Working on Eid while others rejoice

While everyone else is enjoying a long Eid holiday with family and friends, Riad Hossain is at work. He is an attendant at the emergency unit of a hospital at Farmgate and waits at his desk for any emergency patients who may be rushed in.

“It’s an emergency service. You cannot leave this desk vacant,” said Riad Hossain, who is very young. He adds, “I miss my parents a lot on Eid day, but I have to stay at work because of my profession. We have to choose one of the two Eids for our holiday.”

There are many more like Riad who have to sacrifice their celebrations due to professional commitments.

This Prothom Alo correspondent on Saturday talked to people from several professions who were working on Eid day.

Rickshaw pullers, members of the law enforcement and security agencies, doctors are all on the list.

Those from such professions share similar stories. If they get leave on one Eid, they have to have to work on the next.

While talking to this correspondent, a physician of Al Razi Hospital at Farmgate, Sutapa, said, “I’m lucky that my family members don’t make a fuss, but it’s not easy being away from the family during such a big festival.”

Ramzan Ali, a bus driver on the Motijheel-Badda route, was generous in his attitude. “If everybody goes on leave, how will the city run?”

Rafiqul Islam, a security guard at an ATM booth said, “We don’t have any leave. As this booth has no alternative guard, I have to stay stationed here on each and every festival.”

Anwar Hossain, a constable at the Sonargaon intersection of the capital city, told Prothom Alo that his family has become used to this. “When I first took up this job, my family members were taken aback to hear I had to work on Eid.”

“This is the first Eid after my marriage, but I can’t spend it with my wife. I have to come to work,” said Tarikul Islam, a journalist of a private TV channel in the capital’s Mahakhali.

While the rest of the population enjoys the Eid after a long month of Ramadan, there are those who have to keep the cogs and wheels of the city moving. Duty calls!