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Dhaka Day by Day

Hartal Hazards

by Farah Ghuznavi
It is probably safe to say that most Dhaka -dwellers (no matter how voracious their appetite for trouble) have had their fill of strikes, hartals and other political disruptions over the last year or so Unfortunately for all of us. the politkal crisis that has the country by its throat has left us with no end in sight, so it seems that these hartals etc are going to become a permanent feature of our lives for all time to come (regardless of how the elections go 1)
Under the circumstances. it would seem wort hwhile to take a closer look at the long-term effects of hartals. Much has been said ab-out the economic (factories closing, work-hours lost) and social (increasing lawlessness and insecurity) costs of these hartals, and those, of us who have a shred of rationality left (unlike the benighted politicians on either side!) are easily able to understand the implications of these. However. what many of us have yet to realise is that there are even more sinister implications than those that have already been mentioned.
For example, what is one to do with the excess (and at some times, excessive) time that hartals provide us with at home? A few cockeyed optimists have suggested that this may help arrest the "decline in family life" brought about as a result of the pressures of modern life, which leave family members with little time to spend with each other. However, recent anecdotal evidence (soon to be supplemented with empirical data) has indicated that this is far from the truth! In reallty.the excessive periods of time that people are being forced to spend together (spouses with each other, parents with their children) are creating a great deal of stress in family life. People who have become accustomed to 'quality time" are now having to spend 'quantity time" together, and whereas the extended family once provided a buffer against excessive togetherness exacerbating tensions between various family members, the nuclear family of today is clearly heading for a meltdown. In other words, the ties that bind are beginning to gag
Another worry is the question that with idle minds being the devil's workshop, these disruptions are also leading to the development of criminal tendencies wlthfn the family. People are going mad over the
question of what to do once you have finished reading the Encyclopaedia Brittanica for the fifth time (as have had ample opportunity to do over the last year). An interesting side-effect has been the massive increase fn phone bills for many Dhaka families especially those with teenagers. This has led some people to speculate that continuous hartals (i. e. forty-eight hour strikes, seventy-two hour strikes) may push marginal families living In Dhanmondi, Gulshan and Bari-dhara into financial ruin.
Another apparently harmless pastime, that of playing cards, has unfortunately developed (in some cases) into an addiction to gambling. This has had a knock-on effect which is even more socially harmful, as those individuals who at times of famine etc would have become black-marketeers are now being able to direct their anti-social and speculative tendencies into fleecing innocents of their money through poker and other such games. To compound things, all this is taking place within that much-maligned institution, the family! As a result, some worried sociologists have predicted that in the near future, families may require extepsive counselling to deal with the togetherness which is so threatening to family harmony.
Of course, some people may feel that I am taking an unnecessarily negative view of the side-effects of political strife. It is true that some selected groups have benefited from this turmoil. For example, one group of business persons has made a good business by hiring out ambulances to provide a "taxi service" to those wealthy individuals who feel that they-simply must get around (it would be unnecessarily negative to speculate on the effect of this on patients or the cynicism this may engender in ordinary citizens).
Finally, the unalloyed good news is that the general health of many individuals has improved due to the Increase in walking (and hence, much-needed exercise) that has resulted during hartal periods (whether pacing within the house, or venturing outside). No doubt that will result In greater life expectancy for some fortunate persons. The only problem that leaves us with is, if our current situation is a foretaste of things to come, does living longer not simply mean suffering longer?