When people and vehicles leave Dhaka's streets late at night, Zakir, a cleaner with only one name, gets to work with a broom. But the chilling weather this winter has hampered his daily routine of finishing the work before dawn for several days, bdnews24.com reports.
Despite the fact that city dwellers have started to go to bed early due to the intense cold caused by a strong wind, he must rush to the streets at around 3 a.m.
“Otherwise, I can’t cover the entire road. Chilly wind blows at night. There has been too much wind for two days,” Zakir said, explaining there is no scope for the cleaner of Dhaka North City Corporation to compromise with work, no matter how cold it is.
Severe cold has gripped the capital and other parts of Bangladesh in mid-Poush, the first month of winter in the Bangla calendar, although the mercury is yet to drop to the level of a cold wave.
Students are going to school shivering in the morning. The city's workers and professionals are also heading to their workplaces wearing warm clothes.
Half of the day passes without the faintest glimmer of sunshine on the horizon. Vast swaths of Bangladesh are cloaked in dense fog accompanied by biting cold, heralding the onset of more intense cold snaps.
The mercury dropped to 9 degrees Celsius in Sreemangal on Wednesday, the lowest temperature in the country. The winter chill could also be felt under the overcast skies of Dhaka, where the temperature was as low as 14.1 degrees Celsius at one point.
Although the threshold for a cold wave has not yet been met, the minimum temperature has been hovering around 10-15 degrees Celsius across the country.
There is no point talking about winter, said Safar Ali, an old man who was huddled in the cold under the shed of a roadside tea shop in the Kamal Sarani area of Agargaon in the capital on Wednesday morning.
“I have no warm clothes. I need to beg for alms at this age,” he said.
Safar had two daughters who had already died. “I ask for alms from the worshippers who come to offer Fajr prayer this winter.”
Mehedi Hasan, a security guard at the Liberation War Museum, feels the cold a little more as he works in the night shift, from 10pm to 6am. The wind appears to be icy cold. Even two or three layers of warm clothes are not enough to stop the body from bending."
Pedalling a rickshaw on a winter morning is the first challenge for Imran, a young rickshaw puller from Bagerhat who identified himself with a single name. "It doesn’t feel cold anymore once I start pedalling, the body warms up."
The same goes for Raihan, who ferries cake and biscuits to the tea shop in a rickshaw-van.
Md Abdur Razzak, a rickshaw puller who came to the capital from Kushtia, said: “It was colder yesterday than today (Wednesday). I took out the rickshaw in the morning, but couldn't stand the cold anymore and returned home at 11am. Nobody can pedal a rickshaw in this cold."
The same is the case with Farid Mia, another rickshaw-puller who came from Narsingdi. "It’s cold in Dhaka like it’s in a village. I can't drive much this winter. I stop in the evening.”
Samiran Begum and Kulsum Ara, who work as household aides, had to reach work by 7am, shivering in the cold.
"We didn't feel like coming out, but we don’t have a choice," said one of them.
Moderate to dense fog could cover some parts of the country from midnight to morning, according to the Met Office's forecast for the next 24 hours. The weather is expected to remain dry with partly cloudy skies.
However, the conditions may change slightly over the next three days.
The day and night temperatures are likely to remain almost unchanged nationwide, according to meteorologist Hafizur Rahman. As a result, the winter cold is more intense in the north, north-west and central parts of the country.
People are not leaving their homes without wearing warm clothes. Some of them are sitting by the fire for warmth amid thick fog and chilly wind.
Jyotsna Akhter came to the capital from Kishoreganj to get her voter ID card corrected. When asked about the difference between the winter in the village and Dhaka, she said: "It’s a little colder in the village. But Dhaka's cold is no less either. I had no idea it would be so cold. I had to come here this winter on urgent business.”
The winter in the megacity is quite enjoyable for some. Walking and exercising give comfort to many people on a winter morning.
GM Manjur Hasan, one of them from Agargaon, said, "It has been a little colder for two days. Today is my day off so I went out with the kids. We hang out often. It feels good to take a walk or eat ‘Bhapa Pitha’ or ‘Chitai Pitha’ [winter cakes] on a winter morning.”
Hashi Begum, a resident of Sher-e-Bangla Nagar slum, was breaking bricks on a cold winter morning.
“We suffer a lot at night. A cold wind blows through the fence. We break bricks. It’s very painful to get hit on the hand in winter.”
Nurjahan Begum Mala, a wood shop owner in the same slum, said: "The councillor distributed blankets a few days ago. Those close to the councillor got those blankets. They gave them to hand-picked individuals, we didn't get any. Many of the recipients have sold their blankets.”
Workers Jabbar Sardar, Sagir Ali and Siddique Mia were warming themselves by a fire they lit in the midst of work at Kazipara in Mirpur. According to them, it is difficult to work in such cold weather.
Meteorologist Abdur Rahman said the winter cold will last through the month.
When the temperature drops below 6 degrees Celsius over a vast area, it is considered a severe cold wave. A moderate cold wave is formed if the area's temperature ranges between 6 and 8 degrees, while a temperature hovering between 8 and 10 degrees Celsius forms a mild cold wave.
At least a couple of cold snaps, including a moderate one, are in the long-term forecast for January.
In addition to relatively low daytime temperatures, meteorologists said many areas, including the capital, are feeling the chill due to strong northerly winds. And the current spell of cold weather could persist for a few more days.
Winter came late this time due to depressions and a cyclone in the Bay of Bengal. A mild cold wave swept the country for two days after a spell of rainfall.