March 26 celebrations in Fiji
Far from the motherland and thousands of miles away, here in Fiji (popularly known as “Paradise on the earth”) we, a few Bangladeshis, celebrated the 37th Independence Day with great zeal and enthusiasm. As 26 March was a working day here, so we decided to celebrate the day earlier on 23 March, Sunday which is the weekend here.
In Suva, the capital of Fiji, we are about 8 families and 3 bachelors-- about 30 Bangladeshis including children. We all gathered at the venue at 4:00pm and the function was opened with the national anthem followed by one minute silence and prayer for all the martyrs of the liberation war. Then the famous 7 March speech of Bangabandhu was replayed followed by reminiscences of the nine month long liberation war by Dr. Nozir Ahmad, Dr Ikhtiar, Dr. Ujjal Kanti Dhar and others. Dr. Nozir Ahmad reminded how we united under the leadership of Bangabandhu and what unity could achieve and how miserably we failed to maintain that unity in the post liberation period resulting in the present position of Bangladesh and urged all Bangladeshis to have that unity again, to build a peaceful and prosperous Bangladesh. Dr. Tahmina Mirza narrated her difficult and fearful days in Pakistan as a stranded Bangladeshi and described the dangerous and risky journey she undertook with her family all the way to Bangladesh through Afghanistan and India. Then we all sang some famous nationalistic songs of 1971 with lead singer Sanchita.
The programme ended with the hope and oath of building a prosperous Bangladesh for all.
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