Star Diary

Photo: Zahedul I Khan

IN SEARCH OF HUMANITY

Someone knocked on our door at 3pm one day. When I opened the door, I saw a girl of around 15 years standing with a bag on her shoulders, crying profusely. I asked her what happened and she replied that she was in search for work as she had run away from the house where she worked as a house help. She claimed that her employers have been ill-treating her since the last three years and she couldn't tolerate this anymore. She further said that her employers wouldn't let her contact her parents back home. I learnt that she belonged to Noakhali, my hometown, but she didn't have any contact details of anyone there. She kept requesting me to employ her as a maid but when I went to discuss this matter with my brother, he firmly refused. When I asked whether we should at least inform the police, he said that it would make matters worse for us. After I reluctantly refused to employ her in our home, she started knocking on all of our neighbours' houses in hopes of finding a new job. At that moment I felt very sad for her but we could not understand whether we should believe her or not. Two or three hours later, I heard a public announcement and it was for that girl. Some people were searching for a girl who fit the description of the girl we'd just met. At that time we realised that the girl was probably telling the truth. I felt very ashamed that we couldn't help her because we didn't believe her. It's sad that we are losing our trust on one another with every passing day.  
Shoujonna
Via email

Non-existent

I receny got a phone call from my uncle who informed me about the sudden death of a relative. He had died of heart failure. We all have immense trust on the ambulance that transports a patient to the hospital during a medical emergency. But what do you do when this very vehicle turns against you? As soon as the driver and his assistant learnt that the patient had died and taking him to the hospital would be futile, they stopped the ambulance and callously left the lifeless body stranded on the highway. The tears of the departed's loved ones didn't melt their hearts. A tempo was arranged later to take the body after three long hours. We can't even sue these two people or the organisation they worked for. We just have to accept this as a reality and agree to the fact that nowadays there is no place for the word “humanity” because humanity is non-existent.
Hridita Saha
United International University, Dhaka