"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. |
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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?”
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