16th of December is coming up, and I sat down today to write about the Bijoy Dibash (Victory Day), which is the day people of Bangladesh remember as the victory of Bangladeshi forces against the occupying forces, during the Liberation war of Bangladesh during 1971. First, I must say, I am not the right person to write about it. This is not because I don’t know the facts related to the event, but because, I am quite emotionally attached to it. I am a deeply political person and social history is something that I keep very close to my heart. We tried our best to keep Turni positive and apolitical, and we will continue to keep the effort going. The trouble is that is event leading up to December 16 is quite horrific. It was before I was born, and I am expecting, before many of the readers were born, so it is difficult for us to imagine sitting in a relative comfort of our respective homes, the atrocities and the sacrifices that people of that generation did so that we can enjoy our peace.
What some of you may not realize that, the day is also celebrated in and around West Bengal, at the other side of the border. This is simply because not only we are attached with the language, but we are also attached with our culture and ancestral roots. There are people from that side of the border also fought alongside your countrymen. I have never been to Dhaka, but I have heard about the celebrations and paying of respects at Jatiyo Smriti Soudho, the national memorial at Savar in Dhaka District. I have asked our head clerk to take a picture of the monument, and I am certain that he will do a phenomenal job, so that we do not have to use a picture from the internet.
These are the days that defines a country. A partition is never a fun or bloodless event. But from partitions and liberation movements wonderful pieces of literatures are born, which is something we cherish and remember for generations. The following song by Rabindranath Tagore is the national anthem of Bangladesh, but perhaps few remembers that it was written during another (earlier) partition of Bengal during 1905.
আমার সোনার বাংলা, আমি তোমায় ভালোবাসি।
চিরদিন তোমার আকাশ, তোমার বাতাস, আমার প্রাণে বাজায় বাঁশি॥
ও মা, ফাগুনে তোর আমের বনে ঘ্রাণে পাগল করে,
মরি হায়, হায় রে—
ও মা, অঘ্রাণে তোর ভরা ক্ষেতে আমি কী দেখেছি মধুর হাসি॥
কী শোভা, কী ছায়া গো, কী স্নেহ, কী মায়া গো—
কী আঁচল বিছায়েছ বটের মূলে, নদীর কূলে কূলে।
মা, তোর মুখের বাণী আমার কানে লাগে সুধার মতো,
মরি হায়, হায় রে—
মা, তোর বদনখানি মলিন হলে, ও মা, আমি নয়নজলে ভাসি॥
… Rabindranath Tagore (1905)
It was first published in the legendary (new) Bangadarshon, which was basically a little magazine, dare I say, like this one 😊 Nah! I am not comparing Turni with Bangadarshon, but I thought I should have a little fun and not make the editorial too heavy!
-Editor
১৬ ডিসেম্বর! চারিদিকে আলোকসজ্জা!
চলুন একটু পিছনে ফিরে দেখি!
কতটা পিছনে? ১ ,২?
না।
আজ থেকে ৪৯ বছর আগে।সময়কাল তখন ১৯৭১। হাজারো ভয়ার্ত মানুষেরা মুক্তির উল্লাসে ছুটে বেড়িয়েছে, এ গলি, ও গলি। স্বাধীন বাংলাদেশের আনন্দে!
আমরা হয়তো তেমন আনন্দটা ধারন করতে পারি না।কিন্তু ১৬ ডিসেম্বর উপলক্ষে আমাদের বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়ে নানা আয়োজন করে।দেখে জানা মুক্তির আনন্দের কিছুটা বহিঃ প্রকাশ।বাংলাদেশের প্রাণকেন্দ্র ঢাকায় অনেক সুন্দরভাবেই উদযাপন করা হয় বিজয় দিবস।
তবে হলের মধ্যে অন্যতম ছিলো ফিস্টের কুপন কাটা।কিছুটা প্রধান আর্কষন এটাই ছিলো। নাম মাত্র মূল্যে বিরাট এক আয়োজন শরীক হতাম আমরা।হাজারো রঙিন মরিচ বাতিতে উজ্জ্বল হতো হলের মলিন অট্টালিকার চূড়া।
ইংরেজিতে একটি কথা আছে, "Cutting the Gordian knot". গল্পটা অনেকটা এমন - এক দেশে একটি রশিতে এমন জটিল একটা গিটঠু (knot) দিয়ে ঝুলিয়ে রাখা হয়েছে যে বোঝা কঠিন কিভাবে সে গিটঠুটা দেয়া হয়েছে। পরবর্তীতে বলা হয়েছে কেউ যদি ঐ গিটঠুটা খুলতে পারে তাহলে সে সমগ্র এশিয়াকে দখলে রাখতে পারবে। অনেকে অনেক চেষ্টা করেছে ঐ গিটঠু খোলার কিন্তু কেউ পারেনি। পরবর্তীতে অ্যালেক্সান্ডার দ্য গ্রেট যখন ওখানে যায় এবং গিটঠু তা দেখে, তখন সে তরবারি বের করে এক কোপে গিটঠু টা কেটে ফেলে!
তারপর থেকে যখনি কোনও অত্তাধিক জটিল কোনও অবস্থা হয় এবং সেটা সম্পূর্ণরূপে ঠিক করার চেষ্টা না করে সোজা সাপটা ভাবে কাজটি করে ফেললে তখন উপরের ঐ কথাটা বলা হয়। অ্যালেক্সান্ডার দ্য গ্রেট পরবর্তীতে বিশ্ব জয় করেছিলেন। কোনও কিছু পেতে হলে কনফিডেন্স থাকতে হয়, বোল্ড কিছু ডিসিশন নিতে হয়, বোল্ড কাজ করতে হয়। সব কিছু ঠিকঠাক করে কোনও কিছু করতে গেলে অনেক সময়ই তা বরং হয়না।
তেমন একটা বড় সমস্যা আমরা নিজেরাই সমাধান করেছি।১০ ডিসেম্বরে আমাদের দেশে দৃশমাণ হয়েছে পদ্মা সেতুর ৬.১৫ কিলোমিটার । সামনাসামনি হয়েছি অন্যতম বিজয়ে । নির্মাণাধীন আছে একটি বহুমুখী সড়ক ও রেল সেতু। আমাদের স্বপ্নের পদ্মা সেতু।
—Linco
স্বাধীনতা তুমি
রবিঠাকুরের অজর কবিতা, অবিনাশী গান।
স্বাধীনতা তুমি
কাজী নজরুল ঝাঁকড়া চুলের বাবরি দোলানো
মহান পুরুষ, সৃষ্টিসুখের উল্লাসে কাঁপা-
স্বাধীনতা তুমি
শহীদ মিনারে অমর একুশে ফেব্রুয়ারির উজ্জ্বল সভা
স্বাধীনতা তুমি
পতাকা-শোভিত শ্লোগান-মুখর ঝাঁঝালো মিছিল।
স্বাধীনতা তুমি
ফসলের মাঠে কৃষকের হাসি।
স্বাধীনতা তুমি
রোদেলা দুপুরে মধ্যপুকুরে গ্রাম্য মেয়ের অবাধ সাঁতার।
স্বাধীনতা তুমি
মজুর যুবার রোদে ঝলসিত দক্ষ বাহুর গ্রন্থিল পেশী।
স্বাধীনতা তুমি
অন্ধকারের খাঁ খাঁ সীমান্তে মুক্তিসেনার চোখের ঝিলিক।
স্বাধীনতা তুমি
বটের ছায়ায় তরুণ মেধাবী শিক্ষার্থীর
শানিত কথার ঝলসানি-লাগা সতেজ ভাষণ।
স্বাধীনতা তুমি
চা-খানায় আর মাঠে-ময়দানে ঝোড়ো সংলাপ।
স্বাধীনতা তুমি
কালবোশেখীর দিগন্তজোড়া মত্ত ঝাপটা।
স্বাধীনতা তুমি
শ্রাবণে অকূল মেঘনার বুক
স্বাধীনতা তুমি পিতার কোমল জায়নামাজের উদার জমিন।
স্বাধীনতা তুমি
উঠানে ছড়ানো মায়ের শুভ্র শাড়ির কাঁপন।
স্বাধীনতা তুমি
বোনের হাতের নম্র পাতায় মেহেদীর রঙ।
স্বাধীনতা তুমি বন্ধুর হাতে তারার মতন জ্বলজ্বলে এক রাঙা পোস্টার।
স্বাধীনতা তুমি
গৃহিণীর ঘন খোলা কালো চুল,
হাওয়ায় হাওয়ায় বুনো উদ্দাম।
স্বাধীনতা তুমি
খোকার গায়ের রঙিন কোর্তা,
খুকীর অমন তুলতুলে গালে
রৌদ্রের খেলা।
স্বাধীনতা তুমি
বাগানের ঘর, কোকিলের গান,
বয়েসী বটের ঝিলিমিলি পাতা,
যেমন ইচ্ছে লেখার আমার কবিতার খাতা।
- Recited by 
On 14 December 1971, seeing their fall was nigh, Pakistani forces and their collaborators killed off a great many intellectuals of Bangladesh (former East Pakistan).
That day was significant. Significant in a way that it can darken the festive zeal of 16th December, our victory day. The older I get, the darker 14th December appears to be. I’m also terrified that no one told me how devastating it was with far-reaching consequences as a child, perhaps they themselves didn’t understand as well. We all read in the textbooks—what the day was and what was their goal. They wanted to destroy our intellectual class. What the books do not say is that that one single day, that one slaughter still affects us, still haunts us as a threat. Perhaps, it outweighs all the other atrocities they committed. They succeeded at what they wanted to do. That day, they crippled us.
As a nation, we mourn numerous days that we deem tragic. When the father of the nation was murdered and when a number of people thought their right to speak their mother tongue was more valued than their lives. But as I see it, 14th December, the culling of the intellectual was the gravest day of all.
Intellectuals are what drives a country, takes it to the next step—socio-economically, intellectually with their wisdom, insight, and transcendence. We are an agricultural nation, yes, and farmers grow food, weavers weave cloths—but these are all fundamental needs. For true freedom, the freedom of the mind, the freedom to form a civilized nation, we needed those intellectuals. Their absence subsequently created blank spaces, a void was manifested, engineered by the enemy.
I daresay Bangladesh would be a very different state if they were alive. Our current state of corruption and a constant brain-drain wouldn’t be this severe. We wouldn’t be a nation of boiling frogs.
I mourn the dead great men and women we had, and I mourn the possibilities they could offer to a newly born nation.
1971,
The country is facing a war for liberation. People from all walks of life joined hand in hand hearing the speech from leader on 7th march.
All the youth has joined to fight against the oppressors to get freedom. Rahim, a boy who came to the city far from his village for education. In this crucial time he too went for training to fight for his motherland. Before going he wrote a letter to his mother.Maybe the last one. His mother got the letter one week later and there she read about his son's joining the armed force for the country. Reading the letter she knew that this could be the last words from her son. He might die too in this warfield. She didn’t panicked and prayed for the wellbeing and victory of her son.
Months have passed no words from her son. On the contrary the image of city and country is getting worse. Even the villages are facing same consequences. Mother is on the hope of getting some news from the son and praying. She too started helping the freedom fighters. She feeds the freedom fighters thinking of feeding her son. She too hope for her son's food arrangement in this way too. She knows that these freedom fighters who come to her house for food are also the sons of another mother. As a mother she thinks them as her son rahim and care for them.
This way nine month bloodshed of war has finished and we heard the victory. Still now the mother didn’t get any news from her son. The new Bangladesh is born now. What did it cost? It cost the lives of such uncountable sons, cost the inhuman torture on innocent people, cost the death of so many intellectual and so on. Her son maybe given his life for the country. Yet, the mother has no grief she knows that she is the mother of a martyr who gave his life for the sake of his motherland. The mother couldn’t find any more honourable death her son could have got.
Yes,we got the victory on million of such kind of sacrifices and many more. We are standing as a free country on the sacrifices of them. Let's pray for them and always try to think for the wellbeing of the country.Happy Victory Day.
The language that we speak, is our identity! It holds a definite high value for our self. For my country the history behind it is immense. Bloodshed, sufferings, respect, everything that this nation went through, was all because of freedom and the will power to be able to speak our mother tongue. The nation, which went through all this for the sake of independence, I must say, I am proud to be a citizen of my country, BANGLADESH.
We have come across 48 years of Independence, which took place in 1971, against Pakistan. All the martyrs and people who died during that period, will always be at our heart and deserves our outmost respect. The nation has grown ever since! We are doing our best to cope up with the situation and making countless efforts to take this country, to the place where it deserves to be.
Accept it or not, it is a gift that we have ben given to be able to speak in our mother tongue. You, me us, we all are free. We have independence. We are free birds. All these were successful because of those who sacrificed their life for us in 1971. Isn't it time for us to make a difference?
One of the main crisis right now, is POVERTY. "Rich gets richer and poor gets poorer". This phrase is so, being applied in our society. Believe it or not there are people who are still sleeping on street at night without having food for that day. I understand we can not change those facts. Or more precisely we can not change the fate of all those people alone. But you, yes you can make a difference from your side alone. For instance, at 12 am today many of you will go to the "Shahid minar" today for giving out flowers and pay your respects to the martyrs. I am accepting that without them we would not have been here. But what good are you actually doing by giving your resources on that area. Do not get me wrong but do you know where those flowers and all the other stuffs goes to, later that night? Please, find the answer.
Instead of doing all this, if you can feed a single person on that day and that person going to sleep without any hunger, by the thought of that lone, will make your sleep worth it. Try it out!
Now, we can not change everything. As we are accustomed to the lifestyle of ours. But we can bring changes to those places where we can. Politicians, gov employees, and ordinary people, if we can become honest and do our respective duties from our side, I strongly believe we can make much more improvements to our country and take it to that place, where it actually deserves to be!
We have made significant improvements within our country and there are plenty of things that we are proud of. Let us add few more to the list and make our contributions to that list. After all, we are a part of our country!
This here is our piece de resistance. To promote engagement and a little self-branding, we have come up with an initiative that we simply called Featured. And we are very excited about this portion of the magazine.
Every week, one talented author will have the opportunity to contribute a piece for the magazine while showcasing one of their best posts. The willing writers will have a chance to add a few words about any topic they choose and be a 25% beneficiary of the magazine.
The first step is, you have to decide whether you want to get featured or not. Once you've made up your mind, you have to apply by submitting one of your articles from last week. We have a wiggle room for quality content if they are older than seven days. Choose the piece you deem to be your best work for the week, as this will play a significant role in you getting featured or not.
There will be a two-day period to submit your application. It must be submitted by dropping a link to your post in the #Featured-Magazine channel on the BDCommunity Discord Server. One author will be chosen randomly from all the submissions. The featured author for the week will be announced during the weekly voice meeting. They will then have two days for writing a piece and submit.
The author who gets featured in the weekly magazine will be set as a 25% beneficiary, meaning 25% of the magazine's liquid payout will go to the featured author.
Do not forget to join our next weekly hangout at Friday 10 pm GMT +6
@notacinephile
@minhajulmredul
@rehan12