Struggles of living in Mirpur
Mirpur is a mysterious land. Even though it is located inside Dhaka, no one considers it to be a part of Dhaka city. It's the evil twin sister of The Bermuda Triangle which draws you in, sucks the life and money out of you, then tosses the body out after a few hundred hours of insane traffic. The journey to and from this land is one that which a lot of us had to go through but not many survived with their sanity intact. We all know someone who lives in Mirpur. The following features will help identify him/her.
BEING EXCEPTIONALLY GOOD AT RISK ASSESSMENT
People who live in Mirpur and also want to exhibit any sign of civilised life i.e. going to school, college or if they managed to get through that part and finally land a job, have to be exceptionally good at math.
At any given instance you are faced with the challenge of deciding how many hour or sometimes days earlier should you start for your desired destination. Even the slightest of miscalculation could result into hours of delay leading to your inability to catch your school/college/job in time.
COGNITIVE ABILITY TO DECIDE TO BE LATE OR EARLY
Denizens of Mirpur are never on time. Either they are really late or really early. There is no in-between. You have to have the ability to analyse the event depending on how time sensitive it is.
There will be times when you reach a very important meeting exactly five minutes before the meeting ends, and you ask yourself questions like whether you should go in to show your face and later explain your unique living situation or should you return home and give a more credible excuse like "I was very sick" because you have already overused the "I live in Mirpur so..." excuse too many times.
DISAPPEARING SOCIAL LIFE
This is probably the saddest part. Unless you can afford a car, your ability to attend social events will reduce drastically because any place that's not Mirpur is too far away for you.
But even if you are a top tier Mirpur inhabitant who can afford a car, you are still likely to miss these events because getting permission is difficult. While most kids get to go back home by 10 if the movie ends at 9 PM, Mirpur kids go back home at 1 AM. The stakes are always much higher for you.
Needless to say no hangouts ever take place at your place because no one wants to go outside Dhaka for watching a movie at their friend's house.
Life in 21st century is hard. No doubtthere. But life in 21st century of a Mirpur inhabitant is harder.Who is the Mirpur inhabitant in your friend group?
Megha Rahman lives in Mirpur and suffers every day. You can share your Mirpur struggles with her at megharahman26@gmail.com.