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The sky of old Dhaka was filled with colourful kites in the daylight on Sunday. As the evening fell, it was lit up with different coloured lights. The people of Old Dhaka were geared up to celebrate the traditional Sakharin festival.
The festival, a jewel in the crown of Old Dhaka traditions, is a source of happiness and pride for Old Dhaka residents. In the past, kings and royals would host Shakrain for entertainment during the harvest. But now the day is also known as Shakrain, or Ghuri Utshob, with kites being the main feature of it.
People flew kites all day long in Old Dhaka's Shankharibazar, Laxmibazar, Nayabazar, Sutrapur, Dayaganj, Gandaria, Narinda, Banglabazar, and Sadarghat areas yesterday. Music awakens the whole town, and people’s daylong programmes, including concerts and rties, along with the traditional dishes of old Dhaka and pitha-puli, were organised on the roof.
The Mayor of Dhaka South City Corporation, Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh, officially inaugurated the Shakrain at Dhupkhola Ground on Sunday. Referring to the tradition of the Shakrain festival of old Dhaka, the mayor said that Shakrain is one of the traditional festivals of old Dhaka. Everyone, including the young and old, is very happy to participate in this festival.
He also added that we want to return the traditions of the people of Dhaka to the people of Dhaka and spread them among the children so that the future generation grows up in a non-communal spirit.
About the modernization of this festival, an old Dhaka resident, Ananta Biswas, said that these disco songs were not before. There were not so many laser lights in the sky. With the passage of time, there have been many changes in the observance of Shakrain. Earlier, USIC was played, but not on a large scale.
Another Old Dhaka resident, Lamia Akter, a higher secondary student, said, Shakrain means going down memory lane to us. We used to enjoy this festival with the whole family. The main attractions of the festival are the kite fights. Kites are flown with "manja" yarn. A kite can be cut at any time with the help of the yarn. As soon as someone cut another's kite, everyone cheered.
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