MOTHER-LANGUAGE DAY
The idea to celebrate International Mother Language Day was the
initiative of Bangladesh at the UNO in late 90s. It was approved at the 1999
UNESCO General Conference and has been observed throughout the world since 2000,
on 21st Feb every year. UNESCO believes in the importance of
cultural and linguistic diversity for sustainable societies. It’s within its
mandate for peace that it works to preserve the differences in cultures and
languages that foster tolerance and respect for others.
Linguistic diversity is increasingly threatened as more and more
languages disappear. Globally 40 per cent of the population does not have
access to an education in a language they speak or understand. The theme of the
2021 International Mother Language Day is “Fostering multilingualism for
inclusion in education and society,”
21st
Feb is also a national holiday of Bangladesh commemorating the Bengali language movement and its martyrs. On this day, people
visit Shaheed Minar of Dhaka to
pay homage to the movement's martyrs, and arrange seminars discussing and
promoting Bengali as
the state language of
Bangladesh.
Shaheed
Minar in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The monument established to commemorate those
killed during the Bengali Language Movement demonstrations in 1952.
CELEBRATIONS
IN MUMBAI
Dy High
Commissioner of Bangladesh, Mr Lutfor Rahman decided to commemorate the
occasion in Hotel President on the morning of 21st Feb 2021, and
extended invitation to Cdr Vijay Vadhera President NFMC, a few Veterans and
some civil dignitaries, with an appeal to recite a few Poems in our
mother-tongue.
At this point of
time, it would be prudent for us to get acquainted with the impressive profile
that Mr Md Lutfor Rahman is blessed with.
Mr. Md. Lutfor Rahman was born in
Thakurgaon, Bangladesh on 16 October, 1970. He graduated from the Bangladesh
University of Engineering and Technology in 1995. He joined the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs of the Government of Bangladesh in February, 1998. He served in
the Headquarters for 2 years as Assistant Secretary in different sections. He
was posted to Bangladesh Embassy in Hanoi, Vietnam in 2000 and continued to
serve till September, 2004. He then served as First Secretary for two years in
Bangladesh Deputy High Commission in Karachi, Pakistan. Mr. Rahman returned to
the Headquarters and assumed the charge as Director in February, 2007.
After serving for 02 years in Dhaka, Mr. Rahman joined Bangladesh Mission in
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia as Counsellor. After a rather short stint, he was posted to
Bangladesh Embassy in Rabat, Morocco as Charge d’Affairs ad interim in 2010.
Upon completion of his tenure of 04 years, he came back to Headquarters in
September, 2014 and was promoted to the rank of Director General. He led the
Consular and Welfare Wing and the External Publicity Wing respectively before
being posted to Bangladesh Deputy High Commission in Mumbai. His hobbies are reading books watching Sports &
movies. He is primarily interested in literature, mythology and Development
Economics. Mr. Rahman is married and blessed with two talented daughters.
THE PROGRAMME
It was a fine sunny morning when Meena and I left our
Borivali home in our Tata Manza at about 0900 hrs for the International mother
language Day and Language Martyrs Day celebration of our eastern Friend
scheduled at 11 AM. After a comfortable long drive, we wheeled into Taj
President, Cuff Parade. It was a coincidence that we affronted Cdr Rawat and
Cdr Dinesh along with their good ladies Manju and Archana and Meena’s sister Kunj Bali at the
entrance. As we stepped into the lounge Capt Rakesh Agrawala and Neera tip-toed
behind. It was a pleasure to meet all amidst the Pandemic. Observing the social
distancing norms our snapping session commenced here itself. At the Banquet lobby
we were greeted and welcomed by Mr Lutfor Rahman and his beautiful lady Shehnaz
and the staff of the Commissionerate. Cmde KN Bhagat, Cdr Vadhera, Cdr
Shailendra Sharma, Cdr GC Rai, Cdr Anoop Varma and Meenakshi also joined in. We were
escorted inside the Banquet hall, where elegant seating arrangement had been
catered for.
The
Ball room centre stage was adorned with a large backdrop of the theme of
Language Martyrs Day and International Mother Language Day. The sacred
corner on the left of stage was dedicated to the large frames of Bangabandhu
Mujib, PM Shaikh Hasina and President Mr Abdul Hamid. Next to this was the flag
staff. The presentation screen and the acoustics corner was to the right.
After the distinguished guests were
seated Ms Nafisa Monsur, the beautiful Mistress of Ceremony with a sweet
voice, welcomed the gathering and requested Cdr V Vadhera, Cdr KK Sharma, Capt
Rakesh Agrawala and the Egypt Consular to take to the VIP seating at the Dais
along with Mr Lutfor Rahman, Dy HC. The proceedings commenced with hoisting of
the Bangladesh flag to half mast on the occasion of Language Martyrs Day (Pics below).
The “Amar Bhaiyer Rokte Rangano” anthem was played. This was followed by a 2 mins silence as a
mark of respect to the martyrs. Nafisa then called on stage the Dep High
Commissioner, Mr Rahman to read out the messages from Bangladesh PM Mrs Shaikh
Hasina, President Mr Abdul Hamid and the messages from the Minister of Foreign
Affairs.
The Bengali and Marathi Poems were
recited by students and teachers from Anam Prem - Nishigandha Thakur, Shama
Khanolkar, Jyoti Padalkar, Bhavika Kale, Radha Nerkar, Prarthana Shinde and Shraddha
Kinare. Capt Rakesh Agrawala narrated a hilarious Poem of Shail Chaturvedi and Cdr
Raj Dutta narrated a Punjabi Poetry in the context of COVID-19.
After the Poetry recitation a Documentary
on the significance of Language Martyrs Day was screened. The Dy High
Commissioner after the Vote of Thanks felicitated the Chief Guests. After the
Group photograph all guests were escorted in the lobby for a delectable
exquisite 5 star Lunch and merriment. Later the NFMC Veterans regaled in a
short Karaoke program appreciated by the Dy HC and his staff. Cdr Anoop Verma,
Cdr Vadhera & Meenakshi sang Karaoke songs while Cdr Dinesh Rai narrated Dr
Harivansh Rai’s Madhushala. Archana Rai recited a Poem on Mahabharata and Cdr
Puran Rawat delivered some deep meaning intelligent Shayari.
It was a
joyous gathering of Veterans after almost a year of lockdown due to Miss
Pandemic, albeit amidst conscious precautions to keep the CV at bay.
Meena and I were the last few to thank and bid
farewell to Mr Lutfor Rehman and his good lady Mrs Shehnaz. As we wheeled out
of Taj, we smilingly recalled our our visit to this same Venue for the 50th
Victory Day celebrations hosted by Dy High Commissioner of Bangladesh on 16 Dec
2020 with great elan. (Blog link below👇)
Sam
No Varunah
Jai
Hind
URL LINK GOLDEN JUBILEE BANGLADESH
http://rajdutta26.blogspot.com/2020/12/50-th-victory-day-celebrations-of.html
