“Then my stepfather got angry and beat me and threw me out of the house.

I had saved up 325 taka. When I left home I used my money to buy sugar cane at the steamer station down by the Buriganga at Shadurghat. My uncle used to advise me where to buy cane cheaply. I managed to save up 2,000 taka in a single month. But then my uncle left and I had to stop. It was too difficult for me to trade on my own. I spent 300 taka of my earnings to buy clothes from my sister.

Then I got a job in a biscuit factory near Kamlapur Station. They paid me only 10 taka a day. But after six weeks the factory closed.

My next job was as a waiter in the dining hall in the Rajarbhag Police Station. I used to write their names and numbers in the register book and then gave them food. They paid me only 2 taka a day, but they gave me food and free board there as well. I worked there for nearly a year.

The police in the mess, the kitchen staff and the chef all really liked me. But he manager used to get upset when I made mistakes in the registration book. Then I went back to my village in Jamalpur to see my sister. It is a poor place and there is no possibility of work.”