All roads lead to National Parade Square

When it requires doing something for the motherland, going the distance in scorching heat and dust does not matter.
Thus the large crowd gathered at the National Parade Ground yesterday overlooked all the obstacles and created the world record of most number of people singing their national anthem. Once again they proved that united, Bangladeshis can do the unthinkable.
Although the national anthem was rendered at 11:20am, instead of stipulated 11:00am, people began to pour in from around 6:30am.
Seventy-year-old Badla Bibi, with henna-dyed hair, was seen coming on foot to the parade ground along the eastern fringe of the parliament around 8:00am.
She was no slower than the groups of youths from universities and colleges heading towards the "Lakho Konthe Sonar Bangla" programme to create the record.
Asked if she could stand in the sun for hours and sing, she said, "I am used to it." With a smile on her face the septuagenarian from Lalbagh kept walking.
"The freedom fighters gave us an independent country. Can't we walk this short distance to pay our respect to them?" said Sadia, a student of Badrunnessa College who got to the venue by a bus.
Garment worker Md Abbas Uddin does not know the national anthem fully but he came to the parade ground to express his solidarity with others. He said he had learnt the national anthem in school and would like to sing it with everyone.
"As many as 1,200 students wanted to join the gathering today but we picked 600 based on seniority," Raisul Islam Rasel, student of United International University, told The Daily Star.
Resident of Mohammadpur in the capital Afsara Mubasshira, a student of class-VII, woke her father Afzal Hossain up early in the morning to make haste so that they did not miss the programme.
"I came here because I love Bangladesh. I must pay tribute to those who sacrificed their lives for the country," she said when she was asked why she was so enthusiastic about going there.
However, inside the walls of the parade square, enthusiasm flagged to some extent. "There is no place to stand inside the blocks. It is very congested. So we came out," said Golam Mustafa and his wife Lutfa Rashidun Noor. The couple was waiting outside for their three children who were still inside.
But discipline breakers were there too. Some were seen coming out after receiving the food packets.
"Not everyone came here out of patriotism. They are here to be part of a record," said teenager Sadman Rouf, who went there with his friends. He said, "We are going back because it would be difficult to come out once the programme ends."
The army personnel who were supposed to guide people to the blocks were not seen at their job around 9:00am.
At the counting area, one army man said, "One army person had been assigned to guide 50 people inside the parade square. But the crowd was too rowdy and did not follow the instructions. It became almost impossible for us to track and manage them."
By 10:00am, counting stopped at many entrances, as the nearby blocks were filled up. Nevertheless, people kept coming in.
Although there was some mismanagement, more than 2.5 lakh people yesterday made history on the 43rd Independence Day of the country.
Meanwhile, more than 100 Bangladeshi expatriates and Japanese friends yesterday participated in rendition of the national anthem at Hotel Okura in Tokyo, reads a press release from the Bangladesh embassy in Japan.