Anisul Islam Noor
The nation celebrated Pahela Falgun to mark the advent of spring with flowers and festivities. Young people are also ready to celebrate the Valentine’s Day today with fun and exchange of pleasantries all over the country.
Colorful celebration yesterday marked the daylong festivities of Pahela Falgun in the capital and other cities and across the nation. Girls wore red and yellow saris and clipped red flowers on the hair tops as a mark of celebration.
Both occasions have added new dimension to celebration in the sideline of Ekushey Boil Mela closer to Dhaka University Teachers -Students Center.
Young men wished their fiancés with flowers and spent time in the out door enjoying music
and dining in the wayside eateries. Similar celebration is expected particularly among young men and girls today to cente the Valentine’s Day.
Band groups yesterday rendered music at important city places and open gardens like Ramna Park and Suhrawardy Udyan to welcome the spring and say goodbye to winter.
Dhaka University Music Department organized song festival in front of the Arts Faculty
Building where boys and girls from nearby residential halls gathered in large number and made the event colorful with dance and music.
Similar events were held at Bakultola in front of the Fine Arts Faculty of the Dhaka University. Students of Jagannath University also celebrated the event exchanging flowers among friends. Young girls in colorful saris wandered around in groups.
Curzon area wore the look of smart demonstration of human beauty and natural flowers as young man and women passed time together on occasion. Particularly the crowd at Ramna Garden was noticeable. People stayed the entire day in the open air under the shade of trees with family members. Most of them carried cooked or dry food and enjoyed it together.
Flowers stand at the center of the event on both the occasions. Sales of various flowers also marked a sharp rise on this occasion. Teenagers thronged flower shops to buy flowers, floral gifts and boutiques to celebrate the Pahela Falgun and Valentine’s Day. Flowers shops at Shahbag were overcrowded. Police had to divert transport through Shahbagh to reduce traffic congestion.
Flowers sold at exorbitantly high price. Gladiolas sold at Tk 25 each rose at Tk 25, China rose at Tk 40, Lily at Tk 300 per stick, Rajanigandha at Tk 15 to 20 and Gerbera was selling at Tk 15-25 per stick or piece at Shahbagh and other city shops.
Abul Kalam, president of floating hawkers’ association at Shahbagh selling flowers said they made huge sales on Tuesday as many people came to Ekushey Book Fair on the day to celebrate Pahela Falgun.
They also expect to make brisk sale today on the Valentine’s Day,” he said, adding that they made huge sales on Monday. “Last year I made profits of Tk 2 lakh and I hope big sales and profit this year as well, he said.
Many traders have set up temporary flowers shops on road side in the capital and also selling flowers. Florists in the capital stocked flowers of different varieties to meet huge demand on both occasion coming together.
The farmers have grown large amounts of flowers this year targeting Pahela Falgun, Valentine’s Day and Ekushey February. Farming flowers has become a highly profitable business as the cultural festivities have become part of national celebrations that were not the case 20 years back.
Abdur Rahim, president of Bangladesh Flowers Society, told The New Nation that flower worth almost Tk 14-15 crore have already been sold in the last five days in Jessore centering Pahela Falgun and Valentine’s Day.
“We have a target to sell flower worth about Tk 50-60 crore across the country in February,” he said.
