Daily Mantras and Such

Bangladesh is a hopelessly romantic nation (at heart). Bangladesh’s art, culture,literature, celebrations/festivals, cuisine..everything ooze with romantic ideals. It is believed that an average Bangladeshi person (male in most cases) has written at least one romantic poem/letter, at some point in life —for the sole purpose of wooing someone ( in most cases) he barely knows. Hand written letters spouting flowery language, mushy love quotes are something every one of us (mostly women) had to deal with. These letters at times came from someone next door (a complete stranger) or a random person who spotted you in some public place (already imaged your wedding day, decided on your kids to your pet dog’s nick names) and fell in love with you instantly. Whatever the case, these verbose love letters were inevitable even 10 years ago.

The mighty rivers (depleting), lush greenery (no more lush) and frequent torrential downpour—all of which were parts of Bangladeshi life in the past contributed to a deep and age-old relationship between Bangladeshis people and nature. Bangladeshi music somewhat reflect this ‘in one’ with nature state of mind— and is often, ecstatic, romantic and throbbing with sappy emotional undertones. Apart from the few heavy metal bands in Bangladesh, most bands (starting from Shumon (from Arthohin), to Tahsan to Arnob) have topped the charts with their mushy love numbers. Classical, folk, Rabindra Sangeet, Nazrul Getti, Bhatiali songs also boast romantic lyrics—even when the lyrics are not romantic in a lovey dovey kind of way, their passion and emotions make them Romantic nonetheless.
Kazi Zazrul Islam—the national poet of Bangladesh is best known for his romantic lyrics. Although his fiery, militant, anti-colonial patriotic poems inspired millions of Bengalis—the patriotism or idealism conveyed in his poems are somewhat Romantic.

Bangladeshi food is also full of romantic innuendos. At weddings the bride and the groom are fed with sweets (believed to strengthen/ sweeten the love between the newlyweds). A mother’s love is often expressed via food—it is believed that the more the mom cooks for you (especially sumptuous meals like Biryani, Polao, sweets etc) the more she loves you. The general and common assumption is—a mom who never /seldom cooks for her child/children cannot be a good caregiver.

But slowly these little quintessentially Bangladeshi sentiments are withering away. People just can’t afford the time that it takes to woo somebody. Long, flowery love-letters have been replaced by alpha-numerical texts such as “A/S/L (age, sex, location?)”, a heart shaped emoticon or a ‘send friend request’ tab. The expressions of love have also changed with time. It is no longer cool to sit by the lake or the university and munch on peanuts. Hangout places evolved—the things that are in right now are quite different from the things that were in a few years ago. The Bangladeshi cinema scenario also matured over time. Even though legendary romantic film couples like Kobori-Rajjak will live forever, Bangladeshi audiences now demand contemporary and relatable elements in films. Working moms have resorted to short-cut, survival food recipes as opposed to the gastronomical marvels of the past. And with the emergence of technology—the internet to be precise, numerous TV channels to choose from, night life, etc people no longer find solace in the elaborate and time consuming ways of being romantic… these days, it seems, instant, right now gratification is becoming more and more popular..a good thing? maybe..but experiencing the transition, the change first hand sure feels eerie!