That curious think called itihash (history)
Days like today remind me how diverse our histories are around the world. Why today? Well, because today is Martyred Intellectuals Day in Bangladesh.
This oddly-named (or so it struck this bideshi) day was established to “recall the supreme sacrifice of the illustrious sons of the land to free the motherland, and pledging afresh to realise their dream of a society free of exploitation and injustice.” If this concise explanation by The Daily Star is not clear (hang on just a sec while I get my tongue out of my cheek), here is a little history to help you out:
In 1971, East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), with the help of India, fought a liberation war against Pakistan. By December 14, 1971, it seems it had become clear to Pakistan that defeat was imminent. So, they decided to do some damage while they still could by kidnapping and killing Bengali intellectuals – academics, doctors, engineers, journalists - in an effort to leave the new nation of Bangladesh “intellectually crippled.”
Behold “Martyred Intellectuals Day.” As far as I can tell, the most exciting thing to happen on December 14, 1971 in Canada was a donation of books to the UVIC library. And today, in other parts of the world, where history did not see intellectuals being martyred, December 14th will be celebrated as Precalentines Day (Unofficial Mathematics Holiday) and National Energy Conservation Day (in India).
So today, this ubiquitous thing we call history will have Bengalis in Dhaka placing wreathes at the foot of a monument, librarians in Victoria thanking generous alumni with vast book collections, environmentalists in India turning off the lights, and math geeks world wide doing lord knows what, unofficially.
It’s beginning to look a lot like…
…any other day. No, unfortunately Christmas in Dhaka will not feature, snow, or Santa, or jingle bells, or anything else that might make this tropical place feel a bit more Christmassy. The closest thing to Christmas in Dhaka are the scarves that all the rickshawalas have wrapped around their heads to keep out the 20 degree ‘cold’ and the occasional twinkly lights of a wedding. Weddings here, of which I pass at least one a day, are always celebrated with lots and lots of twinkly lights. And I mean lots. The other night I passed a 15 storey building with strings of lights hanging from top to bottom! Perhaps I could request that everyone wait until Christmas Day to get married and then I could pretend they were Christmas lights... A reasonable request, surely.
This oddly-named (or so it struck this bideshi) day was established to “recall the supreme sacrifice of the illustrious sons of the land to free the motherland, and pledging afresh to realise their dream of a society free of exploitation and injustice.” If this concise explanation by The Daily Star is not clear (hang on just a sec while I get my tongue out of my cheek), here is a little history to help you out:
In 1971, East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), with the help of India, fought a liberation war against Pakistan. By December 14, 1971, it seems it had become clear to Pakistan that defeat was imminent. So, they decided to do some damage while they still could by kidnapping and killing Bengali intellectuals – academics, doctors, engineers, journalists - in an effort to leave the new nation of Bangladesh “intellectually crippled.”
Behold “Martyred Intellectuals Day.” As far as I can tell, the most exciting thing to happen on December 14, 1971 in Canada was a donation of books to the UVIC library. And today, in other parts of the world, where history did not see intellectuals being martyred, December 14th will be celebrated as Precalentines Day (Unofficial Mathematics Holiday) and National Energy Conservation Day (in India).
So today, this ubiquitous thing we call history will have Bengalis in Dhaka placing wreathes at the foot of a monument, librarians in Victoria thanking generous alumni with vast book collections, environmentalists in India turning off the lights, and math geeks world wide doing lord knows what, unofficially.
It’s beginning to look a lot like…
…any other day. No, unfortunately Christmas in Dhaka will not feature, snow, or Santa, or jingle bells, or anything else that might make this tropical place feel a bit more Christmassy. The closest thing to Christmas in Dhaka are the scarves that all the rickshawalas have wrapped around their heads to keep out the 20 degree ‘cold’ and the occasional twinkly lights of a wedding. Weddings here, of which I pass at least one a day, are always celebrated with lots and lots of twinkly lights. And I mean lots. The other night I passed a 15 storey building with strings of lights hanging from top to bottom! Perhaps I could request that everyone wait until Christmas Day to get married and then I could pretend they were Christmas lights... A reasonable request, surely.
posted by ash at 12:38 AM
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