Live Correspondent: Streets in Dhaka and other big cities of the country have taken a festive look with youths clad in red and yellow attires have started joining the celebrations of Pahela Falgun, the first day of Spring, and the Valentine’s Day.

Pahela Falgun usually falls on February but this year it coincided with Valentine’s Day as Bangla Academy has revised Bangla Calendar to match it with the Gregorian calendar.

Falgun is the eleventh month in the Bengali calendar and the first month of the season, Spring, the king of all the six seasons that brings back warm sunshine, budding flowers and dancing of birds. Keeping pace with the rest of the world, Bangladeshis also celebrate Valentine’s Day with their beloved ones. However, florists are not happy with the move of Bangla Academy as celebrations of Valentine’s Day and Pahela Falgun on the same day is cutting their profits.

Clad in red and yellow attires and flowers in hands, hundreds of young boys and girls are thronging Bakultola of Fine Arts Faculty of Dhaka University, the centre of the celebration of Bashanta Utshob, to welcome through singing, reciting poems and dance.

The youngsters are also gathering at Teacher-Student Centre (TSC), Arts Faculty, Curzon Hall, University Mall (Mall Chattar) wearing dazzling dresses to express love to each other exchanging flowers and gifts.  

There are various arrangements in the capital to welcome the spring. Different socio-cultural organisations will hold various programmes, including music festivals, on the Dhaka University campus throughout the day.

Marking Valentine’s Day, various restaurants in big cities of the country have arranged special offers. Different giftshops are also trying to boost their businesses on the occasion with a varied range of gift items.

Both shopping malls and online business pages offered special gifts or matching clothes for their loved ones, while flower markets are busy stocking red roses for the day. Valentine's Day, also called Saint Valentine's Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine, is an ancient Roman tradition which has been celebrated in European countries for ages.

Dhaka 14 February (campuslive24.com)//bic