Today is International Mother Language Day & today I’m 23. For the last 5-6 years, like all the National & International day, Mother Language day is an average holiday for me. I never tried to give my time to its specialty though some years I designed banners or logos for organizational purposes. But when I was a kid, I can remember that I was so excited on that day. It was not a public holiday for me, it was a day to enjoy with full of freedom, creation & satisfaction.
I can remember once I forced my father to take me to the Central Shahid Minar at exactly 12 am where it was almostimpossible to enter because of the crowd. We had to come home without offering flowers to the minar. Every year when I was at school, I participated at ‘Provat Ferry’ at 6 am on this day on bare footed with a flower bouquet to show respect to our language martyrs. Sometimes I & my friends participated in the cultural program at school, art competition at Shishu Park, etc. It was always a day to respect the language martyrs & celebrate the mother language proudly.
Another event I want to write about here. Some years, I along with my brother or friends, made little Shahid Minar at our home/colony with nearby materials like bricks, soil, bamboos, wood & designed it with colorful paper cuttings, flowers etc. It was a very exciting task for me to create a Shahid Minar at home. We built it the day before & the next morning we offered flowers in front of it. Everybody encouraged us to do it, praised us when we made it better. It was the best part of every 21st February of those years.
When I was a primary schoolboy, there was no dish connection on our television. So every National holiday morning, we started listening to patriotic songs on BTV & this day, the song ‘Amar bhaier rokte rangano ekushey February, ami ki vulite pari’ by Altaf Mahmud was listening & humming to myself was a common thing for me. I love that song a lot. It directly works on my brain & pushes me to be a patriotic man.
So, these were my activities & now it changed a lot. Being grown-up sometimes makes you boring & selfish. Basically, in modern days, I don’t think kids celebrate a day like this. I’m sure, they themselves don’t even know how much or what fun they are missing! Yes, time changes, the pattern of celebration changes, especially the world changes everyday. But we, kids from the 80s, 90s enjoyed our childhood full of joy & pride. Our mentality was different, our fun was different because our time was different. Every decade has its own style.
0 Comments