Life, as it comes…
Landing on the Dubai International Airport can be quite an experience. One can perceive the dazzling grandeur and the enormous energy of this huge sky-scarper even at the dead of night. Transit of numerous international flights of the United Arab Emirates' own Emirates Airways and other airways of different countries, Dubai airport can perhaps be called the 'global city' of our life and time. I landed at the Dubai airport at midnightthe juncture that called October 21 off and signalled the beginning of a new day--the 22nd. My four-hour long journey from Dhaka to Dubai finally gave me the conviction that I was literary going back to the UK; my month-long home-coming celebration in Dhaka was over, and I, within the difference of a couple of hours, became a foreigner, completely dependent on the mercy of international language and unanimous sign languages.
After sitting with my back straight-up on a chair for a couple of hours, I finally got one of the beach-chairs in one of the rows to lie down and relax. A shabby-clad young man, who was lying next to my chair, was curling both sides quite frequently in his effort to welcome some sleep. I could see his pair of slippers under the chair and guessed his miserable conditionfor no one wears slippers inside this semi-chilled airport that successfully conquers the sweltering heat of the Arabian deserts. I could also realise that the man, with all his inheritance, is a Bangladeshi--perhaps going back home after working hard in a foreign land or going somewhere in search of a mirage. But I, with my degrees at my back and with a relatively certain future in the West, was not in a mood to start a conversation with him. I rather started to read Coetzee's Disgrace, hoping to spend my time gracefully.
As time passed slowly, perhaps after half-an-hour later, one of the cleaners came in search for dusts and remnants on the polished floors and around the un-used chairs. A small and medium-built young man, as the cleaner was, I did not have to read his name-plate to know that he, too, was my fellow country man. The cleaner, all on a sudden, approached the man beside me with a pair of thrown-away lady's boots. Although they did not know each other, it took only a minute for them to start a conversation; once it was settled that an unknown lady's pair of boots could easily fit into the man's shivering-feet.
As they started the conversation, I, like a silent intruder, gave a sharp ear to listen, keeping my eyes on the book. The two men's conversation in their own dialects, I would confess, took my mind off the book and with rapt attention (but with flawless pretension) I started listening to them. What I gathered from the duo's primary conversation was that the cleaner hailed from Tangail. Even though, his job in the airport was hard and shifts were long, yet he was not discontent with his life. In fact, he termed himself fortunate as his remuneration package included food and shelter. They, surprisingly, never asked each other's name; perhaps name is not an issue when life demands more business. The man who sat beside me was originally from Habiganj and he was living and working in Sharjah for the last ten moths. He worked twelve-hour long shifts and got only 800 dirham (the currency of the UAE); also he had to pay for his food and shelter. Hearing this, the cleaner rightly guessed that it was not a job, rather a complete mockery of it.
Hearing the man's miserable experience and predicting the un-erasable dark future, the cleaner felt very sorry for him. The cleaner, I would say, was a street-smart as he instantly chalked out a 100% success-guaranteed plan for the man which could change his wheel of fortune. My curiosity became more intense as he started uttering the plan; manipulative as the plan was, it also gave me a new insight about one of the irremediable age-old problems of our own culture and society, i.e. of dowry system. The young cleaner advised the man to go back to his village and then to get married while ensuring a handsome amount of dowry. What a suggestion!
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