Changing village scene

In Bangladesh the process has started. Fifty years back, though the population was less than a quarter of today's, the villages were humming with people and activities. Lots of football, ha-do-do, and even badminton games could be seen and people enjoyed the games during evenings. These scenes are very rare today. If you observe, you will find the educated people are gradually shifting to smaller towns and from there ultimately to Dhaka. That's how Dhaka is getting overcrowded and the villages are giving a deserted look.

There are many reasons behind this demographic shifting. First of all, the opportunities that Dhaka offers are so attractive that those who can mange to come to Dhaka will think twice before going back. The attractions are availability of better education, healthcare, job opportunity, chances of going abroad, business opportunity, nearness to power centre, better amenities of life and availability of items of enjoyment. The glittering lights of shopping malls, live stage performances glimpses of "Stars" are other attractions.

Whatever be the cause, the fact is Dhaka city is becoming a place unsuitable for healthy, safe and comfortable living. The traffic jam has tremendous impact on the behaviour of man. One can observe the irritant nature of Dhaka people. Less tolerance, drug addiction, crime, family feud, display of vulgarity, little or no concern for others, selfishness and you can go on adding many such negative qualities which are the attributes of a crammed Dhaka city people. If the children do not have a park to move around, no playground, no place for the couple to have a exclusive place to enjoy the nature, then the life is not worth living. The drinking water, electricity, education, healthcare and many essentials will become so scarce that life will become unbearable.

I remember my little old village where I grew up. Alas! the village is now almost dead, you don't find lots of young people, neither the children are playing on the streets, nor are the cowboys playing the flute. You only see lots of aged people's gathering during Friday prayers.

The other day I was going through an article about a village in Germany which once was a humming habitat. Today it is totally deserted and the animals are gradually occupying space vacated by human beings. I am apprehensive of similar things happening in Bangladesh. Will it be good for the country? A landmass having no population can be compared with a dead sea, vast mass of water with no living beings. So, we must take steps to stop the trend and make the villages liveable.