Port city welcomes 1425

With Pahela Baishakh, the first day of the Bangla New Year, being celebrated today, different parts of the country are busy spreading colour and the spirit of newness.

Like every year, the celebrations come alive after a considerable amount of work is put into festivities to make them near perfect. Hand-made decorations, painted sculptures and masks, street alpona, and most importantly the joy in the hearts of Bangalees, make this celebration what it is.

In Chittagong city too, different socio-cultural and educational organisations are welcoming the New Year and bidding farewell to the year 1424.

DC Hill Premises and Chittagong Railway Building (CRB) Shirish Tola are the two main venues in the city where two-day long elaborate programmes are being held to welcome 1425.

Sammilito Pahela Baishakh Udjapan Parishad is organising a two-day programme on DC Hill premises in the port city, like it has done for the past 39 years. A programme for “Chaitra Sangkranti”, which is the farewell of this year, started at 3:30pm yesterday and continued till 8:30pm, said the organisers.

The venue, a hill-slope, has a natural atmosphere and is surrounded by green foliage, which gives the spectators a soothing environment to enjoy the programmes.

The celebrations of ushering in the New Year would begin at 6:00am with a combined presentation of Rabindra Sangeet “Esho Hey Boishakh Esho Hey” by the artistes of two cultural troupes in the city -- Raktakarabi and Sangeet Bhaban, said Ahmed Ikbal Haider, convener of the parishad.

“This is the 40th edition of celebrating the Bangla New Year, organised by the parishad on the DC Hill premises since 1978,” he said. “A total of 46 cultural troupes would perform dance, music and recitation this year.”

Haider said they were not happy as the district administration and police imposed different bars, including wrapping up of the New Year celebratory programmes by 5:00pm and not to use any loudspeaker.

Meanwhile, Naba Barsha Udjapan Parishad is organising Chaitra Sangkranti and Pahela Baishakh celebrations at CRB Shirish Tola for the 10th consecutive year.

The Chaitra Sangkranti programme started at 3:00pm yesterday with the release of colourful balloons to the rhythm of drum beats, followed by music, dance and recitation. The new addition of a “kabadi” tournament would increase the attraction of the programme, said Hazi Md Shahabuddin, an organiser of the parishad.

The New Year celebration programme would start today at 7:30am, and will be completed by 5:00pm, with music, recitation, dance performances and Boli Khela (wrestling competition) to mark the day, he said.

Through Mangal Shobhajatra, the procession to observe Pahela Baishakh, Institute of Fine Arts of Chittagong University will begin its daylong programme to celebrate the New Year, said the institute's director Shaela Sharmin.

The programme will feature different folk sports like cockfights, breaking pots, releasing paper lanterns followed by a musical evening, she said.

Students of Institute of Fine Arts of Chittagong University were seen at Chatteshawri Road, busy creating different structures like tepa putul (folk doll), tigers and elephants.

Shaela said the students of the institute were drawing a wall mural at Mehedibagh Badshah Miah Road in front of the institute.

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