The first thing that comes to my mind when I think of floating life is the life of the naval officers. Because the father of a very close friend of mine worked in the Navy and I could hear him talking about his father's afloat life. Later, as I got older, I realized that besides the naval people many others live floating life, and they are not as comfortable as naval officers. For example, the snake charmers used to live in boats which is one of most challenging roaming life. They move from one place to another in groups and make a living by showing snake games and selling medicine at various markets in the village. At the end of the day, all the members of the family spend the night in the boat.
The above words about moving life came to my mind only when I saw another group of people living a similar life. The are the people on floating ferries. Although these people have homes, they have to stay on the ferry floating in the river from morning till night in search of livelihood. Among them are the ferry driver, his assistant, hawkers, permanent and temporary store employees inside the ferry, and many more.
Although my ancestral home is in Capital city and I was born here, I often have to go to South Bengal for personal needs. And going to South Bengal means crossing the Padma, one of the widest rivers in the country, and that means you have to cross it through ferry. Although I used this ferry many times, I never thought about the people on the ferry or asked about their way of life. But this time on this trip I've talked to more than one of them and tried to listen to their difficult experiences.
I am mentioning the ‘difficult’ word here because the current condition of the people here is not very comfortable. There are two main reasons for this. The first reason is that as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, the number of passengers on the ferry is now quite low because people no longer travel from one place to another unless absolutely necessary. And no matter how limited people travel, from hawkers to other small tea shops inside the ferry, not much foods or commodities are sold. But these people must pay the rent to the authorities at the end of the day. These are the things I learned talking to them.
The second reason is that although it has not yet had any effect, these people are living in anxiety of their future. That is the largest bridge in the country being built on the river Padma. Once the bridge is completed, ferries will no longer be required on the river, so many will have to quit their current job and focus on other. Although this Padma Bridge is the dream of millions of people, it is still a cause for concern for these professionals. Hopefully these floating people will choose another path for their livelihood and that is the expectation of all of us.
