Life through the lens

My Scholarship entry - The magicians of Tong Market

Bangladesh | Monday, November 24, 2014 | 5 photos

I am obsessed about travelling, going to an adventure, learning different cultures unlike mine and capture them to show the others. Many of us think of the world as black and white, some think they are grey. That is because they do not observe how some bottles in old wooden crates creates such an artistic perspective or they do not realize that there can be a story behind dusty windows of bread shops or an old man sleeping on vacant train. Just like the scrap metal market in Dholaikhal, Bangladesh. When people go there, they see a bunch of scrap metals, but ultimately those scrap metals are remodelled, cleaned and polished turning into another beautiful car. Spare parts workshops began to thrive in the city's Dholaikhal, Jinjira, Keraniganj and areas adjacent to the River Buriganga in the 1960s to meet the demands of an ever-increasing number of industries in Dhaka and Narayanganj.Now Dholaikhal has turned into a mini industrial zone as it caters to almost all sorts of automobiles or factories in the country. The adept mechanics and motor parts sellers of Dholaikhal are like magicians. It is believed that they can change any run-down vehicle back into its original condition. They can even build cars if provided with a little bit of patronage. This reputation of Dholaikhal gradually built up during the last 50 years. With all its fame and occasional bad names, Dholaikhal still remains as the main service centre for worn out vehicles and the best place to buy old motor parts. From nuts and bolts to heavy engines, from chassis to bearings, wheel drums, springs and any small or big parts of motor vehicles are available at Dholaikhal. Remodelling and overhauling services are also available there. I should be chosen because no matter how silly an event, a simple scenery, or a view like an old man sleeping in a vacant train might be seen, I always and will find a story, a meaning of life hidden in those unnoticeable moments or views because each moment, each view carries the most important thing that most of us spend the whole life searching, the meaning of life itself.