Reportage @ 22 April, 2016 People still suffering water transport workers strike in Bangladesh. An old age women sit on the wheel chair and leave from the launch terminal to other way. River transport workers enforced an indefinite strike to press hone their 15-point demand, including pay hike. © Monirul Alam
Charak Puja also known as Nil Puja is a Hindu folk festival held in southern Banhladesh and West Bengal on the last day of the month of Chaitra in Bengali calender called Choitro.
People believe that the festival will carry prosperity by eliminating the sorrow and sufferings of the previous year. The festival is actually a festival to satisfy Load Shiva, the great Debadideb of Hindu Religion. Though the festival takes place on the mid night of Chaitra Songkranti, the preparation phase usually starts before one month of the day. In Bangladesh, it is frequently found to take place at Thakurgaon, Patuakkhali,Gazipur, Dhaka and other district in villages and cities.
Though the festival takes place on the mid night of Chaitra Songkranti, the preparation phase usually starts before one month of the day. The arrangement team of the festival go from village to village to procure the necessary components like paddy, oil, sugar, salt, honey, money and other items with the arranged cosmetics such as Shiva, Parvati and Narod.On midnight of the Songkranti, the worshippers are gathered together to worship the God and after puja the or asad is distributed.
A circus elephant walk on the street at Shahbagh square during the Valentine’s Day celebrations organized by the Dhaka South City Corporation on 14 February, 2016. In an atmosphere of fun, frolic and festivities, people across the country celebrated the Valentine’s Day It organized an innovative programmed titled “Pranoshokha Dhaka – Love for Dhaka” at Shahbagh intersection, considered the gateway to the DU campus for most of the city dwellers.
Abul Bajandar, 25, is the fourth man in the world with the tree man illness, a rare skin disorder caused by a virus named human papillomaviruses.
According to information found in the Internet, a Romanian man was first diagnosed with the disease in March 2007. Another case was reported in Indonesia in November the same year in a 35-year-old fisherman. The last reported case also occurred in the same region of Indonesia in 2009.
“I need assistance for all my daily tasks from eating to using the toilet,” said Abul . His mother and wife now take care of him every day. “The heavy weight almost tears down my arms and the pain increases when I move my limbs.”
“I have seen this case for the first time in Bangladesh,” said Dr Sen, noted physician and coordinator of the Burn & Plastic Surgery Unit.
Abul, who married in 2011 and fathered a three-year-old daughter, soon lost all functions of his hand and had to give up his job as a van driver. The last time we went to India, doctors said we have to do surgery and referred us to Vellore in Madras. But we could not afford the treatment there which would take about Tk 5 lakh,” said Abul.
“We may not be able to provide him with an absolute cure, but perhaps we can at least try to make his hands functional,” said Dr Sen, after he, his team and another plastic surgeon from Chittagong examined Abul on Saturday morning.
He said he would contact other plastic surgeons of the country and set a five-member medical board on Sunday to decide about the investigation, diagnosis and treatment of Abul’s medical case, which would be completely free of cost.
According to the Dermnet, New Zealand, known as epidermodysplasia verruciformis [also called Lewandowsky-Lutz dysplasia] is an autosomal recessive inherited disorder, which means that two abnormal EV genes, one from each parent, are needed to have the disease.
According to Amena Begum, no-one in Abul’s maternal or paternal family had ever such conditions.
Till date no cure has been found. The Indonesian fisherman whose case received worldwide attention, had gained some mobility through surgery, but the warts began to reappear afterwards. [ edited]
ওদের সংসারটা ফুটপাতে ! প্রায় প্রতিদিন নিয়ম করে— ওদের মা’ এই ফুটপাতে রেখে যান ! তারপর—শুরু হয় মানুষের কাছে থেকে কিছু সাহায্য পাওয়ার— অপেক্ষা ! দিনমান এই ফুটপাত যেন— ওদের আপন ঠিকানা, ঘর-সংসার ! এখানেই পরিচয়— বেওয়ারিশ একটি কুকুরের সাথে । ওরা কুকুরটিকে ‘টাইগার’ নামে ডাকে । প্রিয়া—প্রতিবন্ধী, কথা বলতে পারে না, সারাক্ষণ হুইল চেয়ারে বসে থাকে। তার গলায় একটা সাহাযে্যর আবেদন ঝুলতে থাকে ! খুব সুন্দর করে হাসতে পারে— ছোট এই মেয়েটি । হুইল চেয়ারে বসেই কুকুরটিকে আদর করে সে । আমি— এই সব কথা গুলো যার কাছে থেকে জানলাম তার নাম—পূজা । ন্যাড়া মাথার ছোট পূজা, ফুটপাতের উপর একটা কাঁথা বিছিয়ে—সেখানেই শুয়ে পরে—তারপর আকাশের ঠিকানায় তাকিয়ে থাকে ! সেদিন— ওদের ফুটপাতের সংসারটা দেখে এলাম । আহা—ফুটপাতের জীবন . . .
গুলিস্তান, পুরান ঢাকা
২৬, জানুয়ারী, ২০১৬
MONIRUL ALAM 