The River Monster

Standing at the bank of the Ganges, with tearful eyes a woman is waiting for the boat. Her name is Baishaki, it is the name of the month she was born on an island in the Sundarbans. She and her 4 years old boy - Rubel, are going to the city, leaving the village forever. Five years ago Baishaki's husband Sahidul left the village and went to the city in search of a livelihood. The saltwater from the sea encroached on their paddy fields. The crops were destroyed. Most of the time in the year the paddy fields remain underwater. Sahidul and many others like him had no choice but to leave the village to earn a few dimes for their families. The river which was once the source of her happiness had swallowed their world.

When Baishaki was a little girl the water in the river wasn't that high. Most of the time the weather used to be pleasant. Floods and cyclones were rare. Monsoon had a fixed schedule. Baishaki recalls the time when she and her father used to go in the water to catch fish.Year after year the river widened its course and eroded the banks, many houses were drowned in this river. In the last 6 years, Baishaki had relocated her home four times - twice the cyclones had destroyed her shelter. Her paddy fields no longer exist. The river has eaten her life. The air is filled with the smell of burnt diesel as the boat is approaching the bank. Baishaki looked at her house for the last time before she carried her boy board the boat.

Life in the city didn't please Baishaki. She is a simple girl, most of her life she has spent in a remote village in Bangladesh. The open waters, paddy fields, the meandering trails to her home, her parents, relatives, and friends, it was her small world full of joy. The memories of her past bring tears to Baishaki's eyes. There are hundreds of people in this slum but Baishaki finds herself alone in this crowd. At night when her husband sleeps, she sheds tears. She pretends to be happy as her husband will get angry if she complains much.

Sahidul works in a garment factory. He has been living in this 5 by 7 room which has no concrete floor. Now three of them share the same room. Only one bed could be accommodated inside their tiny paradise. So, Baisakhi preferred to sleep on the muddy floor letting her husband and child have the comfort of the bed. For water, they have to wait for the tanker. Each family gets two buckets of drinking water per day. Sahidul works 14 hours a day to earn a wage that is much less than the labour he does. Many of Shahidul's co-workers have left the job because the building they work at is very old and not strong enough to bear loads of machines and hundreds of workers.

Sahidul knows that his life is under threat but he cannot leave the job for he has many mouths to feed. Sometimes he thinks of quitting the job and going back to his village, but what will he do in that partially submerged village? - this question held back his feet. Most of the villagers have already left. The village is going beneath the water. Once life was easy, there was an abundance of food and scarcity of worries but the changing climate, untimely rain, cyclones, and the saline water from the sea have pushed their lives into an ocean of uncertainty and misery. Millions like Sahidul are facing the rage of nature, because of global warming the glaciers are melting,flooding the rivers and rising the sea levels. As the sea levels are rising the sea water is encroaching inland destroying the livelihood of the coastal population. The changed weather pattern, frequent cyclones and droughts are ruining the lives of millions of people, Sahidul is one of them. In the geological history of Earth, climate change is not new. Naturaly, without human interference the climate will change one day but the anthropogenic activities have set the clock in a faster mode.

After finishing her chores Baishaki kills her time by listening to the transistor. There is one phone in the family that Sahidul takes with him. They can't afford to call their parents every day so she listens to the NEWS to get information about her village. The transistor is her only source of entertainment as well as the medium that connects her soul to her native land.

It is time for the afternoon NEWS broadcast. Like every day, Baisakhi holds the radio close to her ears.

"Good afternoon listeners. Urgent NEWS coming from the city. A garment factory at Walford street has collapsed. 6 people lost their lives in this fatal incident while more than 200 people are injured. The names of the deceased are – Imran Lashkar, Habib, Tahmina Choudhury, Shahidul Hassan, and Taslima Khan."