I adore cycling, running, however; as unfortunate as it is for me, as a female, in our country, it is quite hard to do so.
Even though Dhaka (the capital city of Bangladesh) is supposed to be a very progressive area. except the highly expensive places, it is not any different.
By different I mean, overly conservative, misogynism, baldly patriarch, religiously reserved, women dominating culture, society, and country.
And of course, our roads are anything but friendly for running or cycling, not to mention if that is a female. When I had my bicycle with me years ago, I stubbornly went on the road, regardless of all those scary calculations of accidental bumps.
Oh, how about I drop a little introduction of the varieties of vehicle and transportations, which occupy the road
Our public transport systems are quite messy as well.
- There are box-of-tin like public buses
- CNG (mostly like a low cost taxi version),
- Rickshaws (for short distances and mostly preferable if you are not in a hurry to go anywhere)
- Then there are private cars and huge pile of motorcycles (mostly for Uber rides)
So, be it small alley or highway roads, all are always packed with all those types of vehicles, causing constant traffic, sometimes even hard to walk for people on the dedicated side-walks, as most of the motorcycle riders tend to use those, unlawfully of course.
So amidst this bustling chaos, if a female tries to run there is concern for road safety, and even people-safety, as females are not really safe except in broad daylight. Under the preferable weather, running is only suitable either after evening or at dawn, which both can highly endanger a woman's safety.
Whenever I tried cycling on the roads, there were always public buses and other vehicles who deliberately tried to bump into me out of their mighty patriarchal habit of belittling women.
As to them, women are supposed to just stay at home, under the veil, while most of us growing up as an independent women thanks to our women ancestors, who fought for our rights to education, right to choose what we wear, which were supposed to be the very fundamental rights for a human being
If I chose to run, I have to deal with the piercing and extremely uncomfortable looks, which eat me alive with their eyes, and deliberately bumping on me, blocking the road, and so on.
The contentment and joy of running will be vanished with all these disgusting circumstances by the time I finish a lap.
When I used to work in a sea-side city, I used to run by the beach, which developed a keen inclination and desire for running. After I left the city, and settled in the capital, I was itching to run but due to the circumstances, it was not possible, and I gradually pushed that in the background while getting busy with the extra harsh life of the capital city.
Recently, during thanksgiving, our office arranged a trip to that sea-side city and one of my colleagues, who runs on a regular basis and does not miss any marathon. proposed that during team-building, we should go for a run by the beach. That notion reminded me of the tender memory of running by the beach when I was in that city previously. Though, due to not being able to neither walk nor run for a really long time made me rusty, and 10 km run all of a sudden seemed impossible, I decided to give it a try.
To my pleasant surprise, I was able to complete it!!!
And voila!!! That triggered the long suppressed itch for running again, and he kept inspiring me to participate with the marathon and all since then.
But the aforementioned circumstances were not changeable, so much so that I do not step out of home during the weekend and waste it lazing in my room, which I myself do not like.
I did not consider walking as an option before as I find it easy for me, but to ease the itch for running, on a Wednesday evening, I decided to go to the office by walking instead of taking any vehicle.
It was around a 4 km distance from my home.
Though it is indeed troublesome to walk on those roads, I decided to continue walking to the office on the days I am not using office cars. And, perhaps soon enough, I will be able to leave behind all those issues and start running!
Until then...
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