In the heart of New York City, Adhunika organized Bijoy Dibosh celebration to commemorate Bangladesh’s 38^th year of independence from Pakistan. Following is an excerpt by Kyoko Mona – who has been a friend of Adhunika since 2007. Adhunika thanks everyone who came to take part in the year end celebration with her. To view pictures from preparation & performance – click here –> ‘ Bijoy Dibosh Celebration‘.

Adhunika organized Bijoy Dibosh (“victory day”) celebration to commemorate Bangladesh’s 38^th year of independence from Pakistan.  The remembrance took place in ‘Connect’ in midtown New York on December 12^th from 3:00pm – 6:00pm.  This year’s celebration was mostly organized and performed by four gifted teenagers from New York, Bashma (10 th grader), Ditiya (9th^h grader), Proma (9th grader), and Rabiya (10th grader).  This was an extraordinary event for all the audiences because all these teenagers are actually Bangladeshi – American teenagers who have very little exposure to the Bangladeshi culture and history.  There is no doubt that they did a splendid job!

The festivity started with the performance of a song by Joan Baez delivered beautifully by Bashma Proma and Ditiya, followed by an introduction to the event by Sharzil, then a small slide presentation of history behind Bangladesh’s independence war. Then beautiful songs (Amar shonar Bangla and Ek shagor er rokter binimoye) by Bashma (vocalist and guitar), Ditiya (vocalist and violin) and Proma (vocalist) captivated all the audiences. Despite the difficult songs their Bangla pronunciations were perfect!

Later Rabiya presented a painful story of her grandmother who lost her son (Rabiya’s uncle) during the liberation war.  Rabiya hand drew about thirty slides to state her story.  The celebration ended with Mr. Hasan Ferdouse’s sad but beautiful story regarding liberation war which once again reminded us that we all Bangladeshies are one, and  WE are the winners at the end .

The Bijoy Dibosh celebration by Adhunika also had a surprise art competition for children.  Personally I loved all the drawings – they were all beautiful – and all the children were winners.  The entire program was conducted by Sharzil Rahman, who was born in bangadesh, but came to the US at a very young age. She is a recent graduate from Hofstra University, NY and a devoted friend of Adhunika.

Month of December despite the school work and exams all the performers did their research on liberation war of 1971 to reflect back to our history.  They put in extensive effort in learning the songs, composing music, and drawings slides and brochures. Of course we greatly appreciate the support of the performer’s families – behind the scene they worked as hard as performers to deliver such a successful event. Also a special thanks to people of Connect for providing a free space for us to hold the event.

Adhunika, which includes all other volunteers of Adhunika did a marvelous job in putting everything together for our future generation.  I personally loved the event and I believe this will make a difference.  Shubho bijoy dibosh!!!!

Kyoko Mona, December 12, 2009