"The bride has been settled, but it is not possible to marry due to coronavirus," said HM Shoaib, a bachelor whose new life to be is hanging in the coronavirus balance.
Shoaib is an assistant director at the Parliament Secretariat who is now eagerly looking forward to when all this will be over.
"There will most likely be no program [wedding ceremony] this year. Even if offices resume, no program will be possible maintaining social distancing," he said.
Though Shoaib has something to look forward to and married couples are whiling away their lockdown days with children and parents, the lives of single people have turned colourless in other ways.
Bored, with no office, and very alone in his Shewrapalat in Dhaka’s Mirpur, Shoaib says he has not been able to meet his fiancée in a long time, though both live in the capital.
"There is nobody here to talk to. This is very painful. It would not be the same if I were with my family," he said.
And this is not the worst bachelors put up with nowadays due to the lockdown and public ‘holidays’ brought on by the lethal Covid-19 pandemic.
Unemployed jobseekers, government and private job holding singles, especially young ones, stranded in various townships are going through the worst of times.
Tanzila Mostafiz Mily, is stranded over 500 kilometers away from home at her workplace, the United Nations Economic and Social Council (Ecosoc) in Cox's Bazar.
Having joined the job just five months ago, this very young woman has visited home once so far, and is now living with no known neighbours.
"This is a very bad experience I am going through," she sighed, "not seeing my near and dear family members, and my beloved."
This psychosocial support officer expressed frustration as talk of marriage with her beloved has come to a halt owing to the pandemic.
Nevertheless, the standstill has left her with a few benefits as well: time to develop career skills, and doing online courses.
“ I can manage time for myself in different ways," said the lady fond of makeup and fashion.
Mily is also using the lockdown time to sharpen her culinary skills with the help of YouTube.
In the case of a university teacher, the routine of life has undergone change as well.
A Bangladesh University of Professionals (BUP) teacher said: "Usually I had to teach classes every weekday , but the during coronavirus lockdown she has to take classes three to four days a week."
It has helped her in other ways too. The ongoing lockdown has put a stop to talk of marriage from her parents, with whom she lives in Uttara.
"They always talk about marriage. But no proposals are coming these days as everybody is now worried about the pathogen, not marriage!"
Sabbir Ahammed, a young television journalist, who has to work on a rotational shift during the public holidays, said: "The enjoyable part of life for a bachelor at a job -- chatting with colleagues during and after office, going out with friends on days off -- all that has gone out the window with the virus."
Although anxious and afraid everyday about catching Covid-19, Sanjida Islam Toma, senior officer of Trust Bank Ltd at a branch in Dhaka, appeared to be a most cheerful person in the lockdown.
"Now I can get home before evening without any traffic jams and have to attend office only three to four days," she said.
"We normally could not leave office before 8pm, thanks to the workload."
As the present situation has reduced family pressure to get married, Toma is now concentrating on studying for a government job.
Unemployed bachelor
The ongoing Covid-19 situation has brought a very different reality for unemployed bachelors, fuelling the hardships they are going through.
"Now I know what life in prison is like," said Shohan Al Mamun, a fresh Dhaka University graduate.
Though time goes by with his family, he is beginning to lose his temper.
At the moment, he is fearful of falling behind in the job market, and remaining unemployed due to the prolonged holidays.
"I was preparing for various job examinations. With no exams nowadays, I cannot concentrate on studying despite having more time on hand. I am restless and mentally shaken these days," he said.
As a bachelor graduate, he misses his freedom more than others.
