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Bangladesh students present language festival
Not only are Bangladeshi students more visible at SCSU than on any other campus in the United States, lately they have become more visible within the campus.
Just weeks after hosting Bangladesh Night, the students collaborated with other organizations to bring the celebration of International Mother Language Day to the SCSU campus. The students attracted a crowd of around 70 people to Kimberly A. Ritsche Auditorium for the event Thursday. The night included a poem read in Bangla, four classical dances, three patriotic songs and a Tabla performance (a type of drumming widely done in Bangladesh and India).
Feb. 21 is a relatively new day on the international calendar of celebrations, as it was first officially recognized by the United Nations in 1999. It is also a very new event at SCSU, as this was the first year it was celebrated. It has been a part of Bangladeshi history since 1952, though.
Joya Sultan, a junior from Bangladesh, gave her account of the importance of the day.
"Feb. 21 is a very important day for us, because we're the one country that fought for our mother language," Sultan said.
In the past, what is now known as Bangladesh used to be East Pakistan, and what is now known as Pakistan was West Pakistan.
"Except for religion, the fact that both countries were Muslim, the countries were different," Sultan said. "We spoke Bangla and West Pakistan (Pakistan) spoke Urdu, but Urdu was going to be imposed as the national language for our country so many people protested."
Many students from Dhaka University were among the protesters. At the time, a rule prohibited demonstrations from taking place and the soldiers of West Pakistan eventually opened fire and a few protesters died. Later, after both internal and external pressure, Bangladesh was allowed to keep Bangla as its official language.
Although some may question how the political history between Bangladesh and Pakistan affects students in an atmosphere like SCSU where there are many students from both countries, Sultan points out that politics and people are separate issues.
"We have to keep in mind that sometimes politics are a nasty thing," Sultan said. "We really need to learn to differentiate between politics and normal human beings (who have nothing to do with politics)."
Tshering Idnari, junior from India, was at the event to help with the opening candle ceremony. Idnari plays a role in many cultural nights, either as a dancer or a participant and was impressed with the authenticity of the event.
"I thought it was nice and liked the very classical dances and culture that they (BSA) showed," Idnari said. "Many of the cultural nights on campus have a lot of Western influence, but for those of us who like it (culture in its original form), it was really nice."
Sharon K. Sobotta can be reached at: [email protected]
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