“This is not just a chair; it’s a form of treatment for your ailment.”
I’ve suffered from back pain for many years. Despite seeing sports medicine specialists, neurologists, and neurosurgeons, the pain persists. As a Dhaka University student around 45 years ago, I was involved in a motorcycle accident that injured my back. Five or six years post-accident, I underwent Lumbar Intervertebral Disc Prolapse Surgery (L4, L5). Things were relatively stable until 2006 when I was diagnosed with bone cancer and subsequently had a bone marrow transplant.
In October 2018, due to a severe traumatic incident, my condition worsened significantly. Six months after this traumatic pain episode, I consulted a neurologist and underwent physiotherapy at CRP Mirpur Hospital for over six months. While there was some relief, the pain recurred every few months.
Last year, following the advice of an ‘orthopedic specialist’ doctor, I underwent 24 sessions of laser therapy over three months. Although I experienced temporary relief, the problem was not resolved.
I again started physiotherapy at CRP Hospital. The senior consultant at CRP Hospital advised me not to sit on revolving chairs or soft cushioned sofas, and to sleep on a hard bed. He also suggested using a wooden chair in the office. He referred me to the CRP Technical Team department. There, a technician took various measurements of my body and created a rough sketch of a chair.
There are several furniture shops near CRP Hospital and Pangu Hospital that can make this special chair. The physiotherapist at CRP Hospital, who has given me physiotherapy for more than six months, gave me the address of a furniture shop she knows.
Naturally, I haggle before buying anything. I went to the shop and asked in detail, “How much will it cost?”
The Bihari shopkeeper, speaking a mix of Urdu and Bengali, said, “Do you think I’m very rich? Will I become a millionaire by selling one chair?”
Then the conversation stopped – out of politeness!
Due to the physiotherapist’s recommendation and trusting the shopkeeper’s word, I ordered a wooden chair and paid an advance of two thousand rupees. The furniture shop owner gave a money receipt for two thousand rupees but did not write the total price of the chair. After 4-5 days, the shopkeeper called and said, “The chair is ready, the shop’s delivery boy will deliver the chair to your house. The price of the chair is 20 thousand rupees. I gave a discount of two thousand rupees for the doctor’s sake. The price is 18 thousand rupees. You paid two thousand rupees in advance, send the remaining 16 thousand rupees through bKash.
After hearing the price, we haggled for a bit. The shopkeeper said, ‘Sir, this isn’t just a chair, it’s like medicine for your ailment!’
I told him I wouldn’t buy a chair for that much money and hung up the phone. I informed my physiotherapist about the incident. I declined the chair delivery. A few days ago, the shopkeeper had sent one of his employees to deliver the chair, along with a bill of ten thousand rupees, and instructed him to collect two hundred rupees as a delivery charge…
