Md Ripon Mia sells fruit from a van standing beside Kalighat Road in Sreemangal upazila of Moulvibazar district. Shortly after his mother died, his father remarried and started a separate household. From then on, Ripon had to fight his own battle in life.

Keen on his studies, he started selling fruit to pay for his education himself. From class six to the SSC he paid for his schooling by selling fruit, and he also got through higher secondary with money from his fruit sales. He hopes to pursue higher education in future.

Ripon went into business from the age of six. In between, he also does tiling work for extra income, but the fruit trade attracts him more. Ripon has been without his parents since the age of two. He grew up at his grandfather's house, and after his grandparents died, he grew up in his uncle's household.

Ripon is the second of three brothers and one sister. His elder brother works as an assistant in a vegetable shop, and his younger sister studies at a madrasa. Ripon said: "As a child I was very naughty, so I was sent to my grandfather's house. Meanwhile my mother died. Then my father remarried."

He lives alone in a two-room flat on Sindurkhan Road in the town. Besides paying for his studies from the fruit trade, Ripon has to pay Tk 3,500 a month in rent, which comes to Tk 4,000 with the electricity bill. He earns Tk 2,000-8,000 a day from selling fruit, and spends Tk 400 a day on food and daily necessities.

Depending on the season, Ripon sets up on the street with local and foreign fruit arranged on his van. Oranges, maltas, apples, grapes and bananas are his regular stock, and in season he also collects and sells lychees, mangoes and jackfruit.

He sells fruit from 10am to midnight. At night, people heading home after closing their shops drop by his stall to buy fruit. Ripon is well known to people around Kalighat Road, Sindurkhan Road, Jalalia Road, Muslim Bagh, Ramnagar and nearby areas.

Everyone around loves Ripon and is proud of his dedication to his studies. According to nearby traders, Ripon is a very good young man, and one of his qualities is that he has not given up his studies despite so many family problems.

He is continuing his education through his own efforts, and everyone encourages him. Since Ripon has come this far on his own, everyone hopes he can travel the rest of the way just as well.

Written by Jibon Pal.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.