Ashik Kabir

“ Hand me the colors of the rainbow and unforeseen parade of life,
In you I start my life and it’s in you I indulge myself
Drenched in you, I call for another day of life
Kept my head high, until the Bengali in me thrive”

Here comes again the day, which gives us the opportunity to burgeon our cultural identity as Bengali. Before this day we are separated in our religious, cultural ,socio-economical ways. On this day there is no difference between the rich and poor or any other religious communities. We start the day as Bengali people and celebrate it with the traditional Bengali rituals. The first day of the Bengali new year starts with colors, music, arts and elegance. On this day we mix our creativity, emotions and pour down the internal affections for our cultural upliftment. For years the Bengali culture has prevailed as one of the rich cultures of the world. Bengali people of Bangladesh, some parts of India and different parts of the world might be different in many ways, but on this day we are just Bengali and no one can take away this identity from us. There were a set of rulers from both Hindus and Muslims ruled the Bengal region, they have modified our cultures according to their wish, but one thing they couldn’t take from us is our cultural, our tradition and our “Being Bengali”. Whatever we do, wherever we are on this day, no one can snatch away the feeling that makes us proud of our culture. Bengali culture is enriched with so many variations of cultural affinities. No literature, music, arts and ethnicity is as rich as our Bengali culture. Being born as Bengali gives you the advantage of being a writer, poet or singer. It’s in our vein that our culture runs, and it’s our tradition that enabled us to give away our lives for our culture, language and identity without thinking for a second time. Bangladesh is the only country in the world which is named after their language. It’s the sacrifice of Bangladeshi people on 21st February in 1952 that gives us the right to celebrate our language day as the international mother language day. Many religious extremist in Bangladesh are against the celebration of Pohela Baishak, denying it as a Hindu tradition. But they forget that before they are identified as any religious community, they are identified as Bengali, and that how they are differentiated in the world. It’s in Bengali culture, that our daily life takes shelter.
In Bangladesh the day is celebrated on 14th of April and in different parts of India it’s celebrated on 15th April. The ways of celebration are all the same in different parts of the world. We start the day, with Rabindra Sangit ( Songs of Rabindranath), we eat our traditional food- rice, traditional curries and Hilsa fish. The girls dressed in White and Red, enhance the beauty of the day, where the beauty and elegance of Bengali girls are already inspiring the literature of Bengali culture. Men wear traditional Kurtas to match up with their female partners. It’s the day of celebrating the Bengali life. And we do celebrate it by putting so much of colors, arts and creativity in it. With the beginning of the day to the dawn, the day belongs to the Bengali culture. The day signifies that we should forget the past and begin the new year with more enthusiasm and continue the enrichment of Bengali culture and it’s tradition. In Dhaka the day will be started with songs by Chayanat at Ramna Bataul and the Dhaka University, Fine arts faculty will bring out the colorful procession with their innovative creation. As the days goes by, it will be the Bengali culture that will seize the day. With lot of hopes, lot of opportunity we will look forward to the days to come after this and will be praying for peace and happiness for all the communities irrespective of any differences.

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