The man on sticks

“I am poor, helpless. Rising on two sticks I am entertaining you. Please do me financial help.” – These are written on a board made of tin, which is hung on his chest. There also hung a whistle which he was ringing now and then to attach people on him and pointing on the board.

On a Friday afternoon he was walking at the main street of the New Market area of the capital city rising on two very tall bamboo sticks. The sticks were colored in red. Extra bamboos were added in the lower parts of the sticks to make it a bit thicker, covered in red cloths, which help him to keep balance.

He was wearing complete black dress – pajamas, panjabis, shoes, and glasses. There was a bag too in his back which he uses to keep his things. His whole appearance was so funny that people was looking at him in amazement, and seeing the board giving money. He was an old man of more than seventy.

A group of street children was always around him who who were teasing him. He was sometime suddenly walking wildly and making fake threats to these children to keep them away from them, for they can get hurt in his sticks. Sometime he was taking rest holding a pillar on the street. Sometime he was suddenly getting down from his sticks and keeping the sticks aside and begging on foot.

“27 Years I am walking on these sticks in Bangladesh, India and Pakistan. All those years, I couldn’t find any gentleman who will say, I have enough wealth, you don’t need to walk on those sticks just to feed your family. Come and live with me. I will look after your family!”

“Today I got only two gentleman in the New Market area who gave me 10 tk each. There was nothing in this area when I first came here. I used to sleep here under the trees. Now there is lots of rich people. But why have I fought in the liberation war? To see so many people do corruption? I do not even get any money from the governments welfare program for the old people. They want brive from me. why?”

“Please help me to feed my family….”