Remaking destiny

Day labourers with no job security sitting on sacks, as their bodies glisten with sweat.

A picture by Shahidul Alam shows how people say goodbye to each other from behind doors. As non-passengers are not allowed to enter Dhaka Zia International Airport, there is no space for people to say goodbye to loved ones. A woman standing outside the restricted areas bids farewell to her man about to leave for foreign lands. The burqa clad woman looks cheerful and so does her husband at the prospect of earning for the family. It is a touching scene. Another photo shows how Abdul Malik's family pray outside Zia International Airport on the night before his departure. The area is a part of the main terminal. Here we see people standing and kneeling at prayer with their shoes in front. The people are clad in "lungis", "punjabis" and "tupis" while bright lights shine on top of them. The second picture is also taken by Shahidul Alam.

Another picture by the same photographer shows migrant workers wave to their relatives beside the airport as they take a last look. A newly constructed lounge now blocks this view. We can feel the emotion of the people as they wave even though they are not facing the camera. In another picture we see Lokman Hussain, a cleaner at Nanyang Technical University at Singapore. There are girls from well-to-do Bangladeshi families who are studying here but they don't condescend to talk to Lokman. We see the silhouette of the cleaner with the chairs piled on the table with the wet ground below. The same photographer, brings pictures from Oldham, UK, where major migration began in the 1950s and 1960s to serve the cotton mills, most of which have now closed. The girls, in eastern clothes, jewellery and hairdo are photographing a Bangladeshi wedding. Their outlooks differ from those of their parents and grandparents.

Looking at another section, we find Singapore's Little India on a Sunday afternoon. Migrant workers from the subcontinent gather here for photographs and to arrange money transfers. Those who are illiterate bring letters from home to be read. We can see the faces and the hands of the workers as they hang on to a rod in the bus. About half a dozen faces can be seen through the bus window. This picture is by Shahidul Alam. Another of his photographs bring migrant workers in the Clifton area in Karachi with their makeshift houses near the beach. Torn bed sheets are used to partition off areas and the men are in shirts and singlettes. As the men and women face the camera there are some thatched huts in the background. Even to live in these conditions they have to pay substantial bribes. In another of his pictures we see a Bangladeshi worker in Karachi showing his identity in a little plastic encased card which ensures him against harassment by the authorities.

A photograph based on India, presents workers bound for the Middle East waiting in the transit lounge in Kolkata airport. Their onward flight is unscheduled and they may have to wait for days. The men wear uniforms, caps and tennis shoes. This pictures is also by Shahidul Alam. Another, by Dev Nayak, presents the migrants going from parts of India to Kolkata. Some of the people have warm clothes like 'chadars' and caps. Another picture by Dev Nayak shows how the family bread winner often has to rely on daily wage labour with no job security. The men wearing loin cloth or shorts are seen sitting on sacks and smoking and some grinning, as their bodies glisten with sweat. Yet another picture by Shahidul Alam shows how many women from the subcontinent work in the Middle East. Promised by attractive jobs they are lucky to be employed as domestic workers. They remain at risk of sexual harassment.

As we move on to the Chinese section, we find internal migration with a family moving Chong Quing to another province along the Yangtze River. More than one million people are to be settled. The migrants themselves chose their homes. This is by Jin Yongquann and present a family looking out to the river water. More than a hundred million migrants seek jobs in China's cities. Many girls from poor families, some under ten years old, move to big cities like Wuhan and Kunming. Most find low paid jobs as entertainers, shoe-shiners or dish washers. They send their wages home for the education of their brothers as men are still considered superior to women. This is portrayed in a photo of young girls playing the accordion in the streets. Sebastiao Salgado's images bring in depiction of migrant life in Vietnam such as young girls under ten in a detention camp surrounded by barbed wires and another picture of an old man holding the photo of himself as a soldier and that of his deceased wife.

The pictures at Drik well portrayed the relentless struggle and undying courage of migrant labourers who tried their best to smile and not give up despite all adversaries.