They cook once and eat from it three times. If there is rice in the morning, at night it is leftover rice soaked in water, and some days they go hungry. Bent with age and in poor health, with no money for treatment and no certainty of regular meals, Nurjahan Begum, 49, and Habizar Rahman, 53, a childless couple in Gachhabari village of Kachua union in Saghata upazila, Gaibandha, are living out their later years in hardship. Their story recalls Asmani, the helpless figure of Jasimuddin’s poem “Asmani”.
They once got by on Habizar’s earnings as a farm labourer, but illness has cut off that income, and they survive on small help from neighbours. The couple have appealed to well-off people for help so they can live a little better in old age.
On a visit, Nurjahan Begum was seen cooking in the yard. That one pot has to cover breakfast, lunch and dinner, as they cannot afford to cook every day. When there is food they eat; when there is not, they go hungry. They have no children, and both are now helpless because of illness. With too little food and no treatment, they are living in desperate conditions.
Many local people said Habizar Rahman used to support the household as a farm labourer but can no longer work as before because of illness, so the income has stopped. Nurjahan injured her leg and now finds it hard to move about. Without money for treatment and medicine, she cannot get the care she needs. When a neighbour helps, they buy medicine; otherwise they go without.
In tears, Nurjahan Begum said: “Yesterday morning I cooked rice. We ate some of it at night. We cook once and have to eat three times. Often we go without food. There is no one to look after us. We have no sons or daughters. At the end of our lives we are dying of hunger. Please look our way.”
Habizar Rahman said: “My wife is ill and we have no money for medicine. If we eat at one meal, we go hungry at the next. There is no one to look after us. Shahabul next door sometimes gives us money for medicine, but he has his own family. If you stood by us, we could eat a couple of handfuls and stay alive.”
Former union council member Forman Ali of Gachhabari said: “Nurjahan and Habizar live in great hardship. We help from time to time, and local trader Shahabul also gives them some money. That is how they barely survive. Their suffering will not end unless the well-off stand by them.”
Local electronics trader Shahabul Islam said: “When we hear they have nothing to eat, we can’t stay silent. Whenever we can, we take them food or things they need. But we have families too. One person alone cannot support them. If everyone comes forward together, the family’s suffering will ease a little.”
Local resident Firoza Begum said: “They are so poor they can never make ends meet. It is a household in want, with no one to look after them and no children. If they got government help, there would be some relief.”
Liaquat Ali, chairman of Kachua union council in Saghata upazila, said: “I did not know about this. I will look into it and try to help them. I will also take steps to support them through various allowances.”
Saghata upazila project implementation officer Md Mehedi Hasan said: “We did not know about this before. Now we do. We will try to arrange all-round support for them.”
Local people have called on the well-off and the government offices concerned to help ease the childless couple’s hardship. They hope government support and people’s kindness will bring Nurjahan and Habizar some relief.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report