Shuddering cold against distressed people

Bangladesh, a country of extreme beauty, lies in the tropical weather for which it enjoys a moderate winter. The Winter season is the most entertaining season in this country and people love this season mostly.

In winter, people go to visit different beautiful places and arrange some festivals for their entertainment. This is the best season for traveling anywhere in any part of the country.

The winter season bears great variety from the other season because of its magical characteristics. Light fog in the evening, strong and gentle sunshine of the afternoon sun, a little bit of frosty wind all together with the picture of the beginning of Bangla month Poush is not comparable either.

The fog tends to increase as the day hour progresses to decrease; the onset of dense fog stays on throughout the morning hour. Even in the cold air, the sun is not bright at all ever; yet the removal of dense fog adds a new dimension to the sweet sunshine in the winter morning desire.

The sweet smell of a variety of pithas and the juice of date carries the waves of festivals from house to house covering the lonely forests, riverbanks, and the streets with the dense fog waves.

According to the Bengali month, Poush Magh usually the winter season remains dark. However, the onset of winter begins in the middle of autumn. On the northern horizon, icy breaths spread from the icebergs of the Himalayas.

Contracting nature also seems to have faded in winter. The faded yellow leaves slipped silently into the pearls of weather. The night becomes longer and the day becomes shorter.

The heat of the sun decreases. Under the intense pressure of the city's artificiality, witnessing the winter morning is a rare thing to say as the dense fog hardly enters the paces. Yet when the morning bus swings, through the fog, it feels really fascinating throughout the surroundings.

From our childhood, we may have heard a very common line that everything has two sides. The winter season also has two sides. For some people, this season is enjoyable but for others it is miserable. The weather gets extremely cold during the long winter nights.

It’s so unfortunate to see many homeless people in our country suffering terribly during winter times. If we walk on the streets, we will notice these poor people shivering in the cold trying to cover them up with whatever they have to get a little relief from the cold.

Sometimes, they make fire with straws, dry leaves, etc. in order to keep themselves warm for a moment but extreme cold predominantly jeopardizes the lives of the poor. In the winter season, the poor people spend the whole night in indescribable hardship.

Homeless people are seen lying on the pavement in different places. Some of these helpless people make beds by putting a thin piece of clothes on the road, some lie without beds on the road, sidewalks or under trees, under bridges. They are our poor working class and helpless people.

During the last couple of years our country has witnessed numerous cold waves happening in winter throughout different parts. Cold waves cause serious damage to the lives of the people living under the poverty line not having adequate stability to cope up with the shivering cold of winter.

Recently a weeklong cold wave has swept the country especially in the northern region of the country.  Many poor people are dying because of this extreme cold. The weather office is predicting another two or three cold waves to set off in the upcoming later days of January.

It is in fact bad news for the poor sections of the country. Daily works of the people have come to a standstill and as a result of a sudden fall in temperature. The low-income people, particularly farm laborers, suffer much as most of them cannot go out for work due to the fog and biting cold everywhere. Due to lack of affordability and accessibility marginalized populations in the northern region suffer mostly.

The famous scholar Kalail says I respect only two people. First of all, my honor is to the peasants and hardworking people who are working tirelessly to live as human beings, and secondly, my honor is those who are engaged in self-improvement. In other words, he has highlighted the issue of working-class, poor, and miserable people with utmost importance.

We are dependent on them for a healthy and beautiful life in society. They have an impeccable role in the development of the country. Their improvement is the improvement of the country. Without them, the nation will never be able to stand tall.

They need a little sympathy and love from everyone this winter. If it is possible to provide a little clothing to alleviate the extreme hardships of this winter, through winter clothing they can get back to their working life.

The great news is that our government distributes winter clothes for every winter season thinking about the poor people’s severity of the situation. However, many of the voluntary organizations have also already started their winter clothing collection and distribution activities and people from all walks of life should participate in it. Everyone should come forward to help those poor people with warm clothes according to their abilities so that they can have a great fight against the winter.

Makama Mahmud Chowdhury studies Civil Engineering at the Chittagong University of Engineering and Technology.