A Typical Middle Class Family in the 1980s

With this single image captured in Mogh Bazar, Dhaka (1986), our legendary photographer and cinematographer Late Anwar Hossain painted a picture of typical middle-class families in Dhaka in the 1980s. The mother is probably sorting rice with a ‘kula’ before cooking, and at the same time, she is playing with her cute youngest child with a great smile that is very assuring indeed. She is doing multi-tasks concurrently. Mothers were the powerhouse of those families, even they are today -I believe. Every day should be the mother’s day! In this image, two most elder children are preparing their lessons under the passive supervision of the mother nearby. The third eldest one is taking care of probably the second youngest one while preparing his/her lesson. Notice that all six kids are much closer to their mother. The father is browsing perhaps movie ads (page 7) in the daily newspaper, Ittefaq. The main evening entertainments of such families in 1980s were TV serials such as “Shokal Shondhay,” “Ei Shob Din Ratri,” “Shangshaptak,” “Bohubrihi,” “Dhakay Thaki,” etc. Each of these drama serials was a precious window into the soul of every family member at that time. They enjoyed watching themselves in those characters on the TV.