The population of Dhaka city is at a staggering number of over 18 million. This data in and of itself can raise the eyebrows of many Westerners when they hear about the size of Dhaka. Our country's capital is now officially the most densely populated city in the entire planet. One of the 'perks' of claiming this title is an unbearable traffic jam. 'Congestion in Dhaka eats up 3.2 million working hours per day,' as stated by World Bank.
Therefore, it is evident that we, the residents of Dhaka, have to spend a considerable chunk of our day stuck in traffic. And this time may become time wasted unless we do something about it. This is because many things can be done while being in a vehicle especially a private car. So here are some ways to make traffic jams more productive.
When stuck in traffic, students can study. Since a considerable portion of one's day is spent on the road, getting some essential study material covered during this time can help utilise the idle time. Studying while stuck in traffic jams is not an untested practice. Amit Ahsan, the boy who stood first in Dhaka University C unit admission test in 2016, used to do this during the admission season. As stated by Ahsan, "My coaching centre was a bit far from my home, but due to the unbearable traffic I had to spend two hours on a bus to get to my coaching and another two hours to get back. Time is precious to any student during the admission season, so I decided to get some studying done on the bus. I must say that the four hours of distraction-free studying did wonder for me, even though it was done in a crowded public bus.'
Besides studying, the time being stuck in traffic can be used to read the newspaper. Getting updated on whatever is going on around is something mandatory. But if one starts to read any newspaper while stuck in traffic, one will be able to focus more on the paper since there is nothing else to do inside an immobile vehicle. This is also a method that is used by a first-year BBA student in IBA- DU, Iftekarul Sharod. According to him, "I have a couple of students in Kafrul which is one-hour bus ride from the hostel. So that's two hours on the road, whenever I go to teach them. So I get on the bus with a copy of the daily news, and within the two hours, I can read the entire paper. It makes a tedious task of reading the news fun since there is nothing else to do."
Besides these methods, one can spend their hours stuck in a traffic jam to read a book or listen to an audiobook. These are not coherent with studying, the books mentioned here are out of the curriculum. Almost all of the financially successful people in the world have a habit of spending an hour or more every day for reading. So if the two to three hours stuck in traffic are used for that purpose, one can quickly focus on self-development in a shorter period of time.
Another important thing that can be done to spend traffic time is to call parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts or friends who will most likely brighten the day with their inspiring words.
Just one need to be cautious that when the vehicle moves-- it is better not to read anything, since that creates pressure on eyes.
By following some of these guidelines, an insufferable traffic jam can turn into a delightful experience. Thereby traffic jams can now be treated as distraction-free time slots to get many things done. Since people do not have many alternatives regarding activities in a car, a traffic jam can prove to be the most productive part of someone's day. Thus people can do all the activities mentioned above and more if they want to utilise up to four hours of their day, which would have otherwise been wasted in frustration and anguish.
The writer is a first year student of BBA programme at the Institute of Business Administration (IBA), University of Dhaka. He can be reached at [email protected]
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