Victory Day!

December 15 was Victory Day here in Bangladesh. This marks the end of the Liberation War in 1971 when the Pakistani forces surrendered to India and Bangladesh became its own free nation. This is still a young nation, and as result, the patriotism on Victory Day is in full gear. After all, most people were alive for the war (if they are under 38 or so) and almost everybody’s parents here were involved in the war in some way. It is interesting to observe such a young nationalism in action, and even more interesting to observe the ways the nation is still quite actively defining what nationalism and patriotism means (of course, we know that all states are constantly revising and defining what they think proper nationalism and patriotism mean).

The war was a nine month ordeal, and as may of you know, marked by horrific violence and destruction (as war usually is). The Daily Star (local newspaper) has an online Looking Back forum with some interesting tales. It can be seen here :
http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/victory_day/

We skipped the big events but had a nice little parade go by our place (see the photos below). Atticus had school that day and they got to see a little parade as well. We also enjoyed watching the programs on tv with traditional bangla song and dance. So, while we didn’t take a full holiday due to a lot of work and Atticus’ impending school break (as of December 17 he is out of school for 3 weeks for Winter break, which means work time is majorly limited…), we had a nice little Victory Day all in all.

Now, Atticus is on break and we are desperately planning to try and fill the hours day after day, but we’ve got some exciting things on the horizon. More to come!

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