Feature
What Pahela Baishakh means to me…
Shamma M. Raghib
PAHELA BAISHAKH to me is endless hullabaloo of colors, cheerful kids running around in pretty garments, birds dancing in the cool breeze, the sun shadowed by a whisk of dark clouds, only to light up the sky now and then. Pahela Baishakh to me is freedom of mind, heart and soul. It is the Bengali Valentines day, when all couples and friends alike take a stroll down the park, the girls buying bangles from the cheerful seller… the guys enjoying the whole “Mela” of femme fatale. Girls, behold, the good looking hunks are around the corner of the tree.
Pahela Baishakh to me is taking a breath away from the busy city life, taking a mind off from the endless paperwork at the office, taking a day off for your family and enjoying every minute of it. Holding your child in your arms, you can feel the completeness of your life- of you being a Bengali!
Baishakh is when the trees stir up wildly, racing the leaves in their delightful fiery colors. Baishakh to me is the cleaning of the city dirt, left uncared for over the last few months. Baishakh to me is the husky sound of the clouds about to break down in tears, only to be replenished after cleansing away the human pain.
The city becomes a day full of color, it is this day we show our Culture so pure, unique and delightful, that even foreigners from other countries come all the way just to see panta-ilish festivities and Dhakaiya lassi, fooska being devoured in the concrete city path.
The leaves shed their beautiful green tinge, shiny and bright, makes us wonder, if I wasn't Bengali, if I wasn't from Bangladesh, if I wasn't here in my motherland so pretty, I would have missed a lot.
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