jayaprada:

Pohela Boishakh | Bengali New Year // বাংলা নববর্ষ // পহেলা বৈশাখ 

Bangla New Year or Pohela Boishakh connects all Ethnic Bengalis irrespective of religious and regional differences. Ethnic Bengalis across the world and from all walks of life unite to celebrate thePublic or Universal Festival of Bengalis i.e. Pohela Boishakh; it’s the occasion to welcome the New-Year with a new hope of peace, prosperity and goodwill. Poyela Boishakh generally falls on 14^thor 15^th of April of the Georgian calendar. In Bangladesh, it is a national holiday celebrated around14^th April according to the official amended calendar designed by the Bangla Academy. In India, in Indian/West Bengal &Assam it is a public (state) holiday and is publicly celebrated on 15^th of April

Celebration of Pohela Boishakh | পহেলা বৈশাখ উজ্জাপন

Pohela Boishakh is a Public festival [সার্বজনীন উৎসব] of the Bengalis; it is celebrated among all Bengalis- irrespective of religious and regional differences. As discussed earlier; the celebrations started from Akbar’s reign. But the Public celebration of Poyela Boishakh and the large-scale organizations of cultural events have started more recently.

Rabindranath Tagore had said, ‘প্রতিদিন মানুষ ক্ষুদ্র, দীন, একাকী কিন্তু উৎসবের দিনে মানুষ বৃহৎ, সে সমস্ত মানুষের সঙ্গে একত্র হইয়া বৃহৎ, সেদিন সমস্ত মনুষ্যত্বের শক্তি অনুভব করিয়া মহৎ।’ [“Prōtidin mānush khudrō, deen, ekāki. Kintu Utsōber dine mānush brihōt, se sōmōstō mānusher sōnge āekōtrō hōiyā brihōt, sedin sōmōstō mōnushōtver shōkti ōnubhōv kōriyā mōhōt”]. The summary of the statement is that, a person feels stronger, complete & united when he’s among other fellow mates on the occasion of a festival as compared to daily life. Truly, socializing brings a lot of change in the personality of a person; it actually changes his outlook towards the world and makes him broad minded, well-mannered and a better person indeed. Nowadays it’s seen that, due to our busy schedule and hectic life we tend to forget the purpose of the festivals after they are over; people come together during festivals, forget their differences but as soon as the festival is over the differences are highlighted once again!

The Poyela Boishakh celebrations and festivities reflect the life in rural Bengal. Usually on this day everything is washed and cleaned; people bathe early in the morning and dress in fine clothes and then go to visit relatives and friends. Special food items are prepared for the guests. Starting as a rural festival, Poyela Boishakh has now become an integral part of Bengali culture.

People from all walks of life dress-up in traditional Bengali attire: Men wear dhuti / payejama / lungi and kurta /Panjabi. Young women wear white saris with red borders, and adorn themselves with tip (bindis), churi (bangles) and fūl (flowers). Its like a custom to start the day with the traditional breakfast of Pantā-Bhāt (leftover rice soaked in water), onion, Shōbuj Lōnkā (green chillies), Āchār (pickles), dāl (lentils) & Bhāja Elish Māch (fried Hilsa fish).

Boishakhi Fairs are organized in many parts of Bengal. The lifestyle of rural Bengal is showcased in almost all these fairs. Various traditional handicrafts, toys, cosmetics, agricultural products, as well as various kinds of food and sweets are sold at these fairs. The fairs also provide entertainment, with singers and dancers staging jatra (traditional plays), pala gan, kobigan, jarigan, gambhira gan, gazir gan and alkap gan. They present folk songs as well as baul, marfati, murshidi and bhatiali songs. Narrative plays like Laila-Majnu, Yusuf-Zulekha and Radha-Krishna are staged. Among other attractions of these fairs are puppet shows, merry-go-round and Giant wheels are also installed and are enjoyed by the children.

Historical Importance of Poyela Boishakh in Bangladesh | বাংলাদেশে পহেলা বৈশাখের ঐতিহাসিক গুরুত্ব

In an attempt to suppress Bengali culture, the Pakistani Government had banned poems written by Rabindranath Tagore, the most famous poet and writer in Bengali literature. Protesting this move, Chhayanat opened their Poyela Boishakh celebrations at Ramna Park with Tagore’s song welcoming the month in 1965. The day continued to be celebrated in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) as a symbol of Bengali culture. After 1972 it became a national festival, a symbol of the Bangladesh nationalist movement and an integral part of the people’s cultural heritage. Later, in the mid- 1980s the Institute of Fine Arts added color to the day by initiating the Boishakhi parade, which is much like a carnival parade. In the big metropolitans like Dhaka and Chittagong this day is marked by mass crowd flocking to hundreds of open air concerts and cultural programs, mask rallies etc.

Today, Pohela Boishakh celebrations also mark a day of cultural unity without distinction between class and religious affiliations. Of the major holidays celebrated in Bangladesh and West Bengal, only Pôhela Boishakh comes without any preexisting expectations (specific religious identity, culture of gift-giving, etc). Unlike holidays like Eid ul-Fitr & Durga Pujo, where dressing up in lavish clothes has become a norm, or Christmas where exchanging gifts has become an integral part of the holiday, Pôhela Boishakh is really about celebrating the simpler, rural roots of the Bengal. As a result, more people can participate in the festivities together without the burden of having to reveal one’s class, religion, or financial capacity.

(via fyeahbangladesh)

souls-of-my-shoes:

Port Barisal, Bangladesh. by cookiesound

fotojournalismus:

A Bangladeshi artist paints an idol of Hindu goddess Durga, ahead of Durga Puja festival in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Sunday, Oct.7, 2012

[Credit : A. M. Ahad/AP]

(via fyeahbangladesh)

edwardseatbelthands:

Job training program transforms transgender lives in Bangladesh

A love for lipstick and eyeliner meant a lifetime of discrimination for Saiful Islam, until a transgender training scheme in Bangladesh helped bring him hard-won acceptance and land him his dream job.

Many transgender people in south Asia, where they are known as hijras, are thrown out by their families and forced to scrape a living through begging, prostitution or drug dealing.

But each morning, Islam pulls on a pair of low-cut jeans and a tight T-shirt, applies his own make-up, and heads off to work in Dhaka at the offices of ATN Bangla, Bangladesh’s largest private television channel.

“The best part of my job here is that my colleagues treat me like any other human being. For a hijra this is a great achievement,” Islam, who started his new career eight months ago, told AFP.

“A crowd would build up to see me and my three other hijra colleagues when we joined ATN Bangla. Some would even tease us. Now everything is normal. We’re like any other staff.”

Islam, 22, is the beneficiary of government efforts to help transgender people who are among the most marginalised and discriminated groups in India and Bangladesh.

Last year he was one of 30 hijras to attend a technical school to take courses in videography, garment-sewing and beauty care to help them get jobs and integrate into mainstream society.

After six months of training, his friends Bobby and Chanchal found positions as video editors at ATN Bangla, while Islam and Opu became make-up artists at the station.

Islam, whose job is to ensure presenters and newsreaders look their best just before they go live on air, says the changes to his life have been “nothing short of a miracle”.

“We never dreamt that one day we can work in offices like other normal people,” he said.

Born to a middle-class family in Dhaka, Islam became used to harassment and abuse from when he was a small child and started wearing women’s clothes and lipstick.

“Seeing me wearing saris and bangles, my brothers would become so furious that they would tie me up, beat me with a cane and keep me hungry,” he said.

At 18, Islam did what tens of thousands of south Asian transgenders do and fled home to join a hijra community where he found the freedom to wear what he liked.

Hirja groups traditionally earn money by turning up at weddings, births and other occasions, where they loudly refuse to leave until they have been given cash.

Islam says he hated using extortion, and his time in the hirja community was blighted by sexual abuse and violence.

“Two years ago, I was coming from a dancing show wearing a sari, bangles and fake breasts when this gang held me by pointing a knife at my throat,” he said.

“They tortured me one after another, shouting that my job is to entertain them.”

Now Islam earns 10,000 take ($122) each month, more than three times higher than the national minimum wage, and he has a long-term plan to open a beauty parlour.

“I’ve now left the hijra den and am back living with my mother. Before this job, I lost my faith in people,” he said.

Ebadur Rahman, a government official who oversees the project to train up hijras, said the success of the first batch of graduates had encouraged him to organise another programme to help others develop business skills.

“A lot of private sector people have approached us for recruiting hijras. Garment factories are the keenest as they are suffering from an acute labour crisis,” he said.

Last year Rahman’s project did what was until recently unthinkable in this overwhelmingly conservative Muslim country: holding a rally in Dhaka for more than 1,000 transgender people.

“Our biggest achievement is that the hijra issue is no longer taboo. Even the policymakers have now realised that marginalisation is not the answer. If you keep them away, they will remain a problem forever,” said Rahman.

The government has since unveiled a monthly stipend to elderly hijras and is setting up a permanent training centre exclusively for transgenders where they will be able to learn skills to help them find work.

“This is the first time a Bangladesh government has taken up any schemes for the hijra community. We want to ensure social and job security so they have a decent life,” said Abu Taher, deputy director of social welfare ministry.

For Pinki Shikder, a social activist who has fought for decades on behalf of the country’s estimated 150,000 hijras, the apparent change in official attitudes is welcome — but she struck of note of caution too.

“We are very happy that the state is at least thinking about our rights, especially in a country where even women often are not given full rights yet,” said Shikder, head of the Bangladesh Hijra Association.

“But we are still at the start of our journey. We’re talking about a few projects and just a few people getting jobs — against a need that is so overwhelming and a problem that’s thousands of years old.”

(via trishna87)

trishna87:

mybangladesh:

Chained for No Crime

fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck

why.

WHY

trishna87:

THE STORY BEHIND

PHOTOGRAPHING THE GIRL

WITH GREEN EYES IN

BANGLADESH

My photos of Tuly, the Bengali girl with green eyes, have been popular with people all over the world. She has appeared in photography magazines such as Digital Camera World, Photo Review Australia, and is on display and for purchase in book and postcard form at the Travel Photographer of the Year exhibition and shop in Kent, London. I thought I’d share the story behind meeting her and taking her portrait.

i just noticed..

she is totally fucking smizing.

TYRA WOULD BE PROUD.

Actually she’s all limbs like a top model should be.

Cept I think she’s short.

But again IDK her age.