Wed, 21 Jul 2010 23:46:15 +0000 Munaf M Chowdhury http://munafchowdhury.wordpress.com/?p=203 ]]>

They are no ordinary people… They are no ordinary Housewives.. These brave women are the most supportive creations on Earth. They live beside the railway, in slums, in dirt and with umpteen hardship. But they still do what a devoted wife does. They maintain their family. They clean their homes, they cook their food, they wash their clothes and look after their families.

These women are not desperate. They do not have the luxuries of those screen-sizzling characters. They even do not have the luxuries that we have. They don’t have proper food, clothes, houses…. in fact they don’t have a proper life.

But I am amazed by their devotion. The way they live day after day, performing the chores of a devoted wife. They make their family shine in the darkness that the reality has cursed them with. I can only wonder as to what more ironies this journey will show me….

I do not know why I feel so sad. I do not know why I feel ashamed. I do not know these kids, maybe will never see them again. But every time I see this picture, I feel an urge to become a hero. The hero who cannot stand the cruelties of the world, a hero who makes everyone smile, a hero who can fight against the wrong….. a hero who can not do wrong. And then I remember, that I walked away that day. I did not become a hero.

I do not regret that either. I understand the complexities and limitations of my world. But I know that there is a hero out there who will not walk away. I know that some day I may neither…. And I also know that there is a hero in you and nor will you!

If my ear drums could talk and had hands, it would have cursed me and pull me by my ears out of the Kawran bazaar slum area. The mere reason being the incredibly loud trains that pass through the heart of the backyard of the slum-dwelling people. I started wondering how people who live there for years have not all gone deaf yet. The trains are like Monsters that will cut through the heart and engulf each and very part of its prey. It will howl and frighten its prey every time. And if anyone comes in its path, it will grind him to the bones.   However, it was as if the people were not at all bothered by it. But I was dazed and wanted to find the answer. And then I realized….

I realized how easy it is to forget, how easy it is to ignore and how easy it is to stay indifferent to all the monstrosity that exists in the world surrounding us!

It has been over a year and a half that I posted my last post in this blog. Its been way too long and I feel I must again venture the journey of uncovering the Cover City. Last month I went to a slum at Kawran Bazaar. I wanted to explore the life of drug abusers and hence went to the place which is very notorious for being a major supply tank for the for these unfortunate people. What I uncovered in a few hours was far more than I thought I knew.

I want to re-start my journey in the amazing world of blogging with this picture. I tells you a lot about the real life that we are extremely generous at ignoring. The life in the slums and the buildings behind tells how cruel this world is….. how selfish the reality is…. how a single color can be so deceiving………..

Let’s not just start blaming each other….

Let’s take a deep breath and keenly look at this picture…….

It’s time we realize the cruelty of the world….

It’s time to realize what we have done….

It’s TIME…………..

As a nation, we are not too much into cleanliness. Though we are religious, we often forget the saying.. “Cleanliness is next to Godliness!”

Crows are the ultimate cleaners of the city. They even aid the municipalty-hired cleaners to attain closeness to God. Once again, its taken around the Banani-Gulshan belt: The most posh region of Bangladesh!

This one is also at the same railway station. The mother and her baby share the minute happiness that seems to be enough to fill up all our sorrows.

They were just sitting at one corner of the railway station. The young mother was playing with the baby. He seemed oozed with life; may be that is why the mother could smile from her heart. The baby was performing some adorable moves and was enjoying every minute of the attention he was getting while I was capturing the moments in my digital lens.

The story of their life is among that of the numerous people who make the road their home floor and the open sky their ceiling. She is a single mother who used to be abused and beaten by her husband. She has left him and now she works at different houses as a part time maid.

We tend to be grieved by all the little sorrows that we face in our daily lives, but they….? May be they do not feel the sorrows. When the cup is full, the excess water does not harm it, it only cleans its sides………….

I met this street urchin at the Airport railway station. I was trying to capture emotions of people who travel by the train. But instead, I was caught by some characters who I could not ignore. The boy in this picture is one of those characters.

Ragged, dusty, demure, desolated and denied of all the characteristics of being a handsome boy, the beautiful coyote was  loitering around the railway tracks. The shaggy hair was crippled to the core. The constant painful sound of the trains and the station has made him deaf to a large extent.

It was the time of Eid when people return to their home with glee in their hearts and joy in their eyes. But the eyes and heart of this “Beautiful Coyote” seemed vacant and mislaid. 

The cow, the kids, the road. My way was blocked by the tame beast.

The cow is large enough to scare any grown up, but the kid seems fearless. Moreover, it was quite  unusual to find a cow on the middle of a city street. Such scenes are only usual during the time of the Eidul Aza, but not during any other time.

The tame beast would not move no matter what I tried. At length, I had to find his owner to move him. But the beast seemed angry at me. It probably did not do anything to me because his master was watching over. I sigh of relief!   

This is not any rural area, not even at the outskirts of Dhaka. It is between Mohakhali and Gulshan 1. The boat fare is two taka across lake… One great boating experience.