Pohela Phalgun & Valentines Day
Pohela phalgun - the day we usher ‘Boshonto’ - which symbolizes life, and Valentines Day - which symbolizes love just passed us. We would like to know how did you celebrate these two occasions?
Pohela Phalgun & Valentines Day
Pohela phalgun - the day we usher ‘Boshonto’ - which symbolizes life, and Valentines Day - which symbolizes love just passed us. We would like to know how did you celebrate these two occasions?
February 16th, 2007 at 12:48 pm
I had to celebrate it as a valentine day because I was working during the day and in the evening my boyfriend took me out to dinner. Guess what! he proposed me
It was the best valentines day of my life.
February 16th, 2007 at 1:57 pm
Well in a way I didn’t have a chance to celebrate any of those as I had classes both the days. And On Valentine’s Day one of my professors said we would have an exam the day after. So….But personally I was more excited about Pohela Falgun…
February 16th, 2007 at 5:04 pm
Fathema,
Congratulations! What a romantic way to celebrate Valentines day. So, when is the big day?
How did I celebrate? well, it was frigid cold in the east coast, so stayed home celebrated valentines day with the family, and if i were in Bangladesh, I am sure I would have followed all the dance and poetry on the street to welcome ‘boshonto’.
Shahnaz
February 17th, 2007 at 10:14 am
They say that valentine’s day is a day were you tell your loved ones, family and friends that you love them.
I believe that we should celebrate valentine’s day every day. We should tell people in our lifes, every day, how we feel about them. We should thank Allah for giving us all the things we have and all the people that are in our life everyday.
February 17th, 2007 at 11:16 pm
Wow, I never heard of this holiday! Do most of the people in Bangladesh celebrate it? How? I’m Bangladeshi-American and only lived in the “old country” for 5 years, so am pretty clueless on a lot of matters!
February 18th, 2007 at 2:11 am
I have celebrated pohela-phalgun, I wore an orange Tangail cotton sari and came to the office, most of the girls’ of my office (Canadian High Commission, Dhaka) dressed in orange sari or orange salwar-kamiz on that day. It seems to me whole office was in a festive mood though we work in a different cultural environment. And our Candadian co-workers highly appreciated this festive mood.
February 19th, 2007 at 1:16 am
Udita, bashonti rong shari sounds wonderful. Yes if i was in Bangladesh, I would definitely be in orange too. Being based in London plus workday etc didn’t feel very “bashonti” but did have a very sweet, romantic evening with my bor. Dinner at a very interesting Asian place, then Turkish film at the BArbican.
February 19th, 2007 at 12:28 pm
Being a radio journalist, I organised a live phone-in show on 14th February and the topic was Valentine’s Day and its growing popularity around the globe. It was a great relief from endless political talks aired by media these days. We often forget that love is more important and healthier than politics and power.
February 19th, 2007 at 5:33 pm
Hi All,
Wishing you all a very Happy Valentine’s Day and Pohela Falgun. I used to celebrate Pohela Falgun back home wearing orange sarees and going to all the festivities around campus. Even when we had ‘batch’-Sir er bashay pora, we all got dressed up in sarees and went there, it was so beautiful and Dhaka city looked so colorful. It is hard to celebrate it here in US during the snow storm when all we can think of is how to get the car out of the driveway. But we can still celebrate from far away looking at these colorful pics:
http://www.thedailystar.net/cityinframe/2007/02/02/cityinframe.htm, ,
Emma, I hope you enjoy them!
Valentine’s Day is also very special to me since my husband also proposed to me on that day in 2002. Congratulations to Fathema!! This time me and my husband were apart, but he sent me flowers and chocolates in the midst of the snow storm. I agree with Nadia that we should celebrate V’day everyday and let our family and friends know how much we love them. But in reality, does that really happen? I think it is really nice to have a special day dedicated to express our feelings for our loved ones. This gives us a chance to stop for a minute in our busy lives and do something extra special for the one we love. Life is a celebration, why not a special day for love? Here is an interesting read from some famous actors and actresses which came out right before V’day this month. I liked what Aupee Karim said, “Yes we do love someone everyday but maybe we don’t get the time or opportunity to express that love everyday.”
http://www.thedailystar.net/2007/02/14/d702141402124.htm
Enjoy the read! Hope all of you get to show your love to everyone who is special in your life, whether it is everyday or only one day every year.
February 20th, 2007 at 3:33 pm
I was lucky enough to be in Dhaka for Pohela Falgun this year. It was incredibly heartwarming to see women, girls of all ages dressed in bashonti coloured saris all around the city. There was an air of festivity all around wherever you looked in varying forms. Unfortunately I couldnt attend the Falgun uttshob at Dhaka University, so if someone did attend it, please let us know how it went!
I would completely agree with Nadia that every day should be Valentine’s day, a day where you tell your loved ones how much you care about them. But at the same time it is really nice to have one day specifically dedicated for love
The most beautiful image that I remember from V’day this year: a girl dressed in a red jamdani sari with a red tip (bindi) and a single red rose in her hair. Utterly and simply unforgettably beautiful!
February 24th, 2007 at 7:24 pm
On top of celebrating the Valentines day with dinnaer/movie and flowers, this day could be a chackpoint for our relationship health. It might be very healthy to evaluate last year, how we are doing in keeping a relationship with the people we love.
Do we have any major issues we need to work on, are we sittling on some sleeping volcano which can erupt anytime? All such soul searching questions could help us achive a happier relationship.
-Sharmin
February 28th, 2007 at 10:20 am
Sharmin,
What next ? A performance review on relationship?
followed by a peer review and a performance development plan? Sounds to mechanical, apa. If things are in the rocks, you find out one way or another. 
February 28th, 2007 at 1:14 pm
Asif,
You are right, one will find it anyway, specially when matters get really grave and when its get too hard to get back.
Definitely I am not an expert here, I am seeing many couple looks like they are okay, they pretend and hope that everything will be fine automatically. There are times I have got SOS calls from freinds who aparently having a good life. I always wonder how could that be mitigated much earlier. Any thought?
-Sharmin
February 28th, 2007 at 1:46 pm
I feel that we are going far away from the V’day and Pohela Falgun topic. This is interesting too– but may be it can be a separate topic to discuss which might be beneficial for couples who Sharmin is talking about?
April 23rd, 2007 at 4:22 am
V’day-some controversy exists as to whether its a day to declare Love or is it a marytrs day-not very clear.However thats a foreign custom introduced here first by Foreigners then by the Expatriate Bangladeshis.Correct me if I am wrong.
Pahela Falgun and Pahela Boisak these r our Bengali culture and its widely celebrated with great enthusiasm- and people of all ages enjoy it equally; infact if people who are in love wish to wait to declare their Love this should be the right occassion.
Dress for Valentine celebration again is western- while for dress for Falgun or Boishak is :”Eye-catching” event more of life flowing than that of Valentine celebration.
There was some suggestion here to analyse family bond- that should be done every single day to keep the bond strong.
Happy Family Life and good L:uck for new Lovers who would get united into a family soon.CHEERS
November 15th, 2008 at 1:42 am
Zovirax 800mg….
Zovirax for cold sore….