Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Apr 16: With great enthusiasm, the Bengali community of Jammu region celebrated and welcomed their new year at Press Club of Jammu.
Called `Poila Boishakh’, the event was celebrated with much fervour and enthusiasm by Bengalis with full gusto, featuring folk music, poetry recitals, cultural dance performances and traditional Bengali sweets. The participants were wearing the traditional Bengali Sarees and Kurta and the environment became a mini- Bengal.
The event, a perfect time for family reunion, started with greeting each other by saying “ShubhoNaboborsho” followed by a spiritual lecture by Swamiji of Rama Krishna Mission Jammu. Mrs Biswas, Mrs Sarmistha Acharya enthralled the gatherings with their melodious voice. Dr Anindya Goswami, Debrabrata, Kaushik Sen also sang Bengali songs. The dance of Pallabi and Anushree mesmerized the audience. Kaushik Ganguly and other members also participated in poetry recitation and singing.
As Bengali celebration is never complete without good food, a variety of veg and non-veg delicacies. The event became a grand success with support of Press Club of Jammu, Lt Col Tarak Mazumdar, Reena Mazumdar, Dr Anindya Goswami, Kaushik Ganguly, Debabrata and Shib Narayan Acharya.
The event was attended by Bengalies from various fields including armed forces, Scientists, scholars and private sectors. Earlier, a small get together was organised under patronage of Shaourjo Chatterjee, Accountant General (J&K) where Saugat Biswas, Transport Commissiner of J&K Govt, Nisith Shil, Regional Passport Officer, Dr (Prof) Dipankar Sengupta and others graced the occasions.
The history of the celebration of Poila Boishakh has a Mughal connection. People who celebrate the festival might be unaware of the fact that the Bengali calendar is one of its kind as it was introduced by the Mughal Emperor Akbar in the 15th Century. In the Mughal era, agricultural taxes were collected according to the Islamic Hijri calendar. However, as the Hijri calendar is a purely lunar calendar, it does not coincide with the harvest and created administrative difficulties in setting the collection date. As a result, farmers were compelled to pay taxes out of season. In order to ease the tax collection, the Mughal Emperor Akbar ordered a reform of the calendar.. Although, some historians also believe this calendar is linked to Hindu Vikrami calendar or the solar calendar as it coincides with the first month of Boishak.
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