Cricket WC and Lokoj Utsab
Nehal Adil | Saturday, 26 March 2011
Nehal Adil
It is not a shame that Bangladesh did not move to the World Cup cricket trophy. Cricket is not our national sport, it was brought by our colonial masters. But in a world of globalisation, there is nothing national as we are made to realise in the interaction of war and terror as well as peace and sports. It is the human factor that is the most important. Though Bangladesh did not move to the trophy, the country had a festive mood. The streets were clean, the hawkers and beggars were moved away. The president of the tourism board failed to give the data how many tourists did come but the board was confident that it would make a big inflow of foreign tourists and would earn the nation a significant amount of foreign exchange. To give a national character to the event a Lokoj Utsab or Folk Festival was organised at Sonargaon Hotel. Lok or folk is distinct from Gono or people. Folk means the common people, the villagers. Folk song means ordinary people's song. Lok Giti comes to that category. Vaisnab Kirtan, Jari, Murshidi, Bhatiali, Bhawaia all come under the Lok Sangeet or Folk song or folk culture. It was gratifying that it was organised in such a place like Sonargaon Hotel where the folk, the ordinary people, had no access. Nation's leading folk artists including mighty Faqir Alamgir was invited in the day-long programme. There was another programme for the invited guests in the evening. Since 9/11 in the United States Sonargaon Hotel is a high security zone. People like the President of Turkey or Prime Minister of Bhutan are lodged there. Many wonder why they should be lodged in a tourist hotel when there are so many unutilised state guest houses. Nobody has put the question to the Tourism Board of Bangladesh. During the Pakistani rule it used to be called National Tourist Organisation. Bangabandhu gave it a Bangla name Parjatan, he gave a Bangla name for the National Airlines - Biman too. But it is now long past memory. Anglicised ruling elite nearly discarded those names. Now, it is hoped that our national identity will be reaffirmed. The Lokoj Utsab is a testimony of it. Yet with high security belt around the hotel the Lokoj Utsab was meant mostly for hotel boarders and white expatriates. Even Bangladeshis who work abroad and earn much of country's foreign exchange do not dare to venture there, not only because of the security belt but also because of high prices. I was told that overseas Bangladeshis are mostly workers and uncultured and they should not be given access to a place visited by foreign heads of states. Of course, it was not an official comment. I know the minister for civil aviation and tourism. He is a perfect gentleman who wanted to show the country to the countrymen. But how far this policy has been implemented? The Chairman of the Tourism Board was running his press conference in English to Bangla speaking Bangladeshi reporters for the sake of one white man present there. Another foreigner was an Indian said that she understood Bangla. But it was difficult for the reporters of Bangla media to follow English. And it was they who mattered. Was the money spent on Lokoj Utsab a waste? I walked down and reached the Freedom Garden, the Swadhinata Udyan, officially called Suhrawardy Udyan. It was the old Race Course where Bajra Kantha, the Voice of Thunder, uttered Ebarer Sangram, Muktir Sangran, Ebarer Sangram - Swadhinatar Sangram. He was not an Emperor or King. He did not dream of any dynasty. He was a simple man - Lok folk, the common man. I found under a tree some Lalan singers singing folk songs. Rajib, a young cultural activist, had told me he wanted to organise a Lokoj Utsab and even met a sympathetic minister, Promode Mankin. But no fund was available because he had no sponsor. Fund is not available where it is needed, I was told once by Arjumand Ara Bakul, a folk artist. The minister who wanted to show his country to the countrymen should have a special look to the bureaucracy that runs press conferences and festivals. Cricket and Lokoj Utsab could then go together.
It is not a shame that Bangladesh did not move to the World Cup cricket trophy. Cricket is not our national sport, it was brought by our colonial masters. But in a world of globalisation, there is nothing national as we are made to realise in the interaction of war and terror as well as peace and sports. It is the human factor that is the most important. Though Bangladesh did not move to the trophy, the country had a festive mood. The streets were clean, the hawkers and beggars were moved away. The president of the tourism board failed to give the data how many tourists did come but the board was confident that it would make a big inflow of foreign tourists and would earn the nation a significant amount of foreign exchange. To give a national character to the event a Lokoj Utsab or Folk Festival was organised at Sonargaon Hotel. Lok or folk is distinct from Gono or people. Folk means the common people, the villagers. Folk song means ordinary people's song. Lok Giti comes to that category. Vaisnab Kirtan, Jari, Murshidi, Bhatiali, Bhawaia all come under the Lok Sangeet or Folk song or folk culture. It was gratifying that it was organised in such a place like Sonargaon Hotel where the folk, the ordinary people, had no access. Nation's leading folk artists including mighty Faqir Alamgir was invited in the day-long programme. There was another programme for the invited guests in the evening. Since 9/11 in the United States Sonargaon Hotel is a high security zone. People like the President of Turkey or Prime Minister of Bhutan are lodged there. Many wonder why they should be lodged in a tourist hotel when there are so many unutilised state guest houses. Nobody has put the question to the Tourism Board of Bangladesh. During the Pakistani rule it used to be called National Tourist Organisation. Bangabandhu gave it a Bangla name Parjatan, he gave a Bangla name for the National Airlines - Biman too. But it is now long past memory. Anglicised ruling elite nearly discarded those names. Now, it is hoped that our national identity will be reaffirmed. The Lokoj Utsab is a testimony of it. Yet with high security belt around the hotel the Lokoj Utsab was meant mostly for hotel boarders and white expatriates. Even Bangladeshis who work abroad and earn much of country's foreign exchange do not dare to venture there, not only because of the security belt but also because of high prices. I was told that overseas Bangladeshis are mostly workers and uncultured and they should not be given access to a place visited by foreign heads of states. Of course, it was not an official comment. I know the minister for civil aviation and tourism. He is a perfect gentleman who wanted to show the country to the countrymen. But how far this policy has been implemented? The Chairman of the Tourism Board was running his press conference in English to Bangla speaking Bangladeshi reporters for the sake of one white man present there. Another foreigner was an Indian said that she understood Bangla. But it was difficult for the reporters of Bangla media to follow English. And it was they who mattered. Was the money spent on Lokoj Utsab a waste? I walked down and reached the Freedom Garden, the Swadhinata Udyan, officially called Suhrawardy Udyan. It was the old Race Course where Bajra Kantha, the Voice of Thunder, uttered Ebarer Sangram, Muktir Sangran, Ebarer Sangram - Swadhinatar Sangram. He was not an Emperor or King. He did not dream of any dynasty. He was a simple man - Lok folk, the common man. I found under a tree some Lalan singers singing folk songs. Rajib, a young cultural activist, had told me he wanted to organise a Lokoj Utsab and even met a sympathetic minister, Promode Mankin. But no fund was available because he had no sponsor. Fund is not available where it is needed, I was told once by Arjumand Ara Bakul, a folk artist. The minister who wanted to show his country to the countrymen should have a special look to the bureaucracy that runs press conferences and festivals. Cricket and Lokoj Utsab could then go together.