[ Pohela Boishakh spread ] Pohela Boishakh is around the corner. It means your house will be filled with batasha, misri, naru, muroli and lots of other desi delights. It also means you will look every inch a Bengali beauty with that red bindi on your forehead, your hair will be adorned with bunch of Jasmine, and your men will be dapper in white panjabi. Beside all these things, Pohela Boishakh also means your dinning table will have a new white table cloth, and it will have all desi food items from Hilsha to beef bhuna, bhetki paturi to nakel chingri,…
[ That time of the year ] Yes this is April. When entire Bangladesh is dressed in white and red, gearing up for Pohela Boishakh, lots of food and fresh Beli phul aka Jasmine. Colourful fairs all around the country and people in a festive mood will make your heart swing in joy. I specially love Dhaka Art College around this time. I smell the festivity in the air. Students, teachers and visitors are busy making, selling and buying arts and crafts. My staple thing to do is, have a round of Art College, around evening just to feel the…
All my seasonal posts begin with my favourite poet and one of his songs. In Tagore’s hands, a season is never merely weather; it becomes a mood, a memory, a secret the earth whispers to the heart. This is what he says of Hemanta: হেমন্তে কোন্ বসন্তেরই বাণী পূর্ণশশী ওই-যে দিল আনি॥ বকুল ডালের আগায় জ্যোৎস্না যেন ফুলের স্বপন লাগায়। কোন্ গোপন কানাকানি পূর্ণশশী ওই-যে দিল আনি॥ আবেশ লাগে বনে শ্বেতকরবীর অকাল জাগরণে। ডাকছে থাকি থাকি ঘুমহারা কোন্ নাম-না-জানা পাখি। কার মধুর স্মরণখানি পূর্ণশশী ওই-যে দিল আনি॥ Now Hemanta—or Late Autumn, as we call it in English—has come. Of all…
[ Durga Puja Festival ] I am a person who enjoys every festival that takes place on earth. In Bangladesh, we get to celebrate the Muslim and Hindu festivals more. Durga Puja Festival is something that makes me happy instantly. When I was young my maternal grandmother’s house used to be in old Dhaka, a place called Hatkhola. There was a school called Narishikkha Mandir just beside my cousin’s house. As the boundary wall was half broken we could always go to the school without any permission. Especially on Puja days we used to go and enjoy the festivities. Old…
