At nine o’clock on the morning after Bangladesh’s 13th national election, Dhaka felt unfamiliar.
The honking was gone. The buses were gone. It was as if someone had briefly lowered the volume on one of the world’s most densely populated megacities.
A few rickshaws drifted past shuttered shops. Stray dogs slept in the middle of the roads normally ruled by private cars. The air, usually thick with smog, felt almost breathable.
The day before had been different. On February 12, voters rushed towards polling centres across the capital, some arriving early to avoid long queues, others waiting in clusters outside school gates temporarily converted into voting stations. Security forces stood at intersections. By evening, the rush dissolved into speculation. The city grew quiet as polling centres began counting the votes.
On February 13, by afternoon, after the Jummah prayer, the streets were filled with the laughter of children playing cricket and football. The sight was unexpectedly tender -- a city briefly surrendered to childhood. Stripped of traffic, it revealed what it rarely provides. A space to play.
Sandals became goalposts and cricket stumps. A tennis ball wrapped with tape travelled the full width of a lane. The arguments were small and urgent -- whether the ball had brushed a sleeve, whether someone was offside.
While the Election Commission, security forces, and the media were busy with the election results, elders were glued to the TV screens for live coverage, youths refreshed news portals on their phones, and the children were busy negotiating fielding positions in the middle of the road.
A large portion of the population had moved to their hometowns for a few days to take advantage of the election holidays. Offices were closed, leaving the streets empty. The ones who benefited most were the children of Dhaka -- those often deprived of safe, accessible playgrounds.
Adults had spent weeks debating governance, representation, and reform. Yet the most visible transformation in Dhaka came simply from the absence of cars.
