။ ။ Pahela Baishakh in Bangladesh

။ 14 April, 2009 :

< A colourful and festive procession celebrating Pahela Baishakh, the Bangla New Year, sets off from the Fine Arts Institute to wind through the capital on Tuesday.

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Chhayanaut's singers usher in the Bangla New Year 1416 at Ramna Batamul in Dhaka on Tuesday.

။ Photo : Nashirul Islam & Mustafiz Mamun

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။ Bengali food festival like Kolkata for New Year revellers of Dhaka
Dhaka, 15 April : To usher in the Bengali New Year 1416, Dhaka's Hotel Sarina is holding a food and music festival from 14 to 17 April, featuring the best of Bengali cuisine.
Pahela Baishakh revellers can enjoy a range of traditional dishes along with live music between 7pm and 11pm at the hotel's Amrit Restaurant in Banani in the capital Dhaka.

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။ A member of Bangladesh security force SWAT stands guard at a rally to mark " Pahela Baishak", the first day of the Bangla New Year. Photo : AP >>>>>>>>>>>

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Silk City Express makes first stop in Kamalapur
Pahela Baishakh gift in Bangladesh: Rajshahi People's 147 years wait ends
Rajshahi, 14 April : Pahela Baishakh, the first day of the Bengali calendar, has a special significance for Bangladesh Railway. Last year on this day, the Maitree Express, the first direct passenger train service between Dhaka and Kolkata in over 40 years, made its first journey.
This year, the Bengali New Year saw the first broad gauge train, the Silk City Express from Rajshahi, plied to and from the capital's main Kamalapur Station. "Even a couple of years back, arrival of broad gauge trains to Kamalapur station was unthinkable," Md Belayet Hossain, the Bangladesh railway's director general told reporters.

People of Rajshahi have had to wait 147 years, since the introduction of railway in Bengal by the British in 1862, to reach Dhaka's Kamalapur Station direct by broad gauge.