His father Abdur Razzak was a rickshaw-puller. Despite being a rickshaw puller, he did send his son to the university. His son also worked as a rickshaw puller for some time while studying in the university.
Not only that, he did various odd jobs like working at brick kilns and collecting water hyacinth from lakes to sell to meet the family expenditure as well as the cost of his studies.
Then he caught attention of many as a small business entrepreneur by selling mango, honey, molasses and cow online. The man is named Jewel Mamun. From being a small business entrepreneur, Jewel is about to become a police sergeant this time. He will soon be joining this post.
While talking to Jewel over the phone on last Wednesday, he said that he heard the news of him being appointed as a police sergeant from a friend on 9 July. Even then he was busy with sending the mangos sold online, to courier service.
Jewel told Prothom Alo, “I didn't have the courage to check the result myself. I nervously looked up the result and found my name on the list. I called my mother at once. She couldn’t believe at first but then started sobbing. My father also had the same reaction. Everyone was expecting for me to have a good job.”
Jewel added, “Since it is the mango season, we have been very busy lately. And I received the good news right in the middle of this. I am preparing for joining on 16 July (next Sunday).”
Jewel’s house is in Ratan Barish village under Ghatail upazila of Tangail. Jewel completed post-graduation in economics from the University of Rajshahi. His younger brother Alamgir Hossain is a post-graduate student at the department of government and politics in Jahangirnagar University. Their only sister is studying in class seven.
Jewel said, "There were such days, when we didn’t have rice at home and the shopkeepers also didn’t sell goods unless we paid for them upfront."
Then in 2018, Jewel and his brother Alamgir opened a Facebook page with the name ‘Fruits Hunt’. They didn’t have to look back anymore after that.
In reply to the query how they are holding up now, Jewel said, “We are doing fine now.” His father stopped working as a rickshaw-puller more than two years ago.
Jewel disagrees on taking up all the credits himself for being able to join the police force. He said, “I could come this far with the contribution of all including my family, teachers and Chandra Nath dada from Manush Manusher Jonno Foundation. I myself never considered any job to be unworthy. I was never ashamed of my social position either.”
Jewel added, “I was not the only one to work hard. My father worked as a rickshaw-puller, my mother collected water hyacinth and my brother helped running with the business. I got a lot of support from others as well. Teachers would not take tuition fee from us.”
Jewel said he started earning by working at a brick kiln while he was a student of class six. He even worked as a rickshaw-puller after 10pm for a few days, while studying at the university.
Chandra Nath, the founder and president of ‘Manush Manusher Jonno Foundation’, a non-profit organisation registered in the USA, had learnt about him working as a rickshaw-puller alongside pursuing his studies. With his assistance, Jewel applied for a stipend at the foundation.
Jewel received the monthly stipend of Tk 3,000 for almost two years. Later, Chandra Nath helped Jewel to get his younger brother enrolled into Jahangirnagar University as well as bringing him under the coverage of the stipend. Prothom Alo published a report on Jewel’s life struggles on 6 June 2021.
Jewel said, “I don’t deem myself capable of giving suggestions or advice to anyone else. But anyone can be inspired to see the struggle I had to go through in my life, to reach this point. I will say no job should be considered unworthy. And there’s nothing to be ashamed of your job either.”