As soon as i was done with my casual activities of the whole day i felt a sudden urge to got for a night ride.I called few friends of mine and then depending on their affirmative responses i started to pack.Though finally only one friend of mine agreed to go only i didn't give a damn and we got determined to see the beauty of the Bangabandhu Bridge at night.
Its winter and riding at night is both less tiring and thrilling.We surfed though the Google map and tried to find alternative routes to avoid high way- our effort went in vein but still since strike is going on we thought there can't be any better timing than this because number of buses and trucks in high way would be the least and obviously in this chilling cold of 15 degree Celsius no muggers or robbers will wait in the high way for waste,and our university was closed in the next day too.We had dinner together and set off. Pressure of vehicles was moderate until Gabtoli and then numbers thinned out.We were felt like riding into a horror film shot: it was both scary and thrilling to ride through the hovering dense fog on the high way. It was too dense to see more than a feet ahead and everything was grave-dark all around until a truck or bus passed by at intervals of few minutes."It was really fun.Everything was more thrilling than we expected ". I have been through this route before but in this foggy dark night it all seemed like a fresh new place,clean,no traffic,in a no man land. It began to go better after we crossed savar-it got chilling cold for which we had to ride faster to keep ourselves warm which infact was fun and saved our time. Roads got more spooky,deserted and dark and only 50 km away was Tangail city.The most scary things were the small plants that are planted beside the high way roads. Road to Tangail is newly constructed a straight,newly pitched 10 km road. Since we were riding fast and alone for a long time we fear began to crawl inside us slowly hence we jolt at times when we saw a dark shadow is standing near ahead- which later on have proved to be the plants, scare crows for vegetable cultivation made by the locals or the pile of wood and road side pillars. I wont lie that i was not scared.I was scared to the bone when i felt that i have been riding for too long and still the road is same,no more vehicles are coming and there was wild noises,rusting parallel to us. I started enchanting surah and paddled faster and we huddled together in the middle of the road so that if there were muggers hiding behind the bush at the road side they cant hit us or jump on us-"Fear of darkness". We began to paddle faster."Oh! I forgot! The shadow on the fog!" Once i saw a shadow on the fog,"remember the fog was dense " ,and my throat dried in fear , then i just paddled with all my strength to out run the shadow and discovered the shadow ran along since it was the silhouette of my Rahat who was just ahead of my front light.
However we crossed few police check points and felt a assurance in heart. And just when we were 30 km behind of our destination we saw a long line traffic and were too happy to pass though them since they were hardly moving - we felt safe finally.
As soon as we reached the end of the line a group of local police stopped us and started to search us for identification and interrogated us. We answered them accordingly but all of a sudden the SI, Prem Bondhu, of Tangail Model Police Station began to abuse us and blamed us that we were a part of criminal activities going on in this area where few minutes back a vehicle was set on fire."In my worst night mare even i have never experienced this type of things". The constables were also nodding and supporting him saying that the pumper, patch-kit and water bottle found in my backpack were used for making bombs.They searched us for money and found only few hundreds and nothing else which made them upset and angry but still we were the criminals there who were wearing plastic helmets. The officer kicked us, slapped us and then took away our helmets and sunglasses then threw them on the road where the speeding trucks smashed them to the ground- i felt like that would be the end. They forced us to call our families and i felt like crying out loud in pain when they were kicking my cycle and broke my accessories. I tried heard to explain them,showed our endomondo routes,university id cards, but they we not willing to hear anything, they just went on hitting us and threw loathsome words on us. We could not go father then the point you can see on the map up-front.Our Ride ends here at around 3 30 am.
"I accept the country in under critical situation and political turbulence is going on but does that mean we will hide within our home in fear and encourage the opposition and let their event be successful or should it be like the government will encourage people to do all their activities and provide protection to those who might need it instead of harassing student of private university and arresting them just because police has the right to interrogate and suspect anyone at any time ?Does that right make a cyclist a on-looker for criminals who would ride for 100km to get info and represent cycle accessories as tools for bombing.
"I feel scared to go out now and riding in these days seems like a dream!"
Many cyclist from Bangladesh has been cycling day and night and never faced a problem,might have never heard of it either. But 'bhaiya' lets not risk it-if possible take a group of at least 5 or else don't go and i would completely discourage ride at night because there wont be anyone to see what happened to you people and why. "Remember if you go to jail for once in Bangladesh you will be a criminal in everyone's eyes and forever". If needed go through this video to know what happens at night!
NB:This post is to warn cyclist/tourist about our current country situation! I don't want justice or sympathy!
-happy cycling
-stay safe
Post by Tour And Cycling.
