Chawkbazar Fire: A job seeker’s anguish cut short

Enamul was living the tale of a struggling middle-class job seeker, surviving on the income of his cousin and desperate to stand on his own feet.

It was hopes for higher education and living that drove Enamul away from his home and family in Patuakhali and into the concrete maze that is Dhaka city.

An Honours graduate from Dhaka City College, Kazi Enamul Haque joined in the long queue of anguishing job seekers for about six months now.

Last night, he went to a local dentist in Chawk Bazar to check up on his teeth, Yousuf Kazi, his cousin and benefactor, told The Daily Star.

From what he said, the dentist’s chamber was right next to where the fire broke out in Chawkbazar last night and broke hell loose.

“Hearing news of the fire, we tried to reach him through his phone. But no one picked up,” Kazi, a small local businessman, went on saying.

Kazi rushed to and from Dhaka Medical College Hospital and Chawkbazar for hours throughout the night, but could not find a body in the mess.

In the morning, around 5:00am, he could identify the charred body of Enamul among the bodies taken to Dhaka Medical College morgue.

The horrifying Chawkbazar fire, the most devastating yet seen in years, has so far claimed at least 70 lives.

And because of it, Enamul will never know the long anguish and social dilemma that a jobseeker has to go through to live in Bangladesh.