Celebrating Universal Children's Day

AMANI, a student of one of the most reputed private universities in Bangladesh has been selling flowers to the people passing the Bijoy shoroni circle. Every time the signal turned red, she approached the private cars and other vehicles wearing a t-shirt inscribing 'JAAGO' to sell flowers to the passengers. There were many young people on the roads doing the same thing. Some were selling popcorns, some flowers and some candy floss. Like Amani, many young students were on the roads of Dhaka on 18 November to remind people of their duties and obligations toward the children who are living a very miserable life.

Monju, a 12 year old boy, sells popcorn at Gulshan-2 circle. At this very tender stage of his life, instead of going to school, he has to support his family - his mother and 5-year-old sister. Everyday, he wakes up at 7 a.m. and spends his whole day on the roads selling popcorn to the people on transports. But 18 November is very different for him than any other day. He did not have to go selling popcorn. Rather, he is enjoying his time in Wonderland Amusement Park along with some of the children who sells flowers, candyfloss, candies and many other items on the streets. It is more like a dream come true for them. They do not have to rush towards cars or any vehicles to sell their products. These are the stories of Amani and Monju and there are many other similar stories that took place on 18 November. On that day, around 500 underprivileged rejoiced happiness across the city. This year, Jaago Foundation celebrated Universal Children's Day with the underprivileged street children who face harsh reality in every single step of their life.

The day started with distributing breakfast among 500 children, which was not an easy job for the volunteers. But they managed to handle every thing properly. The kids were enjoying every bit of their time in the Wonderland. After the breakfast, they started roaming around and exploring the fascinating rides. The Wonderland authority privileged the kids by giving them a chance to ride all the rides as many times as they want for three hours. The joy knew no bounds for the kids. It seemed that they had the best three hours of their life as they were enjoying to the fullest. Lipi, one of the kids, could not even express how happy she was. She was riding only the bumping car over and over again.

''Eto moja kono eideo kohono kori nae..khuv vala lagtase'' she said.

After the rides, a magician came to show magic. The magician's spell left the kids totally mesmerized. The children took part in the trick which excited them more. Around 1 p.m., the volunteers served lunch to the kids. Due to the daylong activities, they were hungry and started pushing down the food. By the courtesy of Novartis Bangladesh Ltd, a health camp was there to check the health conditions of the kids that commenced from 2 p.m. Volunteers helped them out stand in a queue and maintain it. At the end of the day, many celebrities and guests came over to Wonderland to support the noble cause. Many of the celebrities stood at Gulshan-2 circle from 3 to 5 p.m. and worked as volunteers. They all had fun doing these activities and urged everyone to come forward and help the children get their rights. The whole day programme ended in the evening by giving away the total amount of money equally among the children.

Celebrities spontaneously participated in the process and gave away the money. Then the founder of Jaago,Korvi Rakhshand, thanked each and everyone for making the event a great success. This event was supported by Mojo, KFC, Pizza Hut, Novartis, Adcom, Radio Today, Alliance Group and others.

Throughout the world, 20 November is observed as Universal Children's day. To convey the significance of the day, Jaago Foundation arranged a campaign 'JAAGO' on the 18 November for creating awareness among mass people of the poor condition of the children who are deprived from all the rights and often discriminated. On this day, Jaago gathered around 500 street urchins from different important traffic hubs of Dhaka and ran a full day activity with them in Wonderland Amusement Park. While the ill-fated children were having a good time in the park, over 500 volunteers from different organizations and backgrounds stood in the traffic signal points. All day long, they sold various products that are usually sold by the kids. At the end of the day, the amount of money collected was disbursed equally amongst the 500 children. The key purposes of the event were to raise awareness among the people and inspire them to take part in the development of the country through developing the children.

Bangladesh Climate Camp 2009

BANGLADESH is gearing up to face a new challenge that is climate change. The Bangladesh Climate Camp 2009 is a testimony to true climate concern. Chief Executive of Participatory Research and Action Network (PRAN) Mr. Nurul Alam Masud gave the keynote address on the opening day, 22 October. He emphasized on active youth participation in Bangladesh and pointed climate change to be a natural phenomenon that was accelerated due to anthropogenic activities. He expressed deep concern for the agricultural laborers and the coastline dwellers.

The background of the Camp was made very clear. Local media was involved to echo the message far and wide. Applications poured in from all corners of the country. Climate crusaders outside the country also showed in a lot of interest. So the final list of participants consisted of representatives from 51 districts of Bangladesh and around six participants from neighboring countries as well as Europe- the total number being one hundred and twenty.

The evening of the first day of action was graced by eminent Member of Parliament and the Chairman of The All Peoples' Party on Climate Change and Environment Mr. Saber Hossen Chowdhury. The participants came up with the problems of their respective areas and wanted a solution to their woes. There was a volley of questions directed to him and he made a note of all the possible issues that arose and promised to start working on those. He felt that Climate change is a threat to all developing sectors. Our food security, national security and socio economic condition will see a significant drop down in the coming years.

Climate change and change in survival strategies questions the rights that human beings are to enjoy. With the advent of industrialization, the western countries have been shooting carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. They are primarily to be blamed for the unprecedented amount of CO2 in the air. So they are the main stakeholders of CO2 emissions. Developing countries like Bangladesh demand that they reduce their CO2 emissions so that atmosphere is stabilized. Newly liberated countries like Bangladesh should be given adequate time to march in the path of progress. They have the Right to Develop. If this right is infringed, there will be a massive amount of pressure that will be exerted on the Annex one countries.

On the second day there was a grand opening for the Camp. The guests being the same as the night before got a special chance to reinforce their points. Saber Hossen Chowdhury cited the example of Maldives- where the population is very thin amounting to nearly three lakhs of people. The Maldives Government is moving forward by buying lands in advance in different countries to that the climate refugees can be relocated and resettled. Maldives being a very low-lying country is especially threatened of submersion. This move cannot be replicated in Bangladesh.

The reason being the vast land area and population explosion. He also shared good news with the countrymen that are in order to combat climate change; a budget of 700 cores of taka has been earmarked. He requested all the people of the country to be under one banner and combat climate change. It is a global problem requiring a global solution.

The local Member of Parliament has pinned all his hopes on the media. He termed that as the First Estate. He requested them to use their pens as weapons to write something that will create a stir among the international negotiators. The Vice Chancellor of Noakhali Science and Technology University seemed to be clear in a radical demand. He wanted to be well compensated from the western countries.

After the inauguration, the participants broke into different groups. Some of these being cultural, debating, mobilization, media, photography and monitoring groups. The purpose off these factions is to involve self-tasking.

In order to have a sound knowledge of the hard science behind Climate Change, eminent scientist and IPCC co author Dr.Ahsan was called in. His presentation was extremely well informative. After giving the audience a basic understanding of climate change, he took Bangladesh as a case study. Littoral Bangladesh around the Sunderbans is marked as one of the most vulnerable areas. Rising sea level and salt water ingress destroying crops are its main problems. Erratic weather events and forced displacement is an alarming problem out there.

As evening descended, the campers demonstrated a candle march to the nearest Art and Culture Academy grounds. The participants sat in a unique mosaic. They wrote EU and with a mark of interrogation at the end. This was symbolic. It showed how the people of Bangladesh looked upto the European Union and have all their eyes set to the COP 15 Meeting in Copenhagen. Their fate waiting to be decided once and for all.

In the evening an economist namely Neelormi put forth issues of gender and climate change. She shared a few spine-chilling experiences where women are absolutely off guard when climate change struck them. They lose their habitat and loved ones. The psychological trauma and poor sanitary system in the shelters adds to their woes. There are no special arrangements for special needs like impregnated women or the physically challenged.

Scientists first observed the abnormal changes in the climatic condition in the 1980's. Heavy rainfall or no rainfall, cyclone and storm surges all appeared to have been occurring abnormally. The hottest year of 20th Century occurred in 1990's. Rise in 1°c mean temperature, which normally takes more than 1000 years, now seems to be occurring in one hundred years. Scientists found that hundreds of years of emission of Carbon dioxide, a product of burning fossil fuel, Coal, is the main cause. Besides Carbon emission, Methane emitted from rain-fed agriculture also triggers this abnormal temperature rise.US being the highest emitter refused to gratify the Kyoto Protocol. This stark reality was projected by Ziaul Haque Mukta.

Monetary compensation is not enough; technology transfer is also an integral part. He summoned the youth to give the clarion call for justice.

In the afternoon session Tapas Ranjan Chakraborty spoke at length on mitigating Climate change at a personal level. He said the three 'R's to be the mantra that is reduce, re use and recycle. He said energy conservation to be the topmost priority. He appealed to the participants to use the mass transport system in order to reduce their carbon footprint. The campers broke into several groups and threw light on different aspects of Climate Change mitigation.Later these issues were discussed and the session came to an end.

This session was succeeded by a session on the indigenous people and their role in nature conservation. The speaker of this session was eminent Biologist Pavel Partha. An Indegenous person has a knowledge treasure trove. Having stayed in the lap of nature since generations, they know the devices to conserve it. Till date they lead a zero carbon lifestyle. Pavel holds the MNCs in contempt. He shared how food habits can create carbon havoc. Italian delicacy Pizza for instance, which is on the global culinary map is extremely carbon intensive. So a little compromise can actually make a great head way.

The evening was big leap. A film titled “The Island” was screened. It was a Science fiction. Post dinner all of the participants gathered on the terrace to make merry. The air was light. Climate Change and its imminent mayhem were not to be seen. Fun and frolic was omnipresent.

On the last day a collective signature pledge was handed over to the District Magistrate so as to urge upon the Government to take appropriate action to reduce carbon emission where ever possible to combat climate change and ensure security of life and livelihood.

Transportation

There are some transportation which are parts of culture of Bangladesh. In rural areas bullock cart, buffalo cart and tomtom (Horse cart) are commonly used. In old Dhaka once tomtom was a common vehicle and still it is found. Bicycles are used both in rural and urban areas. Both vehicle pictures are given below- Photo: Internet (Tomtom gari)

Photo: Internet ( Bullock cart)

Palki (a box-like vehicle carried on shoulders by six men) is a wedding transportation means. Brides are carried to the bridegrooms’ places by Palki. And now-a-days palki is totally vanished vehicle.

Photo: Internet (Palki)

Transport

Photo: Internet

Transport in Bangladesh takes many forms. There is the ubiquitous rickshaw, three wheeled rickshaws, also called mini-taxis, and the bus. As you can see the picture, riding a bus in Bangladesh is not for the feint of heart. Every day, one can read of buses racing across country roads and careening wildly into ponds, rivers or simply becoming airborne, momentarily, over flood embankments. In fact, those passengers that die in bus accidents usually die of drowning, not from the collision itself. One of the reasons bus travel is so risky is that the drivers rarely have any training and, indeed, most do not even have a driver’s license.
This is how, sometimes our traditional transport shows the negative impact on our country. But now a days things are changes a lot.

Ghuri Utshob (Kite Festival)

Bangladesh possesses an ancient socio-cultural heritage. Culture in Bangladesh is a unique blend of traditional values, customs and external influences. Bangladeshi daily life is full up with traditions and festivals that reflect the unique culture and tradition of Bangladeshis. Some of the tradition and customs are as ancient as prehistoric days, while others are relatively recent. Kite Festival is one of the popular traditions of Bangladesh. Here it is called shakrain/ Ghuri Utshob.

Rickshaw Pullers Life

Rickshaw or Ricksha
Rickshaw pulling is a popular and easy profession in Bangladesh. A rickshaw puller earns about US $2.00-3.00/day. He can either own a rickshaw or hire one from his master. A rickshaw must be registered at the local municipalitym and during the evening and night the rickshaw must equipped with a Hurricane-lamp at the back and a small headlight at the front. Rickshaws are comfortable and a cheap transport system, and definitely do not pollute the environment.

Should we feel proud about the rickshaw – as an inhuman vehicle? It shocks people in other countries when a plump of flesh (two-three women) boards a rickshaw with heaps of luggage and orders the aged rickshaw puller to run fast. But do we even offer a glass of cold water to the rickshaw puller who is far more thirsty than the passengers?

A little history about rickshaw

As a mode of transport rickshaw was first introduced in Japan in the early twentieth century. This mode of transport became particularly popular there due to the Second World War situation, which made petrol and motorised transport scarce and expensive. Japan, however, had soon replaced rickshaw, nintaku in Japanese, with motorised vehicles and by the 1950s the cycle rickshaw had disappeared from Japan. There were also rickshaws in china at that time.In the 1930 and early ’40s rickshaw became popular in Indonesia, Singapore and other Southeast Asian countries. Rickshaw is said to have reached Chittagong from Myanmar in 1919. Interestingly, rickshaw did not spread out to Dhaka and other cities of Bangladesh from Chittagong. Dhaka got rickshaw from Calcutta, where it was first introduced around 1930. European jute exporters living in Narayanganj and Netrokona (in Mymensingh) had first imported cycle rickshaw from Calcutta in 1938 for their personal use. The new vehicle roused great curiosity among the people of Dhaka, who were traditionally used to horse carriages, palanquins and city-canal boats.

Rickshaw painter

Rickshaw art is mainly an urban phenomenon and perhaps dates back to the 1950′s. It shares some similarity of theme and execution with movie billboards, which may be credited to the fact that many rickshaw painters had either themselves painted movie billboards or had apprenticed with such painters. The art of the rickshaw painter is passed on from ustad, master, to apprentice. There is a lot of repetition, either because of the popularity of some design or because of the influence of the master craftsman. The paintings are executed quickly, with readymade enamel paints, which do not allow paints to be mixed. Bright primary colors are popular and the painting is flat, lacking shadows, perspective, and scale.

Rickshaw repairman

Jalal, 75, “For 40 years I worked in Dhaka as a rickshaw puller. But then as I got older I grew weaker and weaker and finally I couldn’t drive the rickshaw anymore. So about three years ago I stopped completely and started work repairing rickshaws instead.

“About nine months ago, I had a heart attack, and couldn’t work at all for 2 months. I have two grown-up daughters and during the time when I was sick they took over the repair business for me. I have trained them both in how to repair rickshaws, so that if I die before they get married they will be able to earn a living. The problem is they could never earn as much as me because people wouldn’t want to get their rickshaw repaired by a woman.”

Child labor Rickshaw pusher

Solaiman (10 years old), Rickshaw pusher, He pushes rickshaw to help rickshaw puller for crossing the Loher pull bridge, Dhaka, Bangladesh. I was very surprised, when I saw the boy pushes the rickshaw to help the rickshaw puller. Because any time any unexpected incident can be happen. So, morally I do not support that kind of work. Government should take initiative action to stop child labor in Bangladesh.

Rickshaw driver at night

It is a popular guess that the total number of rickshaws in the city is at least two and a half times that of the registered ones and accordingly, the city had at least 280,000 rickshaws in 2000. Estimates based on the figures that each rickshaw is operated by two pullers in morning and evening shifts and the average number of family members of a rickshaw puller is five, suggest that the rickshaws of Dhaka city alone is a source of income for nearly three million people.

Lease on the rickshaw

The rickshaw “wala”, or driver, is the lifeblood of Bangladeshi culture. Most walas act as indentured servants essentially, pedaling all morning just to pay their daily lease on the rickshaw – then pedal all afternoon for the family and often work long shifts into the evening. Their rickshaws are inefficient and difficult to pedal. They’re banned on many streets in Dhaka, the capital, as they create even more congestion in an already chaotic city – the most raw, intense city that I’ve seen.

Rickshaw Festival

Dhaka, known as the ‘rickshaw capital of the world’, saw its first ever Rickshaw Festival on Sat, Mar 28th, 2009. Approximately 400,000 cycle-powered rickshaws run in the capital each day. However, increasing traffic congestion and resulting collisions have led to their ban on many of Dhaka‘s major roads. Some fear a total ban in the city before long, putting an end to a century-old tradition.

“The festival is meant to promote this environment-friendly vehicle, and the rickshaw-pulling community, that caters to a vast majority of people in the country,” said Sara Siddiq, CEO of Bangladesh Change makers, the festival organizers. “It is also meant to raise the profile of Bangladeshi heritage and culture,” she told bdnews24.com.

Children and adults thronged the colorful day-long event at New Colony Field in Lalmatia.

Two public universities, including Dhaka University, and 15 private universities also assisted in hosting the programme, which included rickshaw pullers presenting traditional song and dance and showcased the rickshaw painters’ famously elaborate and colourful illustrations.

It also allowed festival goers to try their own hand at rickshaw art and take part in rickshaw races. Most of them said they would be extremely sad if their favourite vehicle were banned from the streets of Dhaka. “The rickshaw is the middle class’s favourite vehicle, and pollution-free,” said one rickshaw lover. Giving no names, one young couple declared there was nothing to compare to taking a romantic rickshaw ride with a loved one!

The real bases of exploitation

This argument is driven by the immediacy of the relationship between the puller and the pulled: no one advocates that the bus driver or aeroplane pilot is also been exploited. The overriding reason is the energy that the puller must exert to move the passengers’ weight. Yet this is not an unfair relationship perse. Campaigns that promote the idea of rickshaws as exploitative highlight only one aspect of the work, confusing the moral questions of labour type with the economic conditions of the labour process.

Morally, we should see no concern in the existence of rickshaw pulling as a profession. The moral issue surrounds the question as to why rickshaw pullers come to do this job, what structures and social relations are forcing people to take this work, and which members of society are pullers and which are pulled. This is where the exploitation of rickshaws emerges, in the conditions of their labour.

The way that users treat rickshaw pullers, the fares that can be charged, the housing that pullers have, the costs of rickshaw rents, their relationship with the police, the attitude of policy makers –- these, and not the act of pulling, are the conduits through which exploitation takes place. Combined, these have had the effect to prescribe rickshaw pulling as a low-status, ill-respected activity that must be replaced by other means, and one from which pullers seek to ‘escape’ as soon as possible.

Floating Rickshaw

This old man, Mr.Mohamad Saidullah, who is just a Rickshaw puller, helped several people in the flood hit Bihar with his wonderful invention (innovation) of floating Rickshaw. The best part is when all the cars and sophisticated vehicles were off the road and the authorities were struggling to help the stranded, this man helped ferry several people to safety.

Rickshaw puller’s house

A woman sits with her child on the threshold of her shack in a bamboo slum. Her home is built directly over a pool of chemical waste from a nearby tannery plant which processes animal hide to make leather. The only way she and her children can get out of their house is by wading through the toxic water.

Rickshaw puller fight with car driver

A cart driver, left and a rickshaw puller are seen engaged in a fight after the cart, partly seen left, and a rickshaw, background center, collided in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Saturday, Dec. 27, 2008. It is estimated that over a quarter million rickshaws ply in the Bangladeshi capital.

Use of Rickshaw During Natural Disaster

It was rainy season. A Bangladeshi rickshaw puller waits for a passenger on a rain stormed street. That day they did get many passengers. So, they did not earn more money. It is true scenario of Bangladesh Rickshaw puller’s that they are most helpless people among others.

A rickshaw puller rides in the rain in Allahabad, India, Tuesday, July 3, 2007.At least 14 people were crushed to death or drowned overnight when heavy rains lashed eastern and western parts of India, taking the country’s monsoon death toll to 121, police said Tuesday. (AP Photo / Rajesh Kumar Singh)

A typical rickshaw garage

The conditions of life for rickshaw pullers further demonstrated their helplessness and marginality. Those, that do no live in their own homes (and given that most are migratory to the cities from famine or flood affected areas, these are few) will live in garages. The garage is typically a raised shed, with rickshaws underneath and up to fifty men crowded together on the floor.

Residential background

Men from different areas of the country do not participate equally as rickshaw pullers in the Dhaka City. The three largest contributing districts are Mymensingh, Rangpur and Barisal, from which more than half (52%) of the sample rickshaw pullers had come. The next largest contributors are Bogra, Faridpur, Dhaka, Dinajpur and Comilla from which about one-third of the pullers have come. Thus, districts having extensive less than 1% of males aged above 20 years are widowed or divorced. Multiple asset and process indicators may be considered to ascertain whether a particular social category belongs to the most disadvantaged groups. Severe poverty, depressed areas, river erosion, chars lands, and/or underdeveloped areas with limited work opportunities dominate in the sample of rickshaw pullers. All most every persons of the rickshaw driver comes from lower class in Bangladesh society. The village of Bangladesh has no enough job opportunities. These why maximum village people come in Dhaka city for survive their life.

Peoples’ art

In eighties to nineties the elites of Bangladesh scorned rickshaw art as vulgar while at the same time many fine artists of the country took it seriously as an expression of the taste and interests of the masses. What sort of art is rickshaw art? I consider it “peoples’ art”. It is not necessary to force it into a unitary category as it combines folkloric, movie, political and commercial imagery and techniques. It serves the expression of heart’s desires of the man in the street for women, power, wealth, as well as for religious devotion. Rickshaw art also serves prestige and economic functions for the people who make, use and enjoy it.

Simple but eye catching

Art moving by on wheels needs to be bold and eye-catching. Rickshaw artists aim to decorate the vehicles with as much drama and colour as possible, and paint images that are both simple and memorable.

Blaze of colours

Rickshaw is not only moves with the passenger and other load, but it moves with a museum full of folk arts. Every inch of the Rickshaw is well decorated with paintings, tassels, tinsel and colourful plastic and hood works. Rickshaw hoods, foot holds, seats and in the back side, even in frame and in chassis there is a sign of art. A painted rectangular metal board at the backside, between the two wheels, leaves a trail of passion that the Rickshaw artist puts in his creations. In a word a Rickshaw of Bangladesh is a burn of colours.

CNG in Bangladesh

Photo: Internet

I am convinced that my Chhoto Chachchu, may be unknowingly, was one of the leading pioneers in promoting and practicing the concepts of ‘Liton er flat’ in Bangladesh since late eighties. When I look back now some 22 years ago, I realise that the frequenting of the Dhaka hotties (omuk apu, tomuk aunty) and the warm welcome by Chachchu in his mysterious, dodgy private room in the house was nothing but the budding concept of ‘Liton er flat’, the fact and phenomenon later exposed in the hit Bangla film ‘’. I am even surprised and happy to discover that even a fan page on Facebook exists for ‘Liton er flat’ where they ask ‘what kind of services you wish for in Lit’s flat?’ (lol). We can discuss however about the concept, emergence, need, use, risks etc. of this innovative, productive (!) ‘flat’ in a later post.

What makes me look back to this is also the fact that Chachchu used to ask (or rather command) me from the realm of his own 'Liton er flat' sometimes to get him a ‘baby’ with ‘curtains’. Now don’t be mistaken by this ‘baby’, this ‘baby’ was not any of Chachchu’s ‘babies’ i.e. hot/spicy Dhaka drop-deads. Before the arrival of environment friendly green colored CNG auto-rickshaws, we used to call the three-wheelers ‘baby taxis’ or simply ‘baby’. So Chachchu used to yell for a ‘baby’ when his ‘baby’ needed to be dropped off ‘Shayer jao taratari ekta baby nie asho…porda wala anba!!’.
So that was my first orientation to the innovative usage of baby taxis in Dhaka, that other than carrying passengers around, they can be ideal places for last minute intimacy on the move between lovers of Dhaka...Liton er CNG??, as long as there are curtains and covers ofcourse. Although I remained intrigued for long time wondering how come Chachchu’s ravishing hot-heeled guests are so ‘parda-nasheen’ that they preferred ‘parda’ in baby-taxis too. Eventually I realised that this ‘parda’ was meant for other purposes which Chachchu knew and practiced better. So he kept on doing what he enjoyed doing best and I grew up to test it on my own too. I realised however that those were risky ventures if the ‘baby-wala’ happened to be a moral police and/or the time and fate was just perfect for getting mugged too. So after knowing three-wheelers as the passenger carrier and ‘vehicle of love’, I also realised that these can be used to be mugged or to mug unsuspecting innocent passengers too. Time went by, baby-taxis got replaced with CNG auto-rickshaws and we replaced ‘baby’ darling with an acronym…‘CNG’. And as Dhaka city got busier, traffic jams increased and kept on proving how horrible the urban planning in the city is and how much time, productivity, mood we keep wasting stuck inside environment friendly CNG auto-rickshaws. Sometimes I used to doze off in such situations, sometimes throw glances left and right to spot any potential Dhaka Eves in the air conditioned car stuck side by side, sometimes used to curse my fate and the system that how severely its choking people’s productivity, mood, time, etc. However if every (black) cloud has silver lining, was wondering if there is anything worthwhile doing while travelling in CNGs in Dhaka? Anything we could think of in terms of urban advertising on the go? Anything revenue generating involving the CNG owners or the drivers?