This portrait has been photographed at Ishwardy Railway Junction in Pabna, Bangladesh on 02 September 2021
His is Md Jalal Khan. He has no idea how old he is. However, he guessed that he might be 65 years old. He is a father of two sons and a daughter. All his life he struggled to manage food for him as well as for his family, and barely could manage to send his children to school. One of his sons works in a garage, while the other works in a Cloth store as a salesman. His daughter is better of in relation to his sons, who work in Export Processing Zone (EPZ) at Ishwardy, Pabna, Bangladesh.
He cannot read or write. I have requested him for his mobile number, which he could not tell. Once I asked him that why he could not go to school, he shared his sad past. He is originally from the Faridpur district of Bangladesh. But after the liberation war, he migrated to Ishwardy as it was an important township, and had offered many works including day laborers. Since then he is staying here and has made Pabna his home. With all the savings he could save all his life he purchased a piece of land (one Katha, approximately 500sqft area). He has also built a small tin house on that land, though that is not enough to house all family members.
He is basically a day laborer, who is an expert in tin works. On those days when he is hired, he gets Tk-700 ($8). However, on average he works 10 to 12 days a month. As this is not enough, he also often pulls rickshaws in the town. On top of that, he often helps Mr. Sudev in his small restaurant, which helps him to manage few pieces of bread in the morning.
My meeting with Md Jalal was a rewarding event for me as knowing about people makes me feel good. But, it was a sad event too to start the day, peoples’ struggle for their existance makes me sad. Life of Jalal and his family is filled with unimaginable struggles, which remains unknown to most of us.
Certainly, we all are fighting our own battles, and in most of the cases one is not aware of the battle of a random stranger. But, in a fair world everyone deserves to have a good life with foods on their table, and a place to sleep. I am sure, there are stories of even more dire situation than Jalal. My prayers for their wellbeing. I also pray to almighty that oneday I will be able to reachout to these people and help them change their lives apart from just listening to their stories.