In the Old Port, the traffic on the river is as congested as on land. No one knows the population of Dhaka. A hot Friday evening in a labyrinthine stone tenement close to Kamalpur station. About 30 members of the National Union of Garment Workers talk about their work. There are five or six lines, so that if one line slows down, the delay can be traced to the faulty operative.
Work is relentless.
Jaundice comes from the impure drinking water provided by management. If they make a mistake, they are fined or beaten. Yesterday, a woman of 40 was beaten by a manager with the leg of a chair, because her thread unwound. She was sacked. A woman whose son had been killed was forbidden to leave her bench.