Sakrain in Puran Dhaka

One of the many gifts cinema has given me is a chance to travel the world to see how others live and appreciate what makes us all kin Recently I was lucky to celebrate Sankranti in Dhaka Bangladesh and it was like no Sankranti in IndiaI had been invited to the Dhaka International Film Festival to present a keynote paper on New Trends in Feminist Films from South Asia Festival director Ahmed Muztaba Zamal requested me to do two more presentations on How to Create A Festival Strategy for Your Film and on Initiatives to Support Women Filmmakers in South Asia and Worldwide Bas I thought now I needed to go see the townOne of the most wonderful experiences I had was celebrating Sakrain their name for Sankranti in Puran Dhaka Old Dhaka There was a lot of kiteflying from terraces during the day but by late evening it was party time You had to know someone who knew someone with a terrace there My filmmaker friend Rezwan Shahriar Sumit made a bunch of callsmdashhis engineering collegegoing sister Rosen was headed there with her classmates too Sumits cricket and football friends Abed Ali Khan and national cricketer Javed Omer Belim set us up to party on Nadim bhais terrace in Narinda in Puran DhakaAfter zig zagging through patli gullies we climbed to the terrace of a sixstoreyed building with no lift What I saw was unbelievable there were a zillion Sakrain terrace parties as far as the eye could see People had disco parties with DJs mirrorballs strobe lights with people dancing to Dhakaiya and Bollywood music and everywhere coloured laser lights crisscrossed the night sky Soonthere were fireworks on every terrace as night drone cameras captured the actionmdashSakrain 20 indeedNadim bhai our very generous host warmly welcomed us like we were family He lives in the building with eight brothers in a large joint family of about 45 the ninth brother lives elsewhere There was music dancing and feasting with homemade chicken biriyani payesh and bhapa pitha a delicious sweet made from rice flour coconut and khejur gur date palm molassesAbed bhai a cool guy in a ponytail leather jacket and blue jeans turned out to be the viceprincipal of the Old Dhaka International School He said he had turned down a scholarship to study robotics in Germany to start an English medium school in Puran Dhaka for the locals My father is from Bangladesh and my mother is from Lucknow Hindus and Muslims have lived closely as a community for 400 years in Puran Dhaka he said Hindus celebrate Muslim festivals like Eid and Ramadan and Muslims celebrate Hindu festivals like Kali Puja Saraswati Puja Durga Puja and Sankranti Beyond me rose the grand minaret of the Vinod Bibi mosque Nadim bhai explained that a Hindu lady Vinod had given the land for the mosque so it was named after her Such is the genuine amity in the area I left with a brimming heart overwhelmed by their generosity and inclusivenessMeenakshi Shedde is India and South Asia Delegate to the Berlin International Film Festival National Awardwinning critic curator to festivals worldwide and journalist Reach her at meenakshisheddemiddaycomCatch up on all the latest Mumbai news crime news current affairs and also a complete guide on Mumbai from food to things to do and events across the city here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates