I woke up this morning at 7 a.m.
Let me rephrase that. I was woken up this morning at 7 a.m by the loud music playing in all the residential schools nearby, one of which happens to be just opposite the playground in front of our house.
I'm on a very calculated sleep schedule right now which, essentially means I am getting very little sleep and every hour, every extra few minutes of sleep is extremely crucial for me to function properly through the rest of the day, aka, study.
So, any other day I'd be pissed and probably even go to the schools and pick up an argument with the school authorities for lacking commonsense (yes, I have done it before). But I couldn't do it this time, not today.
It's 16th December, and it's a tradition I've grown up with....it's a tradition I've lived through the 12 years of my school....waking up every 16th december to these beautiful, unbelievably powerful patriotic songs.
I am from an English medium/British Curriculum background and there is a general tendency in the country to automatically label students like us to be ignorant of the Bengali culture and history. Some even perceive us as not being able to speak bengali, beat that!
That may have been the case in a lot of British Curriculum schools, but our school was different. Practicing the culture was a big thing and we took these very seriously.
I was extremely patriotic, at least I like to think so. My close friends think so too, there is some truth to my claim!
So these songs....they were, is and will always be very, very close to the heart. Too close for comfort maybe. I was hit with extreme nostalgia as I lay in bed, reminiscing the memories of the days gone by. I sound like an old man already, jeez!
When I was a kid, a teenager....we were 4 young boys in the house. Me my brother and my 2 cousins who lived upstairs. Every 16th December morning, the first thing we used to do after waking up, even before breakfast was to run to the roof and hoist the national flag at every corner.
It's a national holiday...all our nieces and nephews are relieved of their online classes today and quite a few of them came over last night to spend the break here. It's quite the gathering these kids have....pubg...video games and all sort of nonsense they are into these days. I'm not sure they know what it feels like to play badminton in the winter evenings, or football on a rainy, muddy afternoon.
The reason I bring them up is, not a single one of them were even remotely interested in putting up a flag. Nose deep into their phones and tabs seemed to be the priority. I am grateful our childhood was much more organic than kids these days experience.
But it saddens me that these kids....20 years from now when they are fully into adulthood, will wake up on the 16th of December and their hearts will not resonate with the melancholy of ও আমার দেশের মাটি, the goosebumps to পূর্ব দিগন্তে সূর্য উঠেছে will not run the chills through them...
But I do believe, there will be those rare breeds who will nurture the passion deep in their hearts...I hope. As dada always says, rebellions are built on hope :))
বিজয় কখনো থেমে থাকে না।
সবাইকে বিজয় দিবসের শুভেচ্ছা।
