Water seems the bane of her life, following Nur from the Sundarbans all the way here. In the monsoons, it collects in crevices between homes, creating a sweet nesting spot for mosquitoes. When neighbours are on good terms, they collect coins and bring DDT to sprinkle in the puddles. Acrid smoke rises from burning rubber and old sandals, lit by women trying to stretch the cooking fire a little further because firewood costs Rs 5 a kilo.
Nur and Kajal spot a knot of children playing tiktik, humming its sing-song chant. The older girls are away at their Quran classes, held in a makeshift hut run by a nearby mosque, their scarves neatly pinned beneath their chins. One of the children reaches out and grabs Nur’s hand, pulling her briefly into their circle.
Thakuma – small, ashen-haired, the slum’s oldest at barely 58, dengue having taken her family – returns with packets of biscuits under her arm. She walks with a totter, her voice like cracked betel nut: jagged, never unkind. When a child is left hungry and alone because their mother is at work, it’s Thakuma who notices first. She calls them in with a cluck of her tongue, presses a...
from Scroll.in https://scroll.in/article/1095723/a-new-book-follows-the-lives-of-climate-refugees-from-bangladesh-after-cyclone-aila-in-2009?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=public https://sc0.blr1.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/article/215557-cwfnmmhwzn-1789372374.jpg
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