Risk

This happened a while ago. After walking around the tree fair, I went with Mominur to his sister’s place in Mirpur 13. I don’t go that way much, so getting back was a hassle. I took a local bus to Kakoli in Banani. I couldn’t remember whether any bus went straight home from there, but I was sure I could get a bus to Link Road from Mohakhali. I checked on Google Maps how far Mohakhali was. Not far, so I thought I’d walk to Mohakhali and see from there. No sooner said than done. I started walking, but before long the harsh sun got to me. No, walking was getting really hard. Then I remembered that some buses call out “Mohakhali, Mohakhali”. I could just get on one of those. They might all be going on to Farmgate or Tejgaon, but I only needed to get off at Mohakhali.

The wrong way

With that in mind I stood at a corner to catch whatever bus came. I called out Mohakhali to one and was about to climb on when the conductor said, “Bhai, get on from the other side of the road.” That left me a little stunned. I quickly pulled out the map and checked. He was right. Since getting off the bus I had been walking the wrong way! Mohakhali was in the opposite direction. The map had shown me the right road, but I hadn’t noticed that I was facing the other way. The road from Kakoli to Mohakhali is straight, so I hadn’t bothered to open the map again. That’s why you should always double-check things before you start anything.

The bus I let go

Anyway, I crossed the road and stood waiting for a bus again. The first one to pull up was a BRTC bus going to Farmgate via Mohakhali, so I got on. There was a signal ahead, so we just sat there. People kept getting on, and the half-empty bus filled right up, but the signal still didn’t change. Suddenly I noticed a Robrob bus behind the BRTC. It hit me straight away. Hey, I’ve seen that bus going to and from Link Road! If I got off this one and onto that one, I wouldn’t need to change at Mohakhali. I could go straight to Link Road. But then I thought, never mind, I’m already on this one, sitting comfortably under the fan. What if that bus has no seats? And what if I get off this one and the signal changes? Then I’d miss that bus and this one would leave too. Be too greedy and you lose both the mangoes and the sack. Better to stay where I am and see what I can do at Mohakhali.

So I stayed on the BRTC. It isn’t far, but with the traffic we took our time getting to Mohakhali. When I got off to change buses, the first one I saw waiting was that same Robrob bus. I was fairly sure it was the one. It had a crooked crack across the front windscreen. But by the time I walked over, lots of the people waiting at Mohakhali had already got on. In the end I ran and jumped on, and there was no room left inside. It was packed to the doors. I looked back and the other buses were no better, full buses coming one after another. So I didn’t get off. I rode it all the way to Link Road and got off there.

No risk, no gain

I learned a lot from that short trip. There’s a saying in English: “No risk, no gain.”

That’s exactly what happened. If I had taken a small risk at Kakoli and got off the BRTC to catch the Robrob, I wouldn’t have had all that trouble at Mohakhali, and I’d have saved some money too. To avoid a tiny risk, I ended up on the same bus anyway, only now without a seat and paying extra.

So I’ve made up my mind. This won’t happen again, insha’Allah. I need to get out of this habit of avoiding risk. Otherwise the doors to doing anything good in life won’t open.