The uproar sparked by a severed hand of Rajib Hossaain in a terrible accident and his eventual death on April 17 reminds many of another tragic death in Dhaka. It also involved reckless driving, here a truck, on one fateful morning in the mid-1980s.The victim was Sabiqunnahar, a student at the Engineering University (BUET) in Dhaka. She was crushed to death on the spot. The enraged students agitated for days, barricaded part of the road and compelled the authorities to restrict truck movement in the capital. Compared to hers, it has yet to be known as to how far Rajib's death has moved the authorities into taking a remedial measure.
The death of Rajib after passing through an agonising battle for over a week, first for recuperation, and finally for bare survival, has made people speechless. The youth lost his right hand in a blood-curdling road accident, a collision between two buses in a race. It was a day-to-day spectacle in Dhaka: reckless driving by inadequately trained and novice drivers. Inextricably linked to it is the road transport authorities' blasé attitude towards the pervasive lawlessness; as well as the endless irregularities plaguing traffic movement in Dhaka. It was a typical Dhaka scenario. But the 21-year-old Rajib's was a unique case. To call the death a tragedy is understatement. The youth's humble background and the grave circumstance in which he was shoved into added to the mishap's desperate force. Those who believe in destiny will call the poor boy star-crossed. But in the view of the down-to-earth, this society had kept everything prepared to see Rajib walk into the abyss of death. The slowly approaching death may bring to the mind of many the Marquez novel 'Chronicles of a Death Foretold'.
Lots of people found it heart-rending to say goodbye to Rajib at this premature age --- an orphaned youth engaged in struggle for the survival of himself and his two teenage brothers. The country's media had all along kept Rajib, student of a college in Dhaka, in prominent focus. He was otherwise fortunate in that his ordeal elicited nationwide sympathy and emotional outpouring. The incident deeply touched almost every segment of society. Everyone was waiting with bated breath for Rajib's full recovery. His eventual death came as a great shock to them.
It was the country's incorrigibly malfunctioning traffic system which had cast its ominous shadow on Rajib Hossain. In a way, few of the countless commuters and pedestrians who move in the city are free of this sinister spell. With the evil force contriving traffic mishaps being all too powerful, the young man and many others like him, including women, children and the elderly, finally emerge as mere puppets. The invisible force comprises puppeteers, who hawk death, misfortune and sufferings. It's them who decide the fate of the helpless multitude on the country's roads and highways.
Thanks to the defiance and the gross absence of humanity in the accident, it will keep haunting people. The grieving over Rajib doesn't end with his death. The severed hand of the youth will long be hanging over the nation. It is set to stalk every person with conscience. Though it runs on a different plain, the severed hand reminds many of a movie in the 1960s. The film narrates the tale of a sadistic man and the chopped-off hand of an innocent person. The severed hand follows the former wherever he goes. It dangles in the air, creeps on his floor and climbs his windowpane. He starts repenting. Given the past records, few can expect contrition on the part of the traffic controlling authorities for Rajib's sad end. But in this case even a token corrective step will absolve them considerably of their infamy of inaction.