Bed day and night, but struggling to run the family

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Tajul Islam (55) ran a tea-breakfast shop in his village. He was forced to leave the shop after losing capital due to reduced sales due to arrears. Later, he worked as a daily wage worker in a restaurant in Upazila Sadar. Now he eats at the restaurant from 6 am to 10 pm with a break of two hours. However, these restaurant workers are struggling to make ends meet due to rising commodity prices. Tajul Islam is a resident of Tin Ghariatola village of Moghadiya Union in Mirsarai Upazila of Chittagong.

On Monday afternoon, he talked to Tajul Islam at his workplace Hamim Restaurant on Court Road in Mirsarai Upazila Sadar. The smiling Tajul is slightly physically challenged. He has less strength in his left leg, which was born crooked. He said that his family includes his wife Kulsum Begum, one son and two daughters. Got a good groom and married the eldest daughter. The son is studying in a madrasa in another upazila. The little girl’s education has stopped due to financial hardship.

Tajul Islam said that he has worked as a worker in various hotel restaurants since his childhood. After acquiring technical knowledge, he once opened a tea-breakfast shop near his house in the village. In the beginning, the sales in that store were bustling, but due to excess arrears, the sales decreased day by day. After counting the losses, he was forced to close the shop after a few years. As Ayrozgar was closed, he again worked in a restaurant in Upazila Sadar. Here you get the responsibility of serving food from the kitchen.

This restaurateur said, here they have to work continuously from 6 am to 3 pm and again from 5 pm to 10 pm with a break of two hours in between. Osteoporosis of the lumbar spine makes it difficult to work at times.

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Tajul Islam said, the owner of the restaurant bears the responsibility of food and pays a daily wage of Tk 500. With this money, it becomes difficult to meet all the expenses of the family, including buying medicine for myself, sending the education expenses of my son. On top of that, the price of everything in the market has increased due to the oil crisis. Now this income does not meet the expenses in any way. Even if you want, you cannot buy anything good or bad for the family.

When asked, Tajul Islam told Prothom Alo, “My wife gets some rice from government food aid.” Earlier, he used to spend days on rice and my income. But now the price of things in the market has increased a lot. I work day and night to bring smiles to the faces of my wife and children, but I am struggling to run the family. In monsoon, water falls inside my house. Every year I dream, I will save the family’s expenses and repair the dilapidated house. That dream is no longer fulfilled by the pull of money. As things stand now, I don’t even dare to dream of repairing the house.