LinX
Life is said to be shaped by events
that happens in our lives in a blink of an eye. Some of the more powerful
events are essentially violent or tragic. One can say these 2 things are quite
common in our world. Every day we open the newspapers & we read about
murders, kidnaps, mugging, rape & the more common strikes. Strikes, while a
confusing topic for the rest of the world, are quite commonplace here in our
country. It’s like a holiday for children who get a day off from school, &
at the same time, a hassle for the common working man going to work. Strikes
usually involve a lot of violence, clashes & destruction of public property
as if it’s a formal method of complaint. We always expect mayhem when we hear
about strikes but the thing is we only expect it when there is actually a
strike. So what would the common man do when they are caught in the middle of
wanton chaos that started from absolutely nowhere? Well I had a taste of this
& I can assure you, the feeling is hard to put into words.
It happened
on Sunday 31st march, 2013. I was returning from class & heading
home when it all went to hell. After getting on a rickshaw from the Notun
Bazaar intersection in front of the U.S. Embassy, I was taking out my
headphones to drown out the drone of automobiles as I saw stationary cars &
busses & thought it was the famous traffic jams of Badda. While I was
taking it out, however, I noticed an air of tension in the surrounding &
then suddenly, everything happened at once. I saw almost all the people on the
road leave everything & running backwards & scurrying to the side streets
& shops as the shopkeepers were lowering the shutters. My rickshaw puller
followed suit & tried his best to turn the rickshaw the opposite way & make
a break for it but due to the road constructions, which I might add, take a
million years to complete in our wonderful country, he got stuck & fearing
for his own life, he left it & ran with the crowd.
I tried my best to scan around to see what was happening,
but while I was doing that, a tearshell dropped not 3 feet away from me. Remembering
my 1st experience regarding tearshells, I made a break for it &
up ahead, I saw what caused everyone to run away. Picketers had thrown a couple
of Molotov cocktails on a double decker & it was going down in flames. While
I stood on the pavement trying to catch my breath, a passerby running for cover
asked me to clear out as the canisters might blow. Hearing that, I moved on
& not 2 minutes later, the canisters blew taking out the entire left side
of the bus & spreading some bus fragments & shrapnel from the bodywork
across the nearest buildings & the pavement where I was standing. If it hadn’t
been for that passerby, I would have been hanging around there when it blew
& I could have been killed & I owe him a thank you at the very least. After
going a few meters ahead, I saw scores of cars that were damaged or destroyed
by those picketers.
I came across a car with all its windscreens & lights
broken. I decided to take a picture but then the owner came & saw it, &
essentially broke down in tears. I totally understood his sorrow, because if
someone had done that to my car, I would react similarly as well & with
that in mind, I decided the last thing he needs is a guy with a white cellphone
snapping pictures of his car. I moved away from there & walked on ahead
& saw up ahead were 4-5 police vans parked. I had hoped that the police had
caught some of the picketers & were arresting them. However, what I saw
instead were the police harassing any members of the general public that they
could lay their eyes on instead of doing their job. I walked on until I reached
the Gulshan-Badda link road intersection where I took another rickshaw &
came home.
What would the common man do if this happened out of the
blue? This happened even though there was no strike. Commuting has become a
dangerous feat for everyone now, regardless of whether that person is a
student, office-goer or elderly person. Being passionate is one thing, but
being destructive is a whole other story. These people don't consider anything
or anyone. There have even been incidents of activists vandalizing ambulances. When
this will end is anyone’s guess. All we have to do right now is try and
survive. Advice for someone stuck in a riot? Run like hell and go home. And take awesome pictures. Like these:
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