Ramisa Maliha Bhuiyan :
It is just 7:00 in the morning and already there are the early birds at Kakrail Bus Interchange. All they want to do is beat the rush. They want to be ahead of the mad hordes of humanity which would soon be there to rush headlong in many directions. These quiet contemplative types do not want to be caught up in the rush hour. Quietly they get into the buses and trains and lean back to catch up on their sleep. Then again there are the types who want to take part in the mad rush. For them, life is exciting and they love the rush; it is part of living and it reminds them that they are alive.
With hardly a whisper, time races on. It seems that suddenly 7:30 has arrived and with it hordes of humanity. Out of nowhere, there are hundreds of vehicles on the road. Cars, pick- ups, motor cycles and buses fight their ways through the three lanes. They have to get through somehow and to get to wherever they are going. No one or nothing else matters. At the same time there are the hordes of humans rushing about; glancing anxiously at their watches and blaming everyone else for their lateness.
There are excited school children who seem never to walk but to run everywhere. There is a mad rush to get from the street into the MRT station. Caution is thrown to the winds as adults and children race across the road dodging the cars while being reprimanded by blaring horns and yelling motorists. Like a swarm of bees the humans descend upon the MRT platform oblivious to everything and everyone else; only they exist. Nothing is important to those rushing – not even life – but to get into that train and if possible, get a seat in it. Smartly dressed ladies and gentlemen, uniformed factory workers, nurses, teachers, students – a veritable across section of humanity – rush into the train; without even waiting for passengers to get out, and rush for seats as if there was no tomorrow. A look of satisfaction of having achieved crosses the faces of those who manage to get a seat. Almost immediately, out come newspapers and fashion magazines as the readers escape from the rush hour into a world of their own.
Meanwhile a similar chaos is occurring at the Bus Interchange. Thousands of people are rushing about and jostling each other in their mad rush to get to where they are going. They have to get there regardless of what happens to everyone else. Queues form at the bus bays. Tempers flare when people get pushed or if the bus is late or if someone cuts the queue. Unlike in the MRT station there is an orderly queue at the bus terminus as everyone files into the giant cars. But there are mild irritations expressed at those who move slowly or punch in their fares with even a second’s delay. Buses are filled to capacity as they pull away and make their ways to different destinations.
Everywhere is chaos during the rush hour. But soon it is over. Within an hour the roads are free of traffic; people are seen walking slowly, there are empty seats on the trains and in the buses. The mad rush of humanity is over for the day; the drama will be repeated again at the same time the next day.
(Ramisa Maliha Bhuiyan is a BBA student)
