It was hard to miss the festivity all around, but the mood was sombre. People paid respect to Language Movement martyrs by wearing black badges. Evergreen songs glorifying the historic events that led to the nation's independence floated in the air. Donned in new clothes, mostly white and black, with a Bengali alphabet imprinted on them, and wearing a ribbon with the name and flag of Bangladesh, people from all walks of life flocked to the national Shaheed Minar yesterday. Nashihat Chowdhury was wearing a black and white saree. She told The Independent that she bought it on February 20 from a boutique to wear it on Mother Language Day. “In our busy city life, a holiday comes as a respite. And a day like February 21 is a glorifying and festive day for us to celebrate as the brave language martyrs with their sacrifice established the right to speak in Bengali,” she said. Sixty-five years have gone by since then. The city skyline has changed a lot. But this very day of February and this very Shaheed Minar has seen the same scene and accommodated the homage of millions, only with added festive mood along with grief and respect.
While bare-footed people were placing wreaths and garlands in front of the Shaheed Minar, those in the crowd were having their own little remembrance.
Mir Murtuza Karim, staying in Dhanmondi, is a bank employee. “My father was a professor of Dhaka University (DU) and we used to live at the DU quarters opposite the Shaeed Minar. For the last 30 years, I haven’t missed a single occasion to pay tribute to the language martyrs,” he said.
Karim also said when they were living on the DU quarters, they usually placed flowers late at night. “For years, I have seen all the arrangements—the security set-up, the decoration, cleaning of the Minar premises, writing of poetry and painting of pictures on our colony walls, facing Shaeed Minar. Observing International Mother Language Day has become a part of the Bengalee life, and over time this day has drawn more and more crowd and assumed a look of festivity”, he said.
The gathering of hundreds of vendors indeed gave the premises of Shaheed Minar the look of a fair and people were seen buying food, paper flags, caps, plastic toys, trinkets and many more things.
Arif Asgar is a lecturer of mathematics of a private university. The Independent found this 33-year-old buying plastic toys from a vendor in front of Kazi Mukarrom Hossain Bhaban opposite Shaheed Minar. “February 21 always makes me a bit nostalgic. These plastic toy vendors transport me back to my childhood days when I used to come to Shaheed Minar with my father. He always bought me these toys. Coming here on this day has become something which I cherish and will continue to do so for a long time,” Asgar said.