Tempo Boy

"I go to sleep immediately, just like a dead person"
Zanu, age 11


At the Tempo Stand in Sylhet.

"Often I transfer from one tempo to another. There may have been a quarrel with the driver about fares or I may get sacked for being as little as one minute late for work. If I ask the driver to raise my wages he gives me two choices – accept your present money or leave.

I hope I’ll soon be able to overcome my present financial difficulty. I am learning to drive this tempo, you see. Sometimes I drive it even when it is full of passengers, if the road is empty. My driver tells me that within a few months I could become a proper tempo driver. Then all my family’s problems will disappear.






Once I was in a tempo accident. The brakes failed and we went under a big lorry. I was standing on the footplate at the back. I lost some teeth and suffered a broken lip. My driver would not take me to the hospital. He rubbed brake oil on my lip but it was ok. The tempo was seriously damaged, but none of the passengers were hurt.

Sometimes I ask why I do this dangerous work? For money – there is no other answer. I don’t like this restless job. Our route is 35 miles long. When we come back to the Sylhet Tempo Stand I sometimes take a break of 20 minutes while we queue for the next trip. I have to wash and clean the tempo and check that the engine has oil and water. This time flies by very quickly.

The people at the tempo stand are fond of me. I often borrow money from them. If I get any trouble for my family they help me out. How could I leave these people and this job?”