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Dhaka hails Bangla Noboborsho
Abdullah Juberee
Thousands of people were out on the streets in Dhaka and elsewhere on Saturday to celebrate Pahela Baishakh, the Bangla New Year 1414.
People huddled across the Pahela Baishakh celebration hubs, Ramna Park and Dhaka University campus and Rabindra Sarobar at Dhanmondi, Shilpakala Academy at Segun Bghicha and some open spaces at Gulshan, from early morning to well into the night, attending sessions of songs, joining processions, watching folk-theatres and puppet shows and going around fairs.
There were hardly any spaces to walk down the road stretches on and round the Dhaka University campus as people, in colourful dresses, moved about Ramna Park, Teachers-Students Centre, Institute of Fine Art, Central Shaheed Minar and Suhrawardy Udyan.
Security was heightened in and around the celebration venues, with large deployment of law enforcers and on patrol with dog and bomb squads. Ramna Park had archways at the entrances and observation towers inside as part of the tightened security measures. Closed-circuit televisions cameras were also set up at places to watch the movement of the people.
People waited in long serpentine queues around Ramna Park to go around the baishakhi fair going on inside the park. The roads around the celebration venues were made off-limits to vehicles for 13 hours beginning at 5:00am on the day.
The residents who joined the celebrations expressed their happiness at the tightened security as they could move about without fear.
Chhayanaut, which has been ushering in the Bangla New Year singing Tagore songs at Ramna Batamul since 1964, began the Pahela Baishakh celebrations as usual at sunrise.
People then joined the mangal shobhajatra, a procession seeking well-being for all, at the Institute of Fine Art and another procession at the Central Shaheed Minar, organised by the national committee on Baishakh celebrations.
The fine arts institute procession, which began at 9:00am, featured colourful pageants decorated with huge papier-mâché sculptures of a tiger, an elephant, a tortoise, and masks of owl, tiger and fish.
The fine arts students of the University of Development Alternatives also brought out a similar procession at Dhanmondi.
Sessions of music were held throughout the day at Bakultala at the Institute of Fine Art at Dhaka University. The institute also organised a puppet show. Some of its students staged jatra.
The Bangla Academy held a music programme and a lecture at Nazrul Mancha. Noted singers sang songs and staged folk-theatre, bhashan jatra.
Sammilita Sangskritik Jote organised music programmes at the Central Shaheed Minar and at Rabindra Sarobar. Cultural group Wrishij organised an open-air session of people's songs in front of Shishu Park.
The National Press Club organised programmes all through the day; a baishakhi fair was also held on its premises. The Dhaka Reporters' Unity celebrated the occasion and held a festival of pitha (cakes) and a session of music.
The Bengal Foundation began a three-day baishakhi music festival at the Bengal Shilpalaya. The Liberation War Museum held a daylong cultural programme.
Voluntary organisations such as the Quantum Foundation, Red Crescent Society, Sandhani and the Old Rajshahi Cadets' Association held blood collection camps on the university campus. The Quantum Foundation volunteers collected 572 bags of blood on the day which was their highest collection in any one-day camp.
Publishing houses Oitijjya and Gatidhara marked the occasion by selling books on a bulk discount and offering sweets at their outlets at Banglabazar.
The Dhaka City Corporation arranged for drinking water for the crowd and set up mobile toilets at several places.
Private mobile operators set up mobile auxiliary base-stations to ensure better network, but the initiative failed to provide the people huddling around with network signal, the people said.
People, especially the young and the children, had their cheeks and forehead painted with floral designs and messages welcoming the New Year for a token charge.
Hundreds of makeshift shops of handicrafts, toys, food items, drinks, used books and household objects were set up along the roads on the campus.
There were merry-go-rounds, Ferris wheels and other rural entertainment devices in the area.
The celebrations created sever traffic congestion and the situation worsened towards the evening.
Reports reaching New Age from other metropolitan cities and district towns said people there also celebrated Pahela Baishakh amid festivity and enthusiasm through daylong cultural programmes.
The day was a public holiday. Newspapers brought out special supplements and the radio and television channels aired special programmes.
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White Western world recognises
Minister Farrakhan
Dr. Dennis Walker
The reviewer, Julie Sheridan notes that "Dennis Walker's detailed study evaluates the influence of Islamic traditions, tenets and motifs on the formation of a distinctly African American "nationalist" identity. Walker traces the development of Islam in America from its partial cultural embedding during the colonial period (when Muslim slaves were first transported to the British settlements from Africa) to its current, highly politicised manifestation under the guidance of Louis Farrakhan, the charismatic leader of the revived Nation of Islam (NOI)."
Dr Sheridan takes Walker's point that Minister Louis Farrakhan has been a constructive leader who has concentrated on building a better future for his people. "Predictably," she writes "the NOI's often confrontational stance has drawn vociferous criticism from certain sections of the media, but Walker strives to rescue the sect from the extremist fringe of American discourse by highlighting the quietly integrationist impulses that he believes have always flourished beneath its 'nationalistic fig-leaves'. Though mindful of the fact that the historical trajectory of the African American people differs in crucial ways from that of once-oppressed white ethnic groups, Walker argues that the process of carving out a distinctive 'enclave nation' or 'micronation' in defiance of mainstream (i.e. WASP) society has been a rite of passage for all ethnic minorities wishing to penetrate and eventually prosper within that society."
Most white Western scholars outside and even in America now agree on this: the Nation of Islam is peace-loving and constructive, and a group that has been positive for American life.
However, Julie Sheridan does defend Jewish nationalist writers and organisations from Walker's attempts to open their relation to African Americans up to critical discussion. She writes: "In seeking to provide a corrective to what he perceives as the wilful demonisation of the Nation of Islam by Jewish American and Anglo-American print discourses, Walker sometimes eschews scrupulous objectivity in favour of what he terms a 'positive-critical approach' to the controversial sect. Particularly problematic is his attempt to offer a mitigating context for the notoriously anti-Semitic remarks uttered by Farrakhan during the early 1980s. Walker's assessment of the 'harmless,' 'contrived' nature of these remarks might carry a little more weight if his study were not so relentlessly sceptical of Jewish American viewpoints on the vexed issue of inter-ethnic relations. In choosing to devote a significant portion of his study to the deconstruction of the 'far-from-benign myth' of a black Jewish alliance based on a shared historical experience of persecution by white Christians, Walker risks making Jewish American 'micronationalists' into the villains of his study. Ill-judged references to 'the new Israel-drunk Jewish nationalist elite' and 'portly salaried officials of Jewish organisations' do a disservice to Walker's worthy ambition to intervene in a virulently polemical debate with a view to 'deflat[ing] fears between U.S. ethnic groups".
African-Americans-and other Americans, and outside Muslims to whom Minister Farrakhan has provided direction and advice-can get Walker's book and judge for themselves if he has been unfair to the nationalist minority among Jewish-Americans.
Islam and the Search for African-American Nationhood: Elijah Muhammad, Louis Farrakhan, and the Nation of lslam by Dr. Dennis Walker (Atlanta, GA: Clarity Press, 2005, $24.95). Pp. 597
The April 2007 issue of The Journal of American Studies, England, has published a review of the book, Islam and the Search for African-American Nationhood: Elijah Muhammad, Louis Farrakhan, and the Nation of lslam
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National award for children given
Robab Rosan
The Bangladesh Shishu Academy arranged the national award-giving ceremony for children in the field of culture and sports on its premises in Dhaka on Wednesday. The organisers gave awards in 62 categories.
Adviser to the ministry of women and children's affairs, Geeteara Safiya Choudhury handed over the awards as chief guest while AHM Rezaul Karim, secretary of the ministry was present as special guest.
Chairman of the academy, Professor Jubaida Gulshan Ara presided over the ceremony, followed by a cultural programme.
The speakers highlighted the need for proper nourishment of children. They also requested the guardians to involve their children in extra curricular activities.
Tasmiya Farhat Tuba of Rajshahi was awarded the champion prize as she stood first in the competition of singing of hamd and naat and Nazrul Sangeet and stood third in classical music in the group ka.
The organisers awarded 186 children from across the country in different fields of the competitions.
Among others, Tanjim Tun Zeem of Munsiganj stood first in the competition of reciting Quranic verses in the group of 'ka' and Masruba Muminu in the group of 'kha'.
Tanzina Rahman Mim of Mymensingh won the first prize in singing patriotic song in the group of 'ka' and Anika Ibnat in the group of kha.
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Debate competition held
Cultural Correspondent
The Shaheed Bir Uttam Lieutenant Anwar Girls' College became champion at a debate competition organised by ATN Bangla. The competition was organised to mark Independence Day.
The final round of the competition was held at the Bashundhara City on Thursday. S Harman Mainer College became the first runner-up while Holly Cross College and Residential Model College became the second and third runners-up respectively. The jury comprising Professor M M Akash, Professor ASM Atiqur Rahman and Ashraf Hossain judged the participants of the two groups.
Josepha Elisabeth and Bushra Binte Baten of Anwar College became the best speakers in the competition.
Chairman of the channel, Mahfuzur Rahman was present as chief guest and handed over the awards among the winners. Saiful Bari, Nawazish Ali Khan and Hasan Ahmed Kiron were present among others.
A total of 16 colleges comprising Viqurunnisa Noon College, Residential Model College, Holly Cross College, BAF Shaheen College, Rajuk Uttara Model College, Dhaka Commerce College, Birshreshtha Munshi Abdur Rouf Rifles' College participated at the competition.
The event, planned and produced by Hasan Ahmed Chowdhury and Tashik Ahmed respectively, has been aired at 2:40pm on Saturdays and Sundays on ATN Bangla, said the organiser.
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Mokammel honoured
Cultural Correspondent
Film society Chalachchitram arranged a reception programme to Tanvir Mokammel, the maker of the documentary titled 'Tajuddin Ahmed: An Unsung Hero' and producer of the film Simin Hussain Rimi at the German Cultural Centre in Dhanmondi on Tuesday.
The organisers arranged a discussion followed by the screening of the documentary. Noted filmmakers Morshedul Islam, Tareque Masud, Simin Hussain Rimi and Tanvir Mokammel spoke at the function.
Morshedul Islam in his address of welcome thanked the maker of the documentary and its producer also.
Tareque Masud said that the documentary will be considered a milestone in the history of Bangladesh's documentary. 'The present generation documentary filmmakers will get inspiration from the film,' he hoped.
Masud further said that Mokammel has very successfully presented Tajuddin Ahmed, the first prime minister of independent Bangladesh. 'Tajuddin's contribution in the liberation of Bangladesh and in rebuilding the war-torn country has masterfully been presented in the film', he added.
Tanvir Mokammel in his short speech said that he had studied much on the life and works of Tajuddin Ahmed prior to making the film. 'The job was very challenging and I think the viewers will give the judgement,' he added.
He further said that Tajuddin Ahmed did not get recognition for his contribution to the nation.
Simin Hussain Rimi, also the daughter of Tajuddin Ahmed, said that she had a dream to work on the first prime minister of the nation. 'This film is well researched and we worked hard to present Tajuddin Ahmed properly,' she added.
After the screening of the film, the viewers acclaimed the filmmaker.
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Bangali Samagra celebrates
Pahela Baishakh
Cultural Correspondent
Artefact's museum having works by eminent Bengalis called Bangali Samagra celebrated Pahela Baishakh in the morning on April 14 on its premises in New Elephant Road in the city.
Nobel laureate Professor Mohammad Yunus inaugurated the celebration programme as chief guest. On the occasion, the organisers introduced entry tickets for the museum and added portraits of five eminent Bengali scholars at the museum gallery.
The organisers also displayed the first edited copies of 25 rare Bangla books of the 1940s and 1950s. Among others, Dr Mohammad Yunus, dramatist Atiqul Haque Chowdhury, musicologist Mobarak Hossain Khan, vice chancellor of BRAC University, Jamilur Reza Chowdhury, executive director of Bangali Samagra, Tariq Rahman spoke at the function.
The celebration programme will continue till Baishakh 25, which falls on May 9. The concluding ceremony will begin at 7:00pm on the day, featuring the screening of Tagore's 'Malancha' directed by Atiqul Haque Chowdhury along with a cultural programme.
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Poetry recitation held
Cultural Correspondent
Marking the Pahela Baishakh, the first day of the Bangla calendar of 1414, the national poetry council held a poetry recitation session on Tuesday at the seminar room of the Central Public Library in the city.
Syed Shamsul Huq was present as chief guest. Habibullah Sirazi presided over the session.
Rabiul Hossain, Kazi Rozi, Aslam Sani, Md Samad, Rokhsana Rahman, Manik Lal Ghosh, Abu Bakar Siddique, Sunil Sen, Dildar Hussain, Gazi Azizur Rahman and Ejaj Nasiruddin recited poems.
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Minimalist opera pays tribute to Gandhi
Agence France-Presse, London
An operatic tribute to India's 'father of the nation' Mahatma Gandhi penned by minimalist composer Philip Glass is showing in London during the 60th anniversary year of India's independence.
'Satyagraha' is staged with extraordinary vividness and features giant puppets, Chinese lanterns and pyrotechnics, while the mantra-like quality of Glass's music also pulls the audience into a world of serenity.
The title refers to the non-violent resistance which Gandhi first embraced in South Africa, where he defended the civil rights of the Indian community and others, in 1906.
It is this period which the work focuses on, although the concept - which means truth or love (satya) and firmness (agraha) - was also used during his struggles to liberate India from British rule.
The opera is performed in Sanskrit and draws on the Bhagavad Gita, the Hindu holy book which Gandhi read every day.
Each act turns on three 'spiritual guardians' representing the past, present and future of satyagraha: Russian writer Leo Tolstoy, who was a friend of Gandhi, Indian Nobel Prize-winning poet Rabindranath Tagore and American civil rights leader Martin Luther King.
Occasional words and phrases are projected onto a backdrop to guide the audience through the three acts of the opera, which is playing at the English National Opera's Coliseum in London's West End theatre district until May 1.
Glass's opera is the second in a trilogy of works about men who changed the world. The two other subjects are physicist Albert Einstein and the ancient Egyptian king Akhnaten.
The ENO's staging comes in the year of Glass's 70th birthday. Now considered one of the most influential composers alive, he has worked with figures as diverse as Ravi Shankar, Allen Ginsburg and Paul Simon.
In the last couple of years, he has worked with Leonard Cohen to put a book of the American singer's poetry to music, as well as crafting symphonies, etudes for piano and a violin concerto.
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