Public nuisance!

A few days back I along with one of my colleagues was going to a commercial bank for a personal job. On the way to the bank, we were stopped by some members of 'bede' community or floating people begging money by exhibiting a snake in a box. We were dumbfounded and terribly annoyed by their attitudes. They were irresistible and were not letting us move out of their way. They were repeatedly bragging us for money and to have a look at the snakes they were carrying. Finding no other way and in order to get out of the situation I gave them a ten Taka note and quickly left the place. Some days later, I encountered yet another situation similar to the one described above and got rid of it by paying money in the same manner.
The floating 'bede' community people who once lived on boats in riverine Bangladesh and led their lives by treating people with a kind of therapy of their own, now have no place in educated society. Nobody goes to them and use their therapy to heal pains. So they had to shift to towns and cities in large numbers for livelihood. In the process, they create disturbance and annoyance to pedestrians. The 'bede' community needs to be rehabilitated and the government and NGOs should come forward and help them find a way of life.

Md. Zonaed Emran
The Farmers Bank Ltd.
zonaed.emran@gmail.com