Readers’ Voice: Winter nights of inhuman living

Nusrat Jahan (Shoronika) :

Winter is sometimes a season of celebration, sometimes a season of warmth. But the empty footpaths of the city, the dark shadows under the bridges, and the trembling cold of the night air tell us that winter does not bring happiness for everyone. When someone sleeps wrapped in a warm blanket, at that exact moment someone else stays awake all night fearing they might freeze to death. Winter seems like a cruel exam, before which people living in inhuman conditions, especially street children, lose every single day.
Thousands of people across Dhaka city and different parts of the country live an inhuman life during winter. Especially those who live on footpaths, stations, parks, or under bridges, people who have no roof over their heads. And then there are countless street children whose home is the street, whose bed is a sheet of plastic, and whose blanket is old paper or a sack. The colder it gets, the deeper their suffering becomes. To survive the winter, they huddle close to each other, wrapping themselves with torn clothes, sacks, or abandoned banners.
The situation of men and women living on footpaths is even more distressing. Some hold their small children tightly to their chest, hoping their own body warmth can save the little ones. Elderly people suffer the most in winter, because their bodies can no longer endure the cold.
A survey shows that the death rate of people living on the streets during winter is much higher than other seasons. Cold-related diseases, pneumonia, fever, and unhygienic conditions together make their lives even more uncertain.
This humanitarian crisis did not arise suddenly. There are deep social, economic, and administrative reasons behind it. Poverty and inequality are among the main reasons. Economic inequality in the country is so extreme that on one side there is a luxurious life, and on the other side, the struggle for survival on the footpath. This gap widens every day. Poverty forces people to lose their homes, jobs, and opportunities. Due to urbanisation and displacement, many are also forced to live an inhuman life. People come to the city from villages in search of work, but there is no guarantee of employment.
Winter is not just a seasonal change, it is a test of humanity. A society becomes truly civilised only when its weakest members are safe. Those who spend their nights on footpaths, those who curl up in torn clothes trying to survive the cold are the invisible people of our society. If we do not stand beside them, then even in warm homes our humanity will turn cold. Winter is not a joy for everyone. The sooner we realise this truth, the sooner the stories will change for those whose survival under the open sky is a new struggle every night.

(The writer is a student, Department of Mass Communication and Journalism
Jagannath University, Dhaka)