Baitul Mukarram, the national mosque
Pohela Boishakh (Bengali New Year) celebrations
Panta Ilish – a traditional platter of Panta bhat, with fried ilish slice

Dhaka is the most populous city of Bangladesh and is characterized by its busy urban life with varied culture including many festivities, a variety of cuisine, an entertainment industry, shopping experiences and sites of interest. These nature of these activities mirrors the secular character of the city's population.[1] Important holidays include Language Movement Day, Independence Day, Victory Day and Pahela Boishakh. Religious festivals include Eid ul-Fitr, Eid ul-Adha, Durga Puja, Buddha Purnima etc. Dhaka is known as the center of media and cinema of Bangladesh, housing many of Bangladesh's important academies. The culture of Dhaka is based on the culture of Bengal.

Festivals

Dhaka's annual cultural events, festivals and celebrations are Independence Day (26 March), the International Mother language Day (21 February), Victory Day, Pohela Boishakh, Ekushey Book Fair, Dhaka Art Summit, Rabindra Joyonti and Nazrul Joyonti; the Hindu festivals including the Durga Puja, Janmashtami and Rathayatra; the Muslim festivals of Eid ul-Fitr, Eid ul-Adha, Milad-un-Nabi, Shab-e-Baraat and Muharram; the Buddhist festival of Buddha Purnima and the Christian festival of Christmas.

Many of Dhaka's artworks and museums, as well as public ceremonies and rallies, serve to commemorate the war crimes committed by Pakistani war criminals and their collaborators against the Bangladeshi people. Dhaka's people congregate at the Shaheed Minar and the Jatiyo Sriti Soudho to remember the national heroes of the Bengali Language Movement and the Bangladesh Liberation War.[2] Many schools and colleges organise fairs, festivals and concerts in which citizens from all levels of society participate.

Pohela Boishakh, the Bengali New Year, falls annually on 14 April, marking the first day of the harvest season, and is popularly celebrated across the country.[2] Usually on Pôhela Boishakh, homes are thoroughly scrubbed and cleaned and people wash early and dress in fine clothes. It is customary to spend much of the day visiting relatives, friends, and neighbours and going to the fair. Fairs are arranged in many parts of the country where various agricultural products, traditional handicrafts, toys, cosmetics, as well as various kinds of food and sweets are sold. The fairs also provide entertainment, with singers, dancers and traditional plays and songs. Horse races, bull races, bullfights, cockfights, flying pigeons, and boat racing were once also popular. In Dhaka, large crowds of people gather on the streets of Shahbag, Ramna Park and the campus of the University of Dhaka for celebrations.

Other festivities include, Bengali Spring Festival, Nazrul Joyonti, Birthday of Kazi Nazrul Islam, Rabindra Jayanti, Birthday of Rabindranath Tagore, Hay Festival Dhaka, Bengal-ITC SRA Classical Music Festival.

Performing arts and media

Despite the growing popularity of music groups and rock bands, traditional folk music remains widely popular.[3] The works of the national poet Kazi Nazrul Islam and national anthem writer Rabindranath Tagore have a widespread following across Dhaka.[4] The Baily Road area, known as Natok Para (Theater Neighborhood), is the center of Dhaka's theater movement.[5]

Bangladesh Betar is the state-run primary provider of radio services, and broadcasts a variety of programs in Bengali and English. In recent years many private radio networks, especially FM radio services, have been established in the city such as Radio Foorti FM 88.0, Radio Today FM 89.6, Radio Amar FM 88.4, ABC Radio FM 89.2, DHAKA FM 90.4 etc. Bangladesh Television is the state-run broadcasting network, providing a wide variety of programs in Bengali and English since its establishment on 25 December 1964. It has two TV channels: BTV and BTV world. BTV telecasts via terrestrial and satellite networks while BTV world telecasts via satellite only. Shongshod Bangladesh Television is another state-run TV channel which was launched on 25 January 2011 and broadcasts the parliamentary activities of Bangladesh. Cable and satellite TV networks such as Ekushey Television, Channel I, ATN Bangla, Desh TV, RTV, NTV, Banglavision, Channel 9 Bangladesh and Independent TV are amongst the most popular channels.

The main offices of most publishing houses in Bangladesh are based in Dhaka. The Prothom Alo and The Daily Ittefaq are the most popular amongst the large number of Bengali language dailies, periodicals and other publications in the city. The Daily Star and The Independent are among the English dailies published.[6]

Fixed-line teledensity in Bangladesh is less than 1%. Mobile penetration is 82 telephone subscriptions per 100 inhabitants.[7][8]

Dhaka is home to Dhaka Art Summit, Dhaka World Music Festival.

Media and cinema

The Bangladeshi press is diverse, outspoken and privately owned. Over 200 newspapers are published in the country. Bangladesh Betar is the state-run radio service.[9] The British Broadcasting Corporation operates the popular BBC Bangla news and current affairs service. Bengali broadcasts from Voice of America are also very popular. Bangladesh Television (BTV) is the state-owned television network. There more than 20 privately owned television networks, including several news channels. Freedom of the media remains a major concern, due to government attempts at censorship and harassment of journalists.

The cinema of Bangladesh dates back to 1898, when films began screening at the Crown Theatre in Dhaka (then, Dacca). The first bioscope in the subcontinent was established in Dhaka that year. The Dhaka Nawab Family patronised the production of several silent films in the 1920s and 30s. In 1931, the East Bengal Cinematograph Society released the first full-length feature film in Bangladesh, titled the Last Kiss. The first feature film in East Pakistan, Mukh O Mukhosh, was released in 1956. During the 1960s, 25–30 films were produced annually in Dhaka. By the 2000s, Bangladesh produced 80–100 films a year. While the Bangladeshi film industry has achieved limited commercial success, the country has produced notable independent film makers. Zahir Raihan was a prominent documentary-maker until his assassination in 1971. Tareque Masud (1956–2011) is regarded as one of Bangladesh's outstanding directors due to his numerous productions on historical and social issues. Masud was honoured by FIPRESCI at the Cannes Film Festival in 2002 for his film The Clay Bird. Other prominent directors of Bangladesh cinema include Tanvir Mokammel, Mostofa Sarwar Farooki, Humayun Ahmed, Alamgir Kabir and Chashi Nazrul Islam.

Cuisine

In Dhaka, meals consumed at home generally include plain rice as staple with fish, meat, vegetable curries as side. Dal (Lentil soup) is common accompaniment. Plain rice is often replaced by roti or porota. Most restaurant cuisine in Dhaka are different to these meals. Kachchi biryani, chicken biryani, tehari, polao, khichuri are the most common courses in restaurants. For snacks, Mughlai porota, halim, shingara, and samosa are common. Borhani and lacchhi are amongst popular drinks. Street carts in parks offer snacks like chotpoti, jhalmuri and fuchka.

Some restaurants are famous for their specialised recipes and culinary experience. These include, Nannar Biryani, Haji Biryani, Mutton Glassey, and Laban found in Old Dhaka. Chawk bazar and Thatari Bazar, among others are places of many popular eateries. Chaap found in Mohammadpur and Dhanmondi are popular delicacies. Other specialties of Dhaka's cuisine include, jali kabab, reshmi kabab, shuti kabab, shik kabab, gurda kabab, khiri kabab, reshmi jilapi, shahi jilapi, rumali ruti, tandoor ruti, naan, bakorkhani, ilish polao, and morog polao.[10]

People of the city consume a varied diet. In addition to the popular Bangladeshi cuisine and South Asian variants, a large variety of international cuisine is available in Dhaka. There are restaurants specializing in Chinese, Thai, Japanese, Mexican, Italian, and other western cuisines.[11] Local and international fast food shops and chains serve burgers, fries and other readily available foods. Often many restaurants customize foreign cuisine to meet the taste of local people. For instance, most Chinese restaurants in Dhaka use recipes different from authentic Chinese food.

The following international foreign-owned restaurant chains are currently operating in the country:

Shopping

There are markets in almost every part of Dhaka, where household commodities are available. Shopping malls are also found in every major avenue; some of them are Dhaka New Market, Basundhara City, Jamuna Future Park, Shimanto Square, Rapa plaza, Metro Shopping mall, Concord Twin Tower, BCS Computer City, Navana Tower, Pink city shopping mall, Mouchak Market, Eastern Plaza, Fortune mall, Eastern plus, Banga Bazar, Razdhani market, Gausia complex, Holland Centre, Suvastu Nazar Valley, Cofidence Tower, Mollah tower, Lutfun tower, Eastern Mallika, Muskut plaza, North Tower, Razlaksmi complex, Multiplan Center and many more. Kudrat-E-Khuda Avenue (former New Elephant Road), and its surrounding areas are popular shopping destinations. Jamuna Future Park is the 12th largest shopping mall in the world with a gross leasable area of 4.1 million sq ft and total area of 5.45 million sq ft.[12][13]

Chain stores like Shopno, Agora, Meena Bazar, Nondon, PQS are also found in most of the residential areas of the city. There are many branches of Aarong around the city where local products including clothing, handicrafts, groceries and home decor are available.

Bangla Bazar is the largest hawkers market in Dhaka. The market is situated near Chankharpul behind the campus of the University of Dhaka. It is favored by foreigners visiting Bangladesh and is famed for its reasonably priced cloth. Basundhara City is the second largest mall in the country and has more than 2,300 shops and 21 stories.

Dress

A jamdani-muslin shari in a traditional design

The most popular dressing styles for women are shari or shælwar kamij, while men usually prefer western clothing to the traditional lungi. Dhaka is credited for the revival of the jamdani shari due to the many local shari stores selling and promoting these locally hand-made traditional Bengali sharis of fine patterned muslin. Jamdanis are entirely hand woven and originate from the Mughal era. Jamdanis are produced by a traditional high quality cottage industry, which is slowly dying out due to the slow production process. A single medium-range Jamdani shari may take as long as 3 months to complete.[14]

Heritage

The Old City of Dhaka is home to over 2,000 buildings built between the 16th and 19th centuries, which form an integral part of Dhaka's cultural heritage.

Academies

Burdwan House is home to the Bangla Academy.
University of Dhaka students prepare for Bengali New Year celebrations at the Faculty of Fine Arts

Museums and art galleries

Major parks, lakes and gardens

An amphitheater in Dhanmondi lake

Religious and Cultural Festival

Official religious holidays

See also

References

  1. ↑ "সংস্কৃতির শহর ঢাকা". দৈনিক ইত্তেফাক (in Bengali). Retrieved 31 August 2023.
  2. 1 2 Ahmed, Dr. Nizamuddin (27 September 2006). "Happy 400th anniversary, Dhaka!". The Daily Star. Archived from the original on 15 January 2013. Retrieved 27 September 2006.
  3. ↑ Thomas Angotti & Lothar Beckel (2001). Mega Cities. GEOSPACE Beckel Satellitenb. p. 730. ISBN 3-85313-051-8.
  4. ↑ Alison Arnold (1999). The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music: The Indian Subcontinent. Routledge. pp. 858–859. ISBN 0-8240-4946-2.
  5. ↑ Ian Herbert & Nicole Leclercq (2000). The World of Theatre. Taylor & Francis. p. 12. ISBN 0-415-23866-8.
  6. ↑ Jonathan Lorie; Amy Sohanpaul, eds. (2006). The Traveler's Handbook. The Globe Pequot Press. p. 195. ISBN 0-7627-4090-6.
  7. ↑ "Bangladesh Profile". International Telecommunication Union (ITU). 2013.
  8. ↑ "Mobile Phone Subscribers in Bangladesh August, 2015". Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC).
  9. ↑ "Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra's Rashidul Hossain passes away". bdnews24.com. Retrieved 2 January 2016.
  10. ↑ Melvin Ember, Carol R. Ember (2002). Encyclopedia of Urban Cultures: Cayenne-Kyoto: Cities and Cultures Around the World. Grolier. p. 147. ISBN 0-7172-5698-7.
  11. ↑ Lawson, Alistair (1 June 2002). "Good times for bourgeois Bangladeshis". BBC News. Retrieved 2 October 2006.
  12. ↑ "Features". Jamuna Future Park. Archived from the original on 26 August 2013. Retrieved 6 August 2013.
  13. ↑ "Jamuna Future Park opens soon". Daily Sun. 7 October 2012. Archived from the original on 15 May 2013. Retrieved 10 October 2012.
  14. ↑ Roy, Tirthankar (2007). "Out of Tradition: Master Artisans and Economic Change in Colonial India". The Journal of Asian Studies. Cambridge University Press. 66 (4): 963–991. doi:10.1017/s002191180700126x.
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