A Day in Life

    Rafi looked at the shiny piece of metal in his hand as a wide toothy grin spread across his face. He had not only managed to meet his daily quota, but as of right then, he had managed to surpass it by 5 taka (US $ 0.07).
    Mirth came into his sister Misha’s eyes as she suddenly realized what her brother was telling her; they could go home now, or they could beg for a little longer and maybe make their mother smile for once. Misha tightly clutched the garlands she was selling in accordance with her brother’s wishes, and the two siblings parted ways to ply their sad trade.
    Elsewhere in Dhaka, Mehzabeen stared at her mirror, deciding on what to wear for the date she had with her boyfriend later in the evening. She chose a purple chiffon salwar kameez and lovingly put on the make-up that is ever present in the faces of modern women. She would once again make Riasad happy for asking her out, as happy as he had made her so many months ago. Several minutes later, all preparations done. Mehzabeen took one last look at her preparations, not hesitating with a wink at her reflection, and made her way to the car waiting for her downstairs. They were to meet in one of their frequent date spots and celebrate their two year anniversary together. She had it all planned out. A half-hour later, Rafi was distracted from begging to some kind of ruckus going on further down in the street he was in. He looked in that direction and saw some large man screaming at a frail figure cowering before him. Instinctively, Rafi rushed to where his sister was in jeopardy. And the sight he saw there saddened and disgusted him to his very core.
    It seemed that Misha had gone too close to one of the cars, and the safety-pin that held her haggardly frock together had made a small scratch on it. The owner of the car was infuriated and continued to berate her viciously and even made several threatening arm gestures at the poor child. Not being able to control himself, Rafi began to rush at the towering man when another boy, a friend of Rafi’s, held him back.
    “Don’t even try this bro,” the boy said, in barely a whisper. “He may show mercy to Misha, but he will kill you”, the other boy whispered to him. Rage welling up inside him, Rafi could only stand there like a fool and watch as the man finally got back into his car and left the little girl in tears. Rafi slowly approached his seven-year old sister and gingerly picked her up.
    Tears staining her faded frock, Misha showed Rafi the garlands she had still clutched, a small smile beginning to form on her face. Rafi felt tears well up in his own eyes. He couldn’t believe that the only thought going through her sister’s mind was one of protecting their livelihood. He had seen children as old as her do nothing but smile day in and day out, clutching balloons and candies, not a worry in their minds.
    After comforting her sister, Rafi decided to make her feel better by using the extra money he had received that day to buy her some candy. He left her on the pavement and surreptitiously went towards the corner shop to make his purchase. He happily gave the shopkeeper the price asked, and made his way to his sister, the single piece of candy clutched in his sooty hands. It was the cheapest of the delights to most, but it was a luxury children like Rafi and Misha couldn’t always afford. Right then, he caught a sight of a young woman inside a car, weeping. Mehzabeen sat at the backseat of her car, tears flowing from her eyes like a faucet. Riasad’s word kept echoing through her head over and over again as she dabbed her eyes with a handkerchief.
    “I think it’s time we move on. I’m sorry.” Riasad had ended his speech with, thus ending their two-year relationship. She had gone to that little coffee shop with her head held high, as if she could face the entire world. But it seemed that all the planning in the world stands no chance against fate.
    He ended it within a half-hour, and Mehzabeen thus found herself once again inside the car, weeping for what was, and what could have been. Inside the car, a myriad of thoughts went through her mind; about how and why her boyfriend could’ve done what he did, about what she had done wrong to deserve this.
    And her thoughts were going down a very dark path; one of fire and burning pain down her throat as she saw herself slump to the ground; when she locked her eyes with a young boy, barely ten years old.
    He dressed shabbily, his T-shirt ragged and dirty, but he looked at her with curiosity and pity. Mehzabeen herself looked at him, dazed at how such an urchin could stare at her with pity, an urchin who barely managed to feed himself daily. And through that realization, she sat up straight. She wiped away the last of her tears, noticing that the tears had stopped flowing long ago.
    Rafi looked at the weeping woman, burning with curiosity. He had never seen one of them sad. He couldn’t understand why; they have everything; money, education and a stable future. What could they have to be sad about?
    Right then the woman looked straight into his eyes, her watery eyes turned dry in a moment and she seemed to be slightly flustered. Rafi clutched his sister’s candy tighter as the red light turned green and the car slowly disappeared. He slowly made his way to where his sister was sitting down. She looked at him, still crying slightly from before. Rafi bent down, smiled broadly at his cute little sister, and held out his hand. Misha immediately brightened and hopped to her feet, hugging her big brother.
    They began their long journey home, to hopefully see a smile greet them at their destination.

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