Had it not been for an unfortunate accident, MD. Kawsar Hossain would be leading a normal life today. But, the accident changed it all. He lost his right arm and, with it, the right to earn a decent living.
With no job in sight, he was reduced to begging on the street corners and traffic lights, along with his children. Despite the difficulties faced by him in making ends meet, his fatherly love for his daughter never deserted him.
He adored his daughter and wanted to educate her and provide her with everything that children her age aspire for, including new clothes. But, he did not earn enough through begging to even buy one new dress for his daughter, leave alone meeting her other desires.
But his yearning to see his daughter in a new dress was all consuming. As time passed, this yearning almost took the form of an obsession. He was determined to buy his daughter a new dress. So, he diligently started saving money from what he earned by begging to realize this dream.
It took all of two years for him to finally put together the amount that would fetch him the dress. He visited the shop and selected a dress that his daughter liked. But, his travails did not end there.
When he tried to pay for the dress through loose change that he had saved through begging, the shopkeeper immediately grasped that he was a beggar and humiliated him. This outright humiliation disturbed the daughter accompanying him, who burst into tears. She begged her father to leave the shop without buying that dress, saying that she doesn’t need it anymore. However, Kawsar remained adamant and managed to buy the yellow colored dress from his two years of saving.
His love for his daughter overcame all obstacles and brought a wide grin on his daughter’s face, as is evident from a photo, where the girl is playing with her father on the swing, wearing her new yellow dress. This most touching picture brings tears to the eyes.
Read The Full Story:
Yesterday, I was able to buy a new dress for my daughter after two years. While I handed sixty pieces of five taka note to the seller, he yelled at me by asking if I am a beggar. My daughter held my hand and cried to leave the shop by saying that she did not want to buy any dress. I wept off her tears with one hand. Yes, I am a beggar. Ten years ago I had never thought in my nightmares that I have to live by begging from people. The night coach fell from the bridge and unbelievably I was alive. I was alive by becoming a disable. My youngest son often ask me where had I left my other hand. And my daughter Sumaiya feed me every day by saying she knows how difficult it is to do all work with one hand.
After two years my daughter is wearing a new dress, that’s why today I brought her with me to play for some time. May be I will not be able to earn anything today, but I wanted to roam around with my little girl. I secretly borrowed this mobile phone from my neighbor without informing my wife. My daughter has no picture and I want to make this day memorable for her. When one day I will have a phone I will take a lot of pictures of my children. I want to keep good memories. It’s very difficult to send my children to school, but I am educating them all. Sometimes they cannot attend exam because giving exam fees is not always possible by me. On those days they feel very sad then I tell them, sometimes we can miss exams because the biggest exam is life which we are giving every day.
Now I will go for begging. I will place my daughter in a signal where she will wait for me. I will look at her from distant while begging. I feel shame while she looks at me when I lend my one hand to others. But she never leaves me alone. Because there are big cars, she thinks accident can happen again, these cars could run on me and I would die. Whenever I managed to get some money I return to home by holding my daughter’s hand. We do bazaar on our way and my daughter always carry that bag. During rain we love to get wet and talk about our dreams. In someday I do not get any money, on those days we return to home silently. On those days I feel like to die but at night when my children fall in sleep by holding me I feel being alive is not a bad thing. Only bad is when my daughter waits for me in the signal by keeping her head down. When I cannot look at her eye while begging. But today is different. Because today my daughter is very happy. Today this father is not a beggar. Today this father is a king and here is his princess.
– MD. Kawsar Hossain