Feature

Ekush Amar

A grand ceremonial month containing both pity and pride is being celebrated every year by the young and old alike. The month is February. The heroic struggle of our people to establish Bangla as mother tongue is not only venerated through the mournful commemoration of 21st February, but also through the month-long festival of ‘Ekushe Boi Mela’, which ascertains that we the Bengalis still do respect and love our language.

During the then tyrannical rule of Pakistan, when Urdu was about to be forced on us as the only state language, it was the students who took up the fight and sacrificed their lives to establish Bangla as another equally important state language of Pakistan. That love for Bangla and the prime role played by the students can still be seen reflected in today's boi mela. From every corner of our country, crossing over miles, students are coming with family and friends; even if for a few hours, to visit the book fair. So I feel students studying in Dhaka University and in other institutes get totally enamoured with the spirit of Ekushey as they throng the premises of Bangla Academy.

As the fair began this year I remained on the look out for friends who would like to go with me to browse through the books on display, and maybe buy one or two. But I was speculative of the huge rush of people at the entrance and also inside the fair. So, we decided to go at a time when the rush would be minimum. Accordingly, my friends and I reached there just before the opening of the fair gate and entered without having to stand in a queue. It was very pleasing to see all the arrangements, a corner for holding seminars and speeches of renowned authors and academics, some stalls for children and others having books written by recognized and famous writers. Among almost 500 stalls, it is quite impossible to find out one's favourite writers' books within the limited time, if the name of publication is not known. In this aspect, books of comparatively new writers can be easily located. While we were searching for the favourite writers' books, two ladies in a stall tried to convince us to buy books of some new writers. Those were written on different themes and this convinced me that some people have devoted their writing to add newer dimensions to our literature.

It however made me disappointed when I found that the well-known writers' books were in short supply this year. Surprisingly, still today, people look for the books of Nazrul and Rabindranath. But those were in short supply too. I felt very proud and encouraged that our heritage of language is not evanescent, rather it is thriving vigorously in the hearts of the Bengali people.

The charm of a book fair is not all about books, but I think it is the most precious time to meet famous writers as they frequently visit book fair, launch their books and give valuable speeches. On the other sphere, it was interesting to see students roaming around painting on arms, face, palms to make the ambience livelier. But as time was passing by, the area became more cramped, almost impossible to look around in the midst of the book-loving crowd. Outside Bangla Academy, recitation of poems, songs and speeches of intellectuals take place everyday at Shaheed Minar, which pull us to participate in. It creates a total milieu from where we send our reverence to the martyrs of the language movement.

As students have more time to gobble up novels and discover the different styles of writers, so it is only natural that students would come in large numbers to the fair. For the last few years, the duration of the book fair has been reduced which is found quite inconvenient by students who come from far of places. Therefore, considering the security and convenience of students the fair organizers should consider starting the book fair in the morning. After all we, the students, hold the beacon of light of our language by becoming the integral part of yearly Boi Mela.

(Student of BRAC University)