Alone in a multitude of crowd

Liveability of Dhaka City is not its forte. Air and sound pollution, filth and chaotic traffic make it quite uninviting and yet this megacity pulls people from all corners of the country. Educated, half-educated, unlettered men and women of all ages, sexes, colours and faiths come to the city in search of some kind of employment. The city acts like a huge machine in which people are processed. From rag pickers and rickshaw-pullers to most brilliant students to smartest entrepreneurs and politicians -- all flock together in search of an opportunity. With all its shortcomings and defects, this megalopolis is not a bad host.

On that count, Dhaka is like a living entity. It has a soul of its own. People, no matter if they are living here for generations or just the newly arrived, hardly try to discover that soul. That intangible being evades generalisations like liveability or a good or bad host. Few, if any, people have embarked on searching the city's elusive core existence. Some are lucky to have a smooth sailing here but most people have to struggle for survival. Both, however, miss the bond that sustains city-people relations. To some, it is abstract, impervious and even hostile.

Why promising young people bring their lives to an end may have different stories behind but most likely they are afraid to confront the soul of the city. It is a case of a lack of belongingness. But even among the stragglers, there are a few who deserve to take a bow for their not so outstanding performances. The city may have its favourites but it rarely disfavour others when they get ready to face overwhelming odds with courage and patience. Only the loners who have the extraordinary capacity and courage to stand alone in thick crowds can challenge the odds because they have the repertoire to discover their place in the city.

People who migrate to the city feel they are rootless in a city that is in tremendous rush all the time. Here no one has the patience to listen to others' misery. That gives the city its ungenerous stamp. Gone are the days when this city had one-tenth -- or even less -- of its present population. Life was easier, not competitive of this order. People were gregarious, kinder and more generous. One felt secure in a friend circle where members assembled on a regular basis for idle talks for pure 'adda' to pass time or, in the literary circle, for poetry recitation or discussions on literature. With the arrival of cell phones, more particularly smartphones, such get-togethers have become a thing of the past.

In the process face-to-face communication where eye contact tells at times more than what words can express, the city's intangible liveability has suffered more than the liveability index measured by various pollution and infrastructural deficiencies. The vibrant soul of the city has thus continued to erode beyond repair. In this respect, the old part of the city still retains some traditional traits of the past because the number of new settlers there is still handful with the original inhabitants carrying out the baton of their ancestors and passing it over to their next generations.

But what about the individuals who now miss their rural roots? Each person is an isolated island adrift in the vastness of a sea. The displacement is as much psychological as it is physical. Their struggle for consolidation of their footholds in this city may be monumental leaving no room for introspect but when they get some spare time, the images of their village life flash upon their minds like the flashbacks of cinema. They miss the life left behind and the uncertainty of the future stares them in the face.

So the very soul of the city remains unconnected and unexplored. Liveability suffers. Dhaka City looks to be soulless. But this conclusion is wrong. Indeed, the loners in the multitudes of crowd can feel it throbbing when most people are in a rush to have their turn before the rest. Disconnected and cooped up within the four walls, without ever knowing the next door neighbours, this is a life they are accustomed to live. In the enormous city teeming with people, each individual thus fails to appreciate the community life. The loss cannot be measured in terms any index, let alone the liveability one.