In 1978, Golapi, the central character in the film Golapi
Ekhon Trene, boarded a train. In 2026, pink buses for women are taking to
the roads of Dhaka.
Nearly five decades separate the two scenes. One takes place
on a movie screen, the other on real streets. One involves a character named
Golapi, the other a pink colored bus. Yet somewhere between the two lies a long
line tracing the journey of Bangladeshi society.
In one, there was a poor woman who took to the road to earn
a living. In...
