Pohela Boisakh, what does it mean to me?
I spent last night going around the city from Arka Boisakh to Charukala. I found everyone -- including me -- trying to extract happiness from a random day on a calendar we barely follow -- I don't even know which Bangla year it is. So, what are we observing and why?
In my office, I found my colleagues planning their Boisakh for the past two weeks; also, within my friend groups, I found the same. This festive notion is also widely visible in various commercial ads, posters, and even in our Messenger conversations -- the message "Shubho Nobo Borsho." This distinctive and quite interesting nature -- disconnected from everyday life except 14th April -- makes it a perfect case study for me to understand my imagined roots of Bangladeshi identity.
I recently watched a documentary on Iran and found the Persians have a similar day, "Nowruz -- the new Dawn." A quick Google search will show us how this is integrated into their lives and widely used as an official calendar. Whereas our calendar -- which is not even ours (my limited knowledge comes from a Wikipedia post titled বঙ্গাব্দ) -- has little place in our lives.
With a conflicting situation like this, I settled myself down with the understanding that my identity and culture are as sugarcoated as Noboborsho -- it does not exist, never existed, but is imagined to such an extent that it feels real.
Do not get me wrong and consider me anti-nationalist of any sort, but consider me aware of what we did wrong. I understand that in this social media-led age, with the immense pressure of Western culture dictating over our usual way of life, we must hold to grand festive occasions like this; but at the same time, I think Boisakh is entitled to be questioned: is it ours, and if not, what is ours?
