The Spirit of Bengal

Here's a guest post by my friend, Fazle Rezowan Karim who is also like a younger brother to me. I asked him to write because he touched upon a part of Bengal and the spirit of Bengal which is very dear to me.

Partitioning Bengal could not separate the Soul

In 1757, after defeating Nawab Siraj ud-Daulah, The East India Company got power of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa. Bengal’s administrative area was quite big, which was very difficult to govern by the British lords. So in July 1905 Lord Curzon decided to partition Bengal into two entities, which would result in a Muslim-majority in the eastern half and a Hindu-majority in the western half. Even though the plan was initially carried out, due to the public protests all over Bengal the British has to nullify the partition and make Bengal whole again in 1911. However, in 1947 after the decision of liberating India was finalized, India was divided and parts of Bengal and Punjab were cut off to form the new country of Pakistan.

Even now, the eastern region has a Muslim majority and the western region has that of Hindus. At the time of Partition, many people were uprooted from their homes and many of them had a hard time both economically and psychologically, trying to adapt to a new extremely harsh situation. The general people have always considered this to be a very bad political decision. At that time the social, political and cultural situation almost forced the people to migrate over the newly formed borders to India.

Many years have passed since and now the mentalities of people and the society have changed.  Now others do not influence them, they can think independently.

Presently, although Bangladesh is a Muslim majority country, but Hindus, Muslims and Christians live together in harmony. They have a good bonding and consider each other as family. The people of Bangladesh are God-fearing but not fanatic.

Here people of all religions live in peace. They observe each other’s religious festivals with great joy. That is evident everywhere in Bangladesh. You would see choirs singing in church, beside which in a mosque the Muslims are praying. On the other hand, Hindus celebrate their Durga pooja, Diwali and other festivals with great pomp and show. During that time the Muslims, Christians and Buddhists also join their religious festivals with an open mind. Everyone takes care so that they don’t face any kind of problem to celebrate their own religious festival.

During the Bengali New Year (Pohela Boishakh), the International Mother Language Day (Ekushe February), Bijoy Dibos or even Valentines Day all the people of the society celebrate with each other.

You will realize that in Bangladesh, the Soul of Bengal is still alive and no amount of political turmoil can crush it.

PS: These pictures have been taken by Rezowan as well :)