THE nation celebrates the Bengali New Year ‘Pahela Baishakh’ today with the debut of the new dawn with colourful festivities and eye catching socio-cultural events throughout the country. The day breaks with Bengali New Year-1422 with welcoming soirées at the city’s Ramna Botomul; which has emerged in past years as the hotspot of the New Year’s opening festivities followed by other places in city parks, colleges, university campuses and open-air grounds.
We welcome the New Year and join the nation wishing the people everything that would bring them good and keep them away from evils. The New Year is always expected to come to fulfil new hopes and aspirations and leave behind pains and sorrows. However, it is being observed this year when the nation is reeling under severe political crisis with scores of people dead and property destroyed. We would like to use the occasion to renew our call to the government to give free election to end the crisis.
It is a public holiday and most people will stay out-door to enjoy festivities. ‘Hilsa-Panta’ highlights the occasion. It also brings brisk business to street-side vendors while band groups, theater parties and vocalists render services to crowds adding new flavour to festivities all over. Police will clamp tight security on the occasion to ensure public safety at all level.
A festive ‘Mongol Sovayatra’ from the Institute of Fine Arts of the Dhaka University will highlight event. Jubilant participants, mostly young boys and girls in colourful dresses and painting in their face will dance in the streets. They would carry placards with signs and slogans of old relics, ghosts and animals; which are overwhelmingly ambient of pagan culture but organizers now tend to project them as part of secular culture of Bangladesh. They are at work to reshape the Islamic values. However we would like to see it more as part of our rich cultural diversity and wish everyone to enjoy the occasion through the daylong events.
Pahela Baishakh has its own history for two reasons. Business people end their annual ledger book on the earlier day and open new books of account for the New Year this day exchanging greetings and sweets. Moreover, Mogul Emperor Akbar had used Pahela Baishakh as the calendar month for revenue collection bearing its importance on the people of this region. But both of these characteristics have almost lost significance now while the political overture of the event has made it more noticeable.
We share liberal democratic outlook within our religious faith and social values. But notwithstanding these issues we join to celebrate the occasion as a renewed commitment to our past heritage. We wish everybody again a happy Bengali New Year.
