April 14th brought in the Bengali New Year of 1418. The city was bustling with joyful activity. Thousands joined in the festivities at the river's edge or at Rajshahi University. I was invited by a student to the university. I arrived around noon and she had just finished cooking me a chicken curry in her little dorm room over an electric hotplate. After eating a delicious rice meal she put a 'teep' (red dot) on her forehead and mine, changed into a lovely shalwire-kamiz, did up her face with some eyeliner, face-whitening cream and lipstick, and off we went to join the crowds.
There were numerous concerts, plays, game booths, and stalls that were selling a variety of foods and trinkets-and, of course, the typical fair-type stuffed animals. There were thousands of people there, all dressed in brightly colored (mostly red) festive clothes. As a white foreigner ('bideshi') in a city that has very few, we attract a lot of attention.
At one point we stopped to watch a game being played which was similar to the 'hit the pinata' except you were to hit a clay water pot on the ground. There were only a couple people watching at first. I was coaxed into participating so having blindfolded me they started me off about 15feet from the kulshi. I began to walk, estimating that it would take me ten steps. It turns out that i walked right past it and with all my might I slammed the stick onto the empty ground. Oh well, no prize for me but I gave everyone, including myself, a good laugh. When I took off my blindfold I saw that the crowd of spectators had quickly grown to over 50. The one tradition that I missed out on for the New Year was eating 'patha bhat'- a fermented rice dish. Oh well, there's always next year...
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