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Celebrating Nababarsha

Marzla Rahman
FUN and fiesta, song and sunshine, drum and dancing, crowd and colour, joy and jubilance - all are found in one single day. the day we Bangalis proudly celebrate our 'Pahela Baishakh'. It is celebrated on April 14th. Pahela Baishakh is also known as 'Nobobarsho' or 'Bengali New Year', as it is the first day of the first month of Baishakh in the Bengali calendar. It is the most colourful and joyous festival of the year.
Celebrations of Pahela Baishakh started from Akbar's reign. It was customary to clear up all dues on the last day of Choitro. On the next day. or the first day of the new year, landlords would entertain their tenants with sweets. The main event of the day was to open a halkhata or new book of accounts. In villages, towns and cities, traders and businessmen closed their old account books and opened new ones. They used to invite their customers to share sweets and renew their business relationship with them. This tradition is still practised by many traders, especially in the small towns.
Every year on 14th April Bangladeshis celebrate the festival of the Bengali New Year. It is a magical day whep everything seems perfect. Even nature seems to celebrate with humans with the warm sunlight splashing the air with an abundance of gold. It is a day when people irrespective of their class, religion and age indulge in the merrymaking, dancing with joy and blissfully unaware of the difficulties of life. It is a day when colours
seem brighter, flowers fresher, and the air lighter and faces happier. It just feels like all is w ell with the world.
It is also the only day of the year when all the Bengali people turn themselves willfully and joyfully into Khati Bangali. People from all walks of life basking in (he spirit of Bangalipana wear traditional Bengali attire: young women wear white saris with red borders, and adorn themselves with churi (bangles), phool (flowers), and tip (bindis). Men wear white pajamas or lungi(dhoti/dhuti, long skirt) and kurta (tunic). Many people start the day with the traditional breakfast of panta bhat (rice soaked in w'ater), green chillies, onion, and fried hilsa fish.
It is a sunny, joyful day when the streets turn into a festive corner. Different cultural groups all over the country organise cultural programmes where singing and dancing take place. Baishakhi fairs are arranged in many parts of the country. The most colourful new year's day festival takes place in Dhaka. Large numbers of people gather early in the morning under the banyan tree at Ramna Park where Chhayanat artists open the day with Tagore's famous song, "Esho, he Bsdih#,h. J,£$shQ,i£&ho (Come, O Baishakh, Come, Come).”
A similar ceremony welcoming the new year is also held at the Institute of Fine Arts, University of Dhaka. Students and teachers of the institute bring out a colourful procession and parade round the campus. Newspapers bring out special supplements. There are also special
programmes on radio and television.
Pahela Baishakh is a day dedicated to the celebration of the essence of being
Bangali. Pahela Baishakh bears immense significance in the life of all Bengalis. It is a festival of colours and fun, fun and frolic, w'hich is cele-
brated with unmatched passion and zeal. It is a festival that brings with it a lot of essences. But the one that is above all is that, it brings
with it the promise of life, of new' beginnings and of new hopes.
“Come, come O Baishakh
With your hot breath blow
away the dying,
Let the debris of the whole year be driven far away.”
The writer is a former teacher.