Tokyo Baishakhi Mela: Sharing of hope

The 'Tokyo Boishkhi Mela' was held April 17, which was attended by thousands of Bangladeshi and Japanese people. Japan-based 'Shorolipi' and 'Uchcharon' cultural organisations presented a pleasant cultural programme. Although the organisers had invited a number of Bangladeshi artists but none of them could attend the programme. People started to flock to the day-long fair from early morning which with the passage of time turned into a congregation where many of visitors were also Japanese. Bangladeshi artistes performed many Japanese popular songs and some announcements were also made in Japanese language for their convenience. Our Japanese friends enjoyed the delicious Bangladeshi foods such as bhuna khichuri, chicken curry, chapati roti and nan roti. A number of Japanese ladies wore saris and undeniably they looked beautiful. To my utter surprise a Japanese lady sang a duet with a Bangladeshi singer. When she started the most popular Bangla song "chupi chupi bolo keu jene jabe.." the audience were startled with the delectable feeling like that they were back in their own country. There was a blend of modern songs along with folk, Robindra and Nazrul songs. A number of high officials from the Bangladesh embassy visited the programme with their families and spent sometimes at the fair. The cultural programme was bannered as 'Charity Cultural Show'; arranged to collect funds for the tsunami affected people of Japan. The theme was that they once came to Japan to change their life which they could accomplish with their sincere toil. They could also immensely contribute to the economy of Bangladesh through earning remittance. Whenever Bangladesh was confronted with any crisis, Japan offered all sorts of assistance resolutely. They thought that this was the time to pay back the dues how little it may be though. Many Bangladeshi felt happy to give away some donations to stand beside the people of eastern Japan. Bangla speaking people from Tokyo, Chiba, Saitama and even from Tsukuba attended the fair. Though they started their conversations with pleasantries, within a few moments it turned to the devastating earthquake and the level of radiation, the aftershock, how and when it would stop or how long it would take to fix the crippled Fukushima Power Plant etc. Some people despondently wanted to know the ultimate effect of the radiation leaked form the nuke plant. We, the Bangladeshi people, made a rare example of showing our solidarity with the Japanese by including them in our own culture and festivals. Many other countries and nations helped Japan with their own resources but the people of the poor country shared an event of their heritage as a tool to help the tsunami affected people. The Bangla New Year 1418 started with a beautiful sunny day that prolonged throughout with its warmth and clarity. This will be considered to be a good omen for an ensuing new year of excellent relationship between the people of Bangladesh and Japan as well. The writer is a graduate student at the School of Governance Studies, Meiji University, Japan