Boi Mela
A re-creation of history
“Who is this man, mother?” chimes a six-year-old Samiha pointing her index finger at a black and white picture of a man wearing a dhuti with his arms crossed.
“This man is Barkat,” replies her mother, Rina Sultana, “and the ones next to him are Salam, Rafiquddin, Shafiur and Jabbar. They sacrificed their lives so that you could speak in Bangla today.”
The mother and daughter were standing inside a stall yesterday erected by the Liberation War Museum at the Bangla Academy premises marking Amar Ekushey Boi Mela.
The walls of the stall bore pictures, newspaper clippings and pages from personal diaries of the period ranging from the Language Movement of 1952 to the Liberation War in 1971.
“Many people sacrificed their lives during the Liberation War and independence was eventually achieved after a long struggle,” explained Rina, a lecturer of Birampur Degree College in Dinajpur, to Samiha.
“It is necessary to make the new generation aware about the history of our Language Movement and Liberation War,” said Samiha's father Sarwar Rashed, a lecturer of Dudpur Degree College in Dinajpur.
Rina said, “She (Samiha) did not see the Liberation War. This display will help her understand and get to know our history better and encourage the next generation to love the country.”
The couple opined that a bigger display could have accommodated more details and caught more attention.
The in-charge of the stall, Fakhrul Islam, said posters depicting the Liberation War, documentaries on CDs on the Liberation War and a diary on some pictures taken during the Liberation War were on sale at the stall.
Thoughts are being given to merging another stall with the current one to present the exhibits on a larger scale, he added.
The fair has witnessed the arrival of 63 new books on the Language Movement and Liberation War till date, according to Bangla Academy.
The fair has a bookstall dedicated to the Liberation War. Titled “Shudhue Muktijuddher Boi”, the stall was set up by Centre for Bangladesh Liberation War Studies.
Chairman and Chief Researcher of the centre, Major (retd) Qamrul Hassan Bhuiyan, said their main aim was to disseminate the Liberation War's history, not in making profits.
A total 95 new books hit the fair yesterday, five of which are on the Liberation War. A discussion and cultural programme were also held in the evening.
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