Broadcast from Sydney, Australia, Khanika (borrowed from Tagore, meaning evanescent, momentary, temporal) Bangla Radio aims to celebrate a brief interaction with its listeners every Tuesday night (10 pm EST)Bengali is the language of the people of Bangladesh and of the West Bengal province of India. Bengali is a colonial word, the real pronunciation is Bangla. The Bangla spoken people are called Bangalees, not Bengalis. Hence the title of our radio show Bangla language program.
Bangla is the 5th largest spoken language around the world. Bangla has a very rich repertoire of language and literature. Our great poet Rabindranath Tagore won Nobel Prize in literature in 1913. Despite poverty and large population, Bangla arts, literature and music can emulate the literary discourses of any language.
The history of Bangla language is unique in the world because this is the only language in defence of which the people of Bangladesh gave their lives. In 1952 the Pakistani colonial government tried to impose Urdu as the state language of Bangladesh, then East Pakistan. The Bangalee students took the streets in protest. Pakistani police opened fire on the student protest rally on 21st February 1952. Many students were killed of which only the dead bodies of Salam, Rafiq, Barkat and Jabbar were found.
Bangalees around the world always celebrate 21st February as the Bangla Language Day and pay homage to our valiant language heroes. Recently in recognition of the Bangalees' sacrifice for their mother language, the UN has declared 21st February as the International Mother Language day.
Khanika Outlook
Our Bangla program Khanika is a tribute to our valiant language heroes.
Embracing ideologies of humanism, pluralism and post colonialism, Khanika Bangla Radio is a community based radio program broadcast every Tuesday night at 10pm from Sydney. Khanika is dedicated to create modernist discourses engaging the progressive Bengali intelligentsia across the world. For best Bangla music, thought provoking talkbacks and political analysis tune to KHANIKA Bangla Radio on 99.9 FM or click to http://www.swrfm.org/ to listen to real time live streaming.
Embracing ideologies of humanism, pluralism and post colonialism, Khanika Bangla Radio is a community based radio program broadcast every Tuesday night at 10pm from Sydney. Khanika is dedicated to create modernist discourses engaging the progressive Bengali intelligentsia across the world. For best Bangla music, thought provoking talkbacks and political analysis tune to KHANIKA Bangla Radio on 99.9 FM or click to http://www.swrfm.org/ to listen to real time live streaming.
Contributors: Debabrata Mukherjee (Kolkata), Haraprasad Manna (Kolkata), Shahriar Kabir (Dhaka), Swadesh Ray (Dhaka), Ajoy Dasgupta (Dhaka), AGC (UK), BB Chowdhury (UK), Kamrul Khan (ACT), Sabbir Khan (Sweden)
