A tale of two bridges, where people still go number 2
In the 1978 movie "Oshikkhito" directed by Azizur Rahman, starring Abdur Razzak and Anjana Sultana, one of the songs, "Dhaka Shahar Aisha", speaks of the actor's surprise and elation at what she witnesses in the capital.
The lyrics of the song revolve around the red and blue lights, which turn on without the use of oil in this "strange city" and water bursting from the ground (read fountains), instead of the sky.
A few of the segments in the song were shot on the Farmgate Footover Bridge, a then gleaming sign of a country growing in power.
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The Farmgate footover bridge was built in the 70s and then renovated sometime in the 90s. It attracted thousands of people on both occasions.
What happened on Sunday at the Padma Bridge, where hundreds of thousands of people began to walk on the bridge, is something that has happened throughout history in different times.
While some may ridicule the idea of walking on the bridge, let's not forget that till this day millions travel to different countries to see the massive infrastructures, including bridges, over there.
A good comparison is the Golden Gate Bridge in USA's San Francisco, built in 1937. A number of parallels can be drawn between that and our own Padma Bridge.
Like how the Padma Bridge was made with mostly our funds, the Golden Gate Bridge also eschewed federal funds.
While the Padma Bridge took eight years to build, the Golden Gate Bridge took four. Although, it wasn't mired in political controversies or a pandemic which caused delays.
The first vehicle to go across both bridges were motorcycles. On the opening day of San Francisco's bridge, called the "Pedestrian Day", 200,000 people walked on the bridge.
The same happened in Bangladesh, although there was no official declaration.
The Golden Gate, over the years, often had people trying to climb it. In 1985, two guys climbed the top of the bridge and hung a 49ers banner.
The two were left off with a $35 trespassing tickets, which would now cost $10,000 and a year in jail.
Although Padma Bridge doesn't have its first climber yet, it does have its first nut and bolt thief, something the Golden Gate can't boast about.
And those urinating? It's a problem San Francisco has faced and devised a solution for that we too can borrow.
San Francisco city officials in 2015 began implementing "pee-proof" paint around the city to combat the persistent problem of public urination.
If an offender tried to urinate on a wall coated with the super hydrophobic paint, the urine, instead of running down the wall, would spray back at the person relieving himself, potentially hitting his clothes or shoes.
As the fines didn't work, these more drastic measures had to be taken.
Would surely work for Bangladesh, wouldn't it?
Massive infrastructures attract all kinds of people. It won't be too far off the mark to suggest the government relaxed some rules only to generate more hype: thousands of people on the bridge, long queues of bikes and cars, etc.
It did play up to what was being promoted: the Padma Bridge was perhaps the greatest gift of this government's reigns.
And everything that happen on Sunday, had already happened sometime, somewhere else.
