Gibberish: Trains of Thoughts

Photo: Prabir Das

The traffic is getting worse by the day and it's not a shocking event anymore. The rebels have stopped rebelling and the screams have finally subdued. We have all become numb (or have chosen to be numb), sit tight and enjoy the scenery outside. 

The two-hour long journey from Baridhara DOHS to Farm Gate is quite an amusing experience. You meet people on the way, listen to music, take a nap, read a book, and overhear conversations happening between people squished between others on the bus and some even get done with their religious duties like reading the scriptures. Of course, you are absolutely rotting in hell if you are driving a car. There is no way out then. You simply have to get that car out of the jungle, reach your destination and then repeat.

It's scary how the ambulance wails do not make an impact anymore. The growing fear within an examinee or a first time interviewee is something that is ignored easily. The whole city is in a rush to get somewhere, but is stuck in a forever trance of honking buses and sweating chauffeurs. 

Last week, a group on Facebook actively promoted the idea of going through a No Car Day - a revolution in itself in Dhaka, where public transport is still not considered safe by all. They shared flyers showcasing the idea of 'gaarir shaathe aari' (breaking up with your car) to encourage people to either take public transport, cycle to work or better still – walk. A praiseworthy idea indeed – something that we should all think about. 

One believes that the No Car Day should be organised and promoted once every month to get people used to the simple act of walking. "I walked from Banani to Dhanmondi 27 once. It took me exactly 46 minutes," says Tasneem Fatima, an online entrepreneur. "It was an experiment to see how long it would take. If I had taken a car or the bus, I think it would have taken longer, at least close to 2 hours."
"I miss the rickshaw days when we could go anywhere on a rickshaw without worrying about traffic jams," says Durdana Hossain, a 60-year-old grandmother and also a freelance contributor to various newspapers in the country. "When my brother and his family would come to Dhaka from the UAE every year, we would all make it a point to go to the Shishu Park. We would all get on a 2-3 rickshaws and go all the way to the park from Dhanmondi. This seems like a mere dream now and I think the young professionals can't even imagine something of this sort today."

The traffic jam squeezes out the life out of you. It depresses you, slows you down. Its time to make some changes. Its time to fight the traffic jam, and the fight better begin from home.