-What is your name?
-Hafeza.
-Where are you from?
-Mizala village of Potuakhali district.
-How long are you selling cakes?
-10 Years.
-What your husband does?
-We run this shop together. He sells here in the morning, and me after evening.
-What was his previous profession?
-He worked as a daily labour at Panchaboti.
-How much are you earning?
-Not so good. Costs of everything have risen. We earn 150-200 tk daily, which is equal to the payment of a daily labour.
-How much time you sell here?
-From 07.30 am – 10.00 pm daily.
-Why have you come to the city?
-We do not have any land to cultivate at the village except our home. So we came to the city 13 years ago in the hope of a better life.
-What about your children?
-We have two daughters and two son. The daughter is elder. We gave her marriage with a man from our neighbour village 3 years ago. He works as a rickshaw-van driver here at 4,500 tk salary per month. My two son works as sewing machine operator at a garments. And the younger daughter is still going to primary school.
-Did you give anything to the bride?
-They demanded 20,000 tk cash in the marriage. So we had to take loan from the co-operative banks and give the bride.
-How much you took as loan?
-70,000 tk.
-What have you done with rest of the money?
-The rest we expensed for the marriage festival.
-How much you pay every week for the loan?
-2,100 tk per week in two banks. We also keep 100 tk every week in our fixed deposit there.
-When will you give marriage to your elder son?
-After recovering the loan.
-Will you take money in the marriage of your sons?
-No. Not at all. I do not like this system.
-Why?
-Because you can never prosper and get peace in other peoples money. I do not know what is in mind of my sons about this matter, but I am completely against taking money in the son’s marriage. And other thing is, I do not know how many years will I live to see their marriage.
-Then why have you gave money to the bride in your daughter’s marriage?
-Simply because he wont marry her without the money.
-How was things in your time?
-The situation was completely different. There was not any hard system of giving money to the bride at the marriage. My family simply gave some things of use in our daily life as a gift. There was no bindings.
-Do you sometime go to your village?
-I do not get much time to go there. Because if I go anywhere, we have to keep our shop closed. But my husband does. He goes there at least twice a year. Right now he is at the village. He went there last week and yet to return.
-Do you wish to ever settle back to your village?
-Yes…from the deep in my heart. If we could be freed from our loans, and make a source of income, we would surely returned to our village. We are thinking about our return after the marriage of our sons.
-Where is your resident here?
-We have taken a room near here. Its a tin shaded house. We give 1,100 tk per month as rent. After the marriage of my elder son, we will take a larger quarter.
-Do you have any problem here in keeping the shop?
-Yes. We sell to some people due in monthly basis. They pay us together after they get payment in every month. Among these people, some do not pay us full. May be they pay us in 2/3 months properly, and after that when they owe 100/200 tk to us, they just do not come any more. And there is no way to get the money back.
-You have anything to tell to our readers?
-If government or other agency give us some money to purchase some cows and lands, we would settle to our dear little village, and die in peace.
-Why do u want to return? Don’t you like to keep your shop here?
-No. Not at all.
-Why?
-Every day I have to talk to hundreds of men. It’s a shame for a muslim female…!
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