Pahela Baishakh beyond Bangladesh

Just the other day, Sadya Afreen Mallick was chatting with me about the Bengali community's Pahela Baishakh celebrations in New Jersey. My first reaction was “But we really do not do much over here.” Then I thought a little harder about last years' Pahela Baishakh and realised that we actually did and do quite a lot. How could I forget the Baishakhi dinner invitation to a friend's house last year where every woman wore sari of Boishaki hues with the typical Bengali touch. I wore an off white embossed kota with the dark red border that my mother had sent. I also coaxed my husband, Khondokar Yusuf Razee Billah, to wear a white panjabi (which really should be called a Bengali) to look like a typical Bengali couple straight from Ramna Park.

To top it all, I bought this cane tray with a netted topper from Bed, Bath and Beyond, which everyone thought was obtained from a Bangladeshi village [living up to the “Beyond” part of the store's name]. The tray was filled with delicacies picked up from a nearby Bengali grocery store. These days you can get almost every deshi item at these grocery stores starting from koi, ilish machh to shorsher tel, pitha, muri, kochur shag, kathaler bichi to chomchom, kalojam, roshmalai and roshogolla.

Everyone at the dinner was dressed in typically colourful Baishakhi get-up. My friend Dora had prepared the typical Bangla feast of mach, bhaat, bhaji, bhorta, daal along with the usual polao-korma, which of course is an undeniable part of the Bangla daawat menu.

The Baishakhi night was complete, accompanied by loud adda with the women chatting away about the latest saris in the Dhaka market and Jackson Heights. The men in the other room were louder with their discussions of the stock market and Dhaka politics. Usually, there would be an episode of gaan-bajna by the local singers in the group but that night the adda and the food had taken over.

Talking about gaan-bajna, there is no shortage of cultural events during Pahela Baishakh. Various Bengali cultural groups, associations, organisations, societies, families arrange a wide range of programmes. Starting from Baishakhi mela with various Bangla food stalls to musical programmes, theatre performances by invited celebrities from Dhaka, the programmes are unending. There are so many events these days that it is getting increasingly difficult to keep track and even more difficult to select and attend one. The Bengali community and the cultural activities have grown tremendously in NJ.

After a late night hoichoi at Dora's, as we stepped out, the still freezing NJ winter night made us huddle in our winter coats. There were soft flurries falling quietly, making the pathway slippery under my sandaled feet. I thought: we were the fortunate few to experience the cold, serene snow outside while keeping the warm glow of Baishakh in our hearts.

The writer is a noted singer and an engineer by profession.