< | ^HESE days going about I ' in town is something I the prudent Dhakaite sOTom looks forward to. Interesting shopping sprees are not what they used to he.

, Once you reach the entrance of any shopping centre, you will confront an unexpected reception committee, invariably always overzealous at your arrival.

They shower abuses at you. overwhelm you with their li-

'delicate' word, the beggars:-making, sure your shopping plan goes wrong from the very beginning. Before you jump to the wrong conclusion. bear with me for a while. I am not being insensitive to the unfortunate masses here. But often their relentless pestering can really prove trying. And that is why veteran victims like myself. find it hard to be empathetic with them at ah times.

The floating alms seekers can lie spotted almost everywhere in the metropolis and their age vary from 6 to 60 plus. They hang out near eaterjes, at the traffic Intersections. sidewalks and even at the university campus. But of course their favourite haunts are the market places.' It's certainly not an amusing fact that they had had to suffer more than their fair share of miseries. So. it's understandable if they expect fi- ■ nanclal assistance from the more privileged ones. But must they verbally assault the passers-by? Somewhere along the fine the obdurate vagrants have abandoned (he "asking" approach and resorted to the more aggressive one — demanding.

Alas! the poor city dwellers already have to endure a lot in the Dhaka streets. The

perennial traffic hazards, escalating street accidents and environmental degradation are enough to drive even the most blase person crazy. Then overcoming all the obstacles of eyeryday life when the weary Dhakaite reaches

, the market premises. another ordeal begins. The beggars accost him even before he can get down from his vehicle. And if you dare ignore ' them, you will win scathing glares followed by a string of disparagement. What's more, this kind of rough treatment is most often unprovoked and uncalled for. Like, when they appear out of the blue, charge money, curse you. your family and the generations to come, even before you can catch your breath, let alone give a negative reply! In the face of such blatant hostility, can you be blamed for looking the other way?

Needless to say. the susceptible prey are the female sex. Obviously, the toad roamers consider them to cause less fuss and give in to their persistent pursuits. And as It happens, city women dp relate more harassed-by-the-mob tales than their male

In need of Uhu.glue and some paper, an architecture student rushed to New Market to finish her model ass signment on time. But as good luck wasn't on her side, she was waylaid by those merciless mercenaries. Just as soon as she got down from her three wheeler. .Having snared their game, they were determined not to leave empty handed. The poor girl frankly didn’t have any small change, or would gladly grant

what puzzling. Try offering any one of them a decent job । and he/she will throw the offer right back in your faCs. give a rude retort and go oh cadging for money. They also have another proclivity to help the shoppers.. How? Whenever (quite frequently) your good old ricky puller can't come up with the necessary change, the good Samaritans provide it. The catch? To gain a buck or two of course. ‘

'After suffering their bdd. behaviour time and again, ont guy decided to give then) a tasfo of their own medicine.. While searching his wallet for the change of ten taka, be saw a man with a shy grin, standing beside him snowing ' nine taka. Luckily, he found the exact required fare in his jacket pocket. So. he turned! • smugly to the hopeful indi-1 : vidual and said: "Spend your nine bucks first and come back to me for ihore/' That was mean but effective nevertheless. Got rid of the beggar real fast.

Someone quite earnestly suggested hiring a bodyguard (Kevin Costner?) or keeping-Alsatians for commuting pur- ;

■ pose in Dhaka. Sounds funny J right?' On a serious ndtg; what are the concerned ones ; doing about rehabilitaUng the jobless and often the home- 1 less ones?

The number of beggars is ' rising day by day. Their sorrows are acute no doubt. The ' rest of us are also finding it 1 hard to deal with the frustra- । tlon and animosity of the poverty hardened masses. Yet; like al) the other disad- ' vantages of life in the capita!.; । we are learning to live with ‘ this particular problem too. ■

Such is life -in Dhaka; do ! we have a choice?

their wish at that precise . moment. One of them was especially tenacious. A 40 something cadaverous man with dreadlocks and multiple rudrakshi necklaces, he approached her and sneered: "dey balchhi! (give me. I sav!) or you will die a miserable death!" A barrage of an equally grim and unpleasant ; forecast of.her future fol-• lowed. Normally, an intrepid person, she was so worried about her class project, that she let her captor with the menacing look unnerve her. She'hurried to the stationers'. bought the stuff and took the longer route to let herself out by the 2nd gate. Her encounter with the mendicant had affected her so much so. that she has vowed never to go to the shops alone.

Same goes for Zara, a med. student who is petrified of the pagols (madmen) on the loose near, the shopping plazas. Incidentally she does seem to attract a lot of really' wacky people. People close to her back up this fact and muse: do they only sense the ' fear of them in her — or, does- ft^have anything to do with kindred spirits?

Stalked by a semi-nude loony, another pagol phobic . ran-to her car and left the market. But mental anguish wasn't enough, she realized her monetary loss.when she reached home. While escaping she dropped a bag carrying (sob!) two tapes — "Real McCoy" and "Dangerous Minds" soundtrack, some birthday cards and Mars and Kit-kat bars. What a pity!

There are some common characteristics of the beggar clan. One of them is some- .