Pahela Baisakh, the first day of 1422 in the Bangla calendar, is set to arrive. The youth are going overboard in their exuberance and enthusiasm to celebrate this traditional festival.
Young men and women are thronging the shopping centres, buying new clothes and accessories for the occasion. They are rushing to the bazar’s to buy hilsa, willing to 
Fifty-four eleventh grade students of a government college in Narayanganj were questioned about Pahela Baisakh. When did Pahela Baisakh start? Not a single student could answer. Only two managed to murmur, probably Emperor Akbar introduced it. Yet none of them could say why this was introduced.
When asked what was done on Pahela Baisakh morning, then all in unison chanted, we eat pantha bhat, hilsa and sweets! Was pantha-ilish, the combination of rice soaked overnight and hilsa, actually a part of the new year? They do not know. But when it came to the Gregorian calendar, they all knew that the year began from the birth of Christ.
How come they know about that, but now about their own heritage? A student Meem answered, “There is so much written about the English calendar, but hardly anything about the Bangla one. We don’t even use the Bangla calendar, that’s why we aren’t really interested in it.”
It was the same all over, not just that college. Thirty other young people were asked about the Bangla new year, and hardly anyone knew much about it.
Suraiya Akhter is a student of Holy Family and Red Crescent Medical College Hospital in Dhaka. She has already fixed plans with her friends for Noboborsho, the Bengali new year. When asked about Noboborsho, she said patha-ilish is eaten in the morning. Everyone wears new clothes. Friends and relations are invited over. She said that pantha-ilish and new clothes were a tradition for Pahela Baisakh, but she couldn’t say when it all started.
Two students of Dhaka University, Sweety and Tania, are roaming around New Market, choosing new outfits for Pahela Baisakh. They are going from shop to shop, looking for red and white saris of their choice. Why red and white? “Everyone wears red and white on Pahela Baisakh, that’s why!” is their glib answer. They have no idea why it’s red and white.
Saifuzzaman, who works for a private firm, was bargaining at the Narayanganj railway station fish market. He said that he had come to buy a pair of fish since it was tradition to eat pantha-ilish and roasted dry chilli on Pahela Baisakh. Yet he had no idea of the difference between the Gregorian calendar and the Bangla one or why the Bangla calendar had been introduced.
Tamim, who recently passed the HSC exam from Mahbubur Rahman Molla College in Dhaka, wants a punjabi for Pahela Baisakh. Why a punjabi? Because his friends wear punjabis on the day, so he has to too. He had learnt from the text books that the shops have hal khata that day, an annual updating of accounts. There are programmes at Ramna botomul. That is about the extent of his Pahela Baisakh knowledge.
Nigar Sultana, a student of a private college in Dhaka, is going around Gausia Market, looking for saris and trinkets for the day. She has planned to dress up on the morning of noboborsha, and go out with her friends. She will take part in the morning mangal shobhajatra parade and then go on to watch the programmes at Ramna botomul. She will spend the day going around town. She has no idea about the ‘why’s and ‘when’s of the mangal shobhajatra or the Ramna botomul.
Aminul, a shop owner in the market, said, “Sales have gone up for Pahela Baisakh. In the past shops would have hal katha. We don’t follow that tradition because we don’t sell on credit. The annual accounts are done in December. The Bangla calendar isn’t followed at all.”
Historian Muntasir Mamun, professor of history at Dhaka University, said, “It is not surprising that the younger generation know nothing about Pahela Baisakh. They can’t say anything about the liberation war or the country either. It is our education system that is at fault. The prevailing education system teaches nothing about the country, culture or heritage. That is why the children do not know anything about this.” He said that the education system that does not teach about the country, cannot be considered to be a good system of education.
-Prothom Alo