Dhaka's 300 feet of madness
The new Purbachal Expressway buzzes not only with high-speed vehicles but crowds of tourists too. While causing nuisance and accidents, the latter reflects the dearth of open public spaces in the capital city
On my trip to the popularly known "300-feet road", officially the Purbachal Expressway, or Sheikh Hasina Sarani, not much activity could be seen - until dusk.
As the evening was about to set and the lights were on, the dazzling ambience along the wide road was gearing towards life with the crowd cheering up.
People were gathering to enjoy the views and surroundings, some to witness a beautiful sunset.
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Cautions were frequently being directed to the crowd for not sitting on the edge of the over-the-top loops because a fall would mean surefire injury, if not death - as beneath the loops were vehicles whooshing by on the expressway.
Meanwhile, photographers were chasing flocks of 'tourists' like the way it is usually done at the Cox's Bazar seaside.
It was hard to fathom if this was a public park or a multilane busy highway.
Ever since this expressway was inaugurated last November, the over-the-top roundabout junctions have turned out to be popular "tourist spots".
Family outings have become a 'norm' - with people posting photos and videos of hanging out on the roadsides on social media platforms.
TikTokers post viral dance performances, while young people from rich families conduct car shows deep in the night, often allegedly drunk.
Casualties such as falling from the edge of the roundabouts as well as car crashes have been common occurrences. Yet, tourist interests seem to not be dwindling.
Craziness all over
As the evening was lurking, with glimpses of the last bit of daylight getting darker, a holler at the Nila market side abruptly woke up the entire area.
A man was seen chasing down two other young men, "Catch them", he was screaming. Then two, then three, and gradually an entire throng of crowd started chasing the two down the busy road.
The howling crowd had little idea about what was going on, but the chase would not stop until the young men finally surrendered.
A public beatdown broke real quick - with punches being thrown and bruises inflicted. The men were lucky though, because police had reached the spot quickly to save them.
They were taken to a streetside police station.
"They [the young men] snatched two derby cigarettes from me," screamed Ahsanullah, a street vendor who sells cigarettes to visitors. Two Derby cigarettes cost around Tk10.
People seemed to be happy about the 'successful' chase - because to them the petty theft provided a fun, scripted 'adventuresque' experience while causing no serious harm.
"I have punched him hard at my hand's pleasure [ore maira haater shukh mitaisi]," Shahidul Islam laughed out loud after channelling days' rage on the snatchers.
He sells Ghoti Gorom, a chanachur delicacy at the Nila Market-Moizuddin Chottor section of the expressway.
"Different circuses go on in this place all through the night," Shahidul added.
A place for family outings?
Abdus Samad, living in the Agargaon area of the capital, was spending that evening along the roadside with his family.
"This is a beautiful road," Mr Samad said. "My children saw photos on Facebook, and ever since they have been insisting on coming here. I am really impressed with how wide the road is."
When asked if Mr Samad finds it troubling that so many people from Dhaka gather around the expressway circles, often causing mishaps, he countered, "What is the problem here? We have to go somewhere. The children cannot remain only at school and home."
A testament to the lack of open areas?
The city planners, meanwhile, view the recent tourist fascination of Dhaka residents with an expressway as a testament to the government's failure to provide urban dwellers with enough parks and open spaces for leisure or family outings.
Dhaka, a city of 22 million residents, is severely lacking playgrounds and open spaces for children to play, or families to spend time together.
The Detailed Area Plan (DAP) of the Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk) revealed that 41 out of the 129 capital city corporation wards have no playgrounds.
In addition, many of the available ones are not accessible to the public. Rajuk also mentioned that 37 wards have neither playgrounds nor parks.
Urban planners recommend that there should be a playground in every half a square kilometre of a city.
On that estimation, 610 playgrounds will be needed within the 305.47 square kilometres area covered by Dhaka's two city corporations. However, there are only 256.
Meanwhile, the Bangladesh Institute of Planners (BIP) suggested that for a city like Dhaka, 2,000 parks and 4,000 fields are needed for its 22 million residents – which obviously is a far cry.
The craze about the 300-feet expressway, as a result, reflects the lack of public facilities for recreation, said urban planner Dr Adil Mohammed Khan.
"Spaces where residents and their families can go are very limited in our city. And the space created for recreation has a sort of disparity.
As we see, in some places, only the higher or higher-middle class people may have access, but the poor or lower-middle class people may not," Dr Khan said.
He also suggested, "For a city to have a recreational space does not mean that it has to be in the central or far.
There should be area-specific public spaces where locals can visit. We do not have such, instead, we have a limited number of big spaces overall - some of which we often have to avail with money," he added.
New spot for small businesses
As the night was getting darker, the roadsides were becoming more crowded. Ice cream vendor Shohag had a broad smile on his face - for his sales were going well.
"This place remains lively till midnight. What you see here today is a lot less than on Fridays and Saturdays," he said.
A photographer named Saddam said he started his gig at the Purbachal road since it had been inaugurated.
"Money came good in the beginning. I used to earn up to Tk5,000 a day, but now the competition is higher, as around 20 photographers operate here," Saddam said.
Hailing from Cumilla, he lives in Berulia, Savar. His business continues until midnight, after which he returns home riding CNG autos.
"We charge Tk10 for each photo. Some clients come as groups and take more than 200 photos at once," he added.
Tragic incidents, viral moments
The hoo-ha surrounding the expressway asks for much attention. However, videos of tragic and strange incidents taking place on this road found aplenty on social media, may suggest otherwise.
Not long ago, a video of a fairly young woman falling from the edge of the loop-up to the expressway beneath went viral. During the incident, many suspected that she had died.
The Business Standard talked to the woman who shared that incident online, saying the victim survived, and later was taken to a hospital.
"She slipped down while she was there with her drunk boyfriend," she said.
Although the victim survived, her front jaw was shattered - according to the witness.
Another bizarre footage that recently went viral features a young man standing on the bonnet of a Toyota Noah minivan, which was circling around while the doors were wide open.
In the same footage was a car circling at a high speed - before crashing against the isle.
Dr Adil Mohammed Khan emphasised the growing urge to "go viral", and mentioned that such peculiar behaviour has to do with the overall social grooming, and mental health decline.
"Social restlessness is an issue, especially among the urban people. There is a tendency of showing off, to remain relevant before the public - thus going viral on social media," he said.
Sabbir Ahmed, a police officer on duty at the streetside police station, informed that they are working on building awareness among visitors, to not act irresponsibly, for their own safety.
"People from areas like Gulshan often come here after 10 pm. They take photos and all that. Sometimes accidents happen. However, casualties used to be more frequent in the early days. Now, we are building awareness about not standing by the isles."
