February [21st | Ekushe | একুশে]

A Photo Essay

These photos were taken on the eve of International Language Day, 2015.
The blog is in a separate post.

The Parade

The parade starts from multiple entrances of the Dhaka University

We started from the Palashi entrance. One of the groups here is my college, BUET and on the other side of those sculptures behind the trees is my school, Udayan. Udayan is a university high school.

The parade from Palashi entrance.

Khaleda Ekram, Vice Chancellor of BUET and her team. The huge banner and the flower wreath are obligatory traditions.

Almost there. Awaiting in queue.

Proud me with my alma mater faculty.

The Memorial

The ‘Shohid Minar’. The memorial for the martyrs of that day. This itself has a long history of being torn down and erected again.

The live TV crew and all sorts of security personnel. I think these kids in uniform are Boy’s Scout or Rotary Club volunteers.

Some people were paying tribute while on their morning walk. This was new for me.

I was in a semi-traditional outfit. Traditionally make-up was frowned upon for this parade.

Walk around the campus and another Memorial

Tareque Masud was the most brilliant indie filmmaker of Bangladesh. He died in a tragic road accident in 2011. The remains of their vehicle was the memorial. Like many countries road accidents are a major cause of death. Unlike, many though, traffic laws are practiced very loosely, hit-and-runs are the norm. Though there is no legal way to consume alcohol.

It reads a verse from an old Sufi song, “পাখিটা বন্দী আছে দেহের খাঁচায়”। It means, “the bird is prisoned in the cage of body.” The bird symbolizes the soul. His movies had an unique tie to Sufism — soul and music. To me Sufism is the single word answer to what being a Bangali means.

The engine parts that were later found. This memorial recreates the horrific scene of the accident.

My shari is adorned with the “bhasha shohids” — The martyrs of language.

His face reads, “Democracy. Long live Bangla”. This was at the foot of the sculpture: “The not defeatable Bangla” or “অপরাজেয় বাংলা". It is not same as “undefeated” in the sense of war but in spirit. This used to be the center for many marches for democracy. Bangladesh faced major challenges to democratic government process up till the nineties.

Kazi Nazrul Islam, our national poet’s tomb. It is rumored that Nazrul was chosen to be the national poet over Tagore because he was born a muslim. His writings though give him out mostly as an agnostic atheist. One who wrote religious tunes for both Islam and Hinduism when it paid the bills. The guy in his barefoot is the security guard.

BUET — The Engineering College

BUET, my alma mater.

The small memorial at BUET. Almost all colleges in Bangladesh have a their own memorial. I was proud to see a group of seven eight students sing the tunes to ekushe, slowly walk and give their respect. Simple and solemn — like it used to be.

Bangla Academy.

Bangla Academy. This has been the venue for the book fair since 1972. This is a wall of quotes on the 21st February.

Art and trash by the park across Bangla Academy.

Art and the homeless entrepreneur. He might be selling earthen pots or jewelry. The mega city of Dhaka is fueled by these business men on foot. Almost everything can be bought on the street.

Head shots. The rightmost author is the best-selling fictionist in Bangladesh, Humayun Ahmed. Next to him is a lady who stirs up lot of controversy. I have no clue about who the rest are.

An elaborately designed book stall. This is just one small example of Dhaka art scene. Art is everywhere. With a busy city like this we cannot concentrate much about composition. Use your imagination to remove all the people and the clutter.

The book stall from another angle.

Street art by students of Fine Arts, Dhaka University. This tradition is as old as the parade itself. This was at the our exit. At the National Museum entrance of the university.