I feel sorry that I am writing this blog in English – a language that is not my mother tongue. I also feel sorry that I couldn’t compute in Nepali.
Exactly a year ago, I was in Chittagong, Bangladesh to cover Youth World Cup cricket and saw the Bagladeshi people celebrating Feb 21 as a very important day and they called it Ekushey. On Feb 20, at midnight, they will walk barefoot in groups to the chowks where I find three black pillars that represent martyrs who died during the movement for the Bangla language in 1952.
The day is also celebrated as the International Mother Language Day following UNESCO’s reorganization in 1999.
According to what I learnt from my friends, namely AKM Ahsunur Rahman Mallick Rony, journalist Palash and Plabon, is that on Feb 21, 1952, the students in Dhaka University rallied against the then-Pakistani rulers to recognize Bangla as the state language. Many students were killed by authority which sparked off a series of protest that recognized Bangla as state language in 1956, and then to the birth of Bangladesh in 1971.
Bangladeshi consider the day as a vital turning point in the history of the movement for a distinct cultural and linguistic identity that set us inexorably on the road of full independence and nationhood (The Daily Star daily’s editorial).
What made me amazed in Bangladesh is the dedication of the people towards the Ekuskey and their commitment to celebrate it. Nepal had never been under colony thus we didn’t fight for our language or for cultural identity, but that doesn’t mean that we should not care about our beloved Nepali.
We should also know English because it’s a universal language but we should not forget our mother language and should do everything to preserve and prosper it. On this occasion, I also like to appreciate the initiatives taken by Madan Puraskar Pustakalaya for developing Nepali Unicode and UnLimited New Media for their attempt to develop Microsoft Windows in Nepal and wishes all the best for them.
I also request all my nationals to feel proud of the mother language, whatsoever it is (since we have hundreds of languages) and try to develop it for our identity. Let’s learn something from Bangladesh.
