Ahsan Habib (AH): I studied in Segunbagicha School. At that time we used to live at Babar Road in Mohammadpur. I used to go home from school by a double-decker bus. It started from Topkhana Road and ended at College Gate via Gulistan. It went to my destination through the main sections of the metropolis. My most favourite place was the front sit in the upper deck. From there I could see the city and felt like I was in an airplane, which was flying over it. It was like a dream. I was besotted with the ride. It was my dream machine.

SC: What is your first memory of Dhaka?

AH: My father, a sub-divisional police officer, was martyred in the Liberation War. My mother, youngest sister and I first came to Dhaka in 1972 after spending a few months at my grandparents' place. We rented a house on Dilu Road in Eskaton at Tk 400 a month.

My two elder brothers were in Mohsin Hall and Fazlul Haque Hall and my elder sister was in Rokeya Hall in Dhaka University. I was a student of class six but was yet to be enrolled in a school. As I had nothing to do at daytime I took strolls on roads in the vicinity of my home.

Dhaka was in total disarray. Children used to play on the streets with helmets left by the defeated Pakistan army. Those were aplenty. Helmets were also used in checking leaks in rickshaw tires. A helmet was filled in water and then a leaked tire was dipped in it to see whether it makes bubbles or not. It was a great solution for repairing tires.

After a few months we got a quarter on Babar Road from the government as a family of a martyred and then we shifted from Dilu Road. After that I was enrolled in Segunbagicha School where actor Rubel was my classmate. He was very fashion conscious and kept bangs on his forehead. I thought how a boy could be so stylish at this age.

SC: What was the city like when you first came to Dhaka?

AH: It was cleaner and less crowded. Mohammadpur was a deserted place. Twenty eight paisa was the highest fare of the double-decker. As students we had to pay only 15 paisa. Every day I took 30 paisa from my mother for my daily expenses. Rickshaws were luxuries for students. There were no scooters but 'murir tin' (run-down) buses. These buses had a special attraction for me as I could ride on the roof. It was very exciting. I used to ride on the roof of a murir tin while going to Chankharpul or Press Club.

SC: How have the changes affected your life?

AH: One of the big changes is the growth of apartment buildings. On the three sides of my two-storey house there are three multi-storey apartment buildings. Often people living in these apartments lack common sense and resort to throwing trash out of the windows. Sometimes I think unless I turn my two-storey house into an apartment building I have to go through it. But still I have no plan to do so.

SC: Which part or what about Dhaka you are proud of?

AH: I am proud because I live in Dhaka. I need nothing else to be proud of.

SC: What do you envisage for Dhaka in the next 20 years?

AH: I am an optimist. I hope the city will be cleaner. There will be modern buildings but not concrete jungles. Errant electric cables should be tidied up. Once I was caught by a thick electric cable, thankfully there was no electrocution!

I think Dhaka City Corporation cannot do the cleaning business and nothing will be done by planning in this country. It will happen if the atmosphere changes with modernisation. For an example there was a rickety tea stall in my area where local hoodlums used to gather. But once a modern building of an NGO was built in the plot behind the tea stall after some time the stall was gone. It happened naturally but before that nobody had the clout to remove that stall from there.

I have a plan to shift to the village in my later years so may be I will not be in the city.

Ahsan Habib, editor of monthly Unmad, a satire magazine, spoke to Durdana Ghias of Star City.