Interview With A Rickshaw Puller
“By the grace of God, I am doing fine.”
I know most of you love to hear the interview of rich or so-called successful people. You hardly have interest in any common man. But to be honest, I find the common man more interesting than any business tycoon or celebrity.
I do talk a lot with random street people of different professions. Most of the time, they amazed me with their stories, struggles, and life views.
Anyway, the following is the excerpt of my interview with a rickshaw puller, Mr. Bijoy. Let’s concentrate on what he says.
Mr. Bijoy, a rikshaw puller
Believe it or not, I stayed in India for 22 years. I would drive a private car and do some other works. There, the roads are cleaner and have facilities like roadside washrooms, shades, and places for drinking water. But see — here in Dhaka, there is nothing like that.
Roads are not good and people don't like to follow traffic rules. Don’t you see how many accidents happen every single day!
I went to Kolkata illegally. When one of my brothers died here, I couldn’t come. It’s not easy to come from another country when you go there illegally.
My home is in Dinajpur (a district in Bangladesh). India’s border is only a ten-minute walk from my home. But now I think my country is far better than India. Here, I earn my living by pulling a rickshaw as I have no land to cultivate.
My three children’s study depends on my earnings. But, I am happy here by the grace of God. I am doing fine. I live in my country. It’s a different power.
I work here in Dhaka and go to my home in Dinajpur once a month. One of my sons is now in 8th grade. He is very good at his study. Another one studies in fifth grade. And my daughter just finished college. Now I need more money for her university admission tests.
I earn and do hard work for them. You know, I am raising my family with an honest income. That’s peace. That’s why I don’t want to go to India. There I would earn more — that’s right — but without family, no happiness there.
You know, I have no parents. They died. Everyone finished. I only have a brother who works in a rice mill in Dinajpur.
I earn here — not much — but I understand now the time is bad. My wife looks after my children and does some cultivation in the yard. She grows vegetables. We are poor people, we must work hard to maintain our family.
Today, I will work till four in the afternoon. Then I will go back to my mess. Rickshaw pulling is tough. It creates huge pressure on the body. So, I must work systematically.
Otherwise, my body will break out.
Author’s note:
I met Mr. Bijoy in my residential area and did a little chitchat. The above section is the excerpt from our talk. He is a wonderful man and I wish him good luck for his and his family’s future.
Thank you for reading.
If you want to read more of my writings, you may check out the following articles.