Sheikh Arif Bulbon :People across the country celebrated Boshonto Utsab on Pahela Falgun, the first day of spring of Bengali month Falgun, with flowers, poems, songs and dances. The day was one of the enthralling festivals for the Bengali culture and celebrated with much festivity. Flowers blossoming or not, today is Boshonto, wrote Subhash Mukhopaddhyay, a famous Bengali poet, describing the arrival of Pahela Falgun and this year the day was celebrated in the capital and elsewhere across the country. Various programmes were organised to celebrate the day on Dhaka University campus where thousands of young men and women gathered in the morning and celebrated the day with singing songs, reciting poems and dancing. Bakultala of the Faculty of Fine Arts (popularly known as Charukala) of Dhaka University was the centre point of the festival. Thousands of young men and women gathered and celebrated the day singing songs, reciting poems and dancing. The premises of Dhaka University campus were in a festive look on the occasion as Bangalees in yellow dresses pour onto its campus. Jatiyo Boshonto Utsab Udjapan Parishad organised different programmes at Bakultala of the Faculty of Fine Arts on Dhaka University campus, Bahadur Shah Park and Rabindra Sarobor in the city’s Dhanmondi area to celebrate the first day of Spring, which is also called ‘the king of seasons.’ Pahela Falgun brings joys and colours both in nature and life. After the dryness of winter, new leaves start to come out again and the nature adorns the branches with new colourful flowers like Shimul, Polash and Marigold. Specially the Krishnachura brings the news of spring first. Everything in nature gives an impression of youthfulness or freshness as if the nature takes a new birth. Colourful flowers, melody of birds or mild touch of the sunshine – everything creates a feeling that springtime is the nature’s festival. The festival-loving Bangladeshi people welcome and celebrate this day with great joys, love and in a colourful manner. The blazing red and yellow are the representative colours of Pahela Falgun. Bangalees embellish themselves with these two primary colours. Girls are dressed in Bashonti (yellow or orange) coloured sarees and adorning floral ornaments while boys wear colourful panjabis to welcome the arrival of Spring. Photo: Moin Ahamed
