Agony and ecstasy

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Bengalis are a highly emotional race. We often carry things too far. In any form of tragedy whether personal or at national levels, we do not grieve, we lament. Not only that we are unduly loud in expressing our grief. A tragedy whether caused due to an accident, natural causes or man-made, we plunge into extreme grief and agony. To the largest extent it is but natural. But what is disconcerting here is the public display of it all. Has any one observed the burial process of near and dear ones in the western society? It is dealt as a somber occasion. I am not talking about the ritualistic part of it -- the philosophy and the essence of it all. They, too, grieve. Let us face it we simply have too many ceremonies by way of death anniversaries including discussion meetings on tragedies of all dimensions. Our concept of agony and expression of pain and losses, be it personal or at the national level is gradually going out of proportions. If one were to go by the dictates of the holy Quran, as to how to deal with personal tragedies like death of anyone among our near and dear ones, we clearly see the mistakes we are committing in this regard. There is no scope of lamentation and, that too, for any extended period of time. It is indeed sad that both as individuals and as a nation we have failed to effectively deal with tragedies. Sadly enough, we also often tend to use it to gain political mileages. Ecstasy and euphoria are yet two of the other major hallmarks of our character as a nation. We seldom rejoice we become ecstatic. It is painful to see how many times a happy occasion has been turned into a rowdy affair. We may recall here the incident that took place during the New Year celebrations that took place a few years ago on the night of the Pahela Baishskh right on the campus of the University of Dhaka. We have experienced even violating the dignity of women in the name of celebrating a joyous occasion. Of late, there is much to be said about the way we are celebrating our victories in the on-going cricket world cup competitions. Is this any way to celebrate by blocking movement of vehicular traffic? It is our impression that the administration itself is responsible, to a large extent, to let matters come to such a pass. We also feel that the encouragement provided by the state machinery has also contributed to the developing scenario. The celebrations we experienced following the last two victories by our team - before the match that took place on Saturday (March 19) in the ongoing cricket world cup competitions were more of display of unbridled ecstasy and utter indiscipline. As it is, we are one of the most undisciplined nations of the region. A few days back we read in the print media and witnessed also in the electronic media a rowdy crowd blocking busy thoroughfares in town and revelling on the middle of the street blocking the movement of other vehicular traffic. We do not even know how to enjoy or celebrate a joyous event. Surely, one cannot pass unruly behaviour for a celebration or expression of joy. Nowhere in the world national tragedies are commemorated or celebrated in such an extended way as we do it here. Look at how the west and the world's most powerful country celebrate or commemorate their national days. The independence of the USA is essentially a one-day affair. On the other hand, we hardly hear of any extended commemorative celebration on the death anniversaries of such world class leaders like Abraham Lincoln, Mahatma Gandhi or Martin Luther king; they too were gunned down by assassins. In both agony and ecstasy we feel that there is this other element where it could very well be a deliberate propaganda exercise by the administration to divert peoples attention from such public issues of grave concern like the energy crisis, the water crisis, the traffic jam, unbridled spiralling of prices etc., facing the entire nation at large. Whatever be the reason may be for fanning up such agony and ecstasy in our lives, it does not augur well. It is in the long run bound to be counter-productive and adversely affect the society. The truth of it all is this: we are yet to develop ourselves as a matured nation. We often behave like delinquents. To us individual interests come, ahead of national interests. Under all circumstances, we must learn to stay calm and focused. We must uphold the dignity and honour of our forefathers not by sheer rhetoric and celebrations but adhering to the principles by which they lived by and gave their lives. Let sobriety be one of the key hallmarks of our society. Let us shun excesses in any form. Let us follow the middle path, the path that calls for moderation, reasoning and wisdom. The writer can be reached at e-mail: chowdhury.shamsher@yahoo.com