Holding a placard inscribed with I am a volunteer. How can I help you? Sagarika was waiting at the entrance of Dhaka Medical College Hospital s Covid-19 unit. As soon as an ambulance arrived, she rushed towards it, helping the patient get off from the vehicle.
As the patient got down, she helped the wheelchair-bound patient get to the Covid-19 unit, while providing necessary instructions to family members.
Sagarika is one of 15 members of a group of volunteers serving patients at DMCH, 10 of whom, including Sagarika, are from the transgender community.
Clad in orange jackets, the volunteers have been an ever-present sight at the hospital since April 14, the first day of the current phase of the lockdown.
Photo: Suzit Kumar Das
The family once ruled 22 parganas or mahals in Faridpur and Barishal regions. The then British rulers of India later bestowed the family with the title Roy Bahadur Chowdhury .
All of the family members except Sukusar Roy Bahadur moved to Kolkata in India after the zamindari system was abolished in 1950, when the family lost all their estates, including the Baishroshi mansion, to the state.
Sukusar Roy Bahadur took his own life after the independence of Bangladesh. Amaresh Roy Chowdhury, a successor of the family, resides in Rajshahi.
Currently, only 30 acres of the property including the ponds and the structures remain in dilapidated state under the possession of the government. Influential locals over the years encroached on the remainder of the land that belonged to the compound of the mansion.