Our utmost duty is to make new generations aware of our history and heritage. The Bangladesh Hindu Association (UK) is making every effort to introduce the proud history and sacrifices made by our forefathers to the developing history of Bangladesh. The oldest heritage and pilgrimage of the Bengali Hindu Community in Bangladesh is 500 years old and includes the forefathers of Lord Sri Chaitanya’s who hails from Dhaka Dakshin, Sylhet. We take pride in introducing to our British born generation the legendary Bengali Hindus such as Sir Jagadish Chandra Basu, Satyendra Nath Bose, Poet Jibanananda Das, Michael Madhusudhan Datta, Masterda Surya Sen, Dhirendranath Datta,and Radharaman Datta Purkayastha.
Most recently singers Hemanga Biswas & Kaliprasad Bhattacharjee created a worldwide wave of interest in their musical performances of songs rooted in Bengali heritage. There are a huge number of institutions in Bangladesh, established by our forefathers, which are still carrying out the mission of sharing knowledge amongst people in Bangladesh regardless of their religious and cultural identity. Providing opportunities for education is a great example of our service to humanity. So let ‘Roots’ be the memorabilia of our forefather’s identity and a unique platform for the community as a whole so that we can share our pride and highlight our stories of the Golden era.
We made the effort to collect and publish exceptional and extraordinary writings related to our heritage and to create a knowledge hub for our British born generation which will help them to enrich their knowledge. Undoubtedly. the British born generation is open-minded and they are eager to explore and establish true authentic connections.
People get separated from family and friends, for various reasons, during their lifetime. However they carry their language and culture of origin along with them to different parts of the world. It is true to say that practicing one’s very own language and culture is the perfect way of holding identity of origin. Let us be committed and devoted to preserve and promote our culture and heritage in the United Kingdom. This will be immensely supportive and encouraging for our community to hold their head high with pride and confidence. It will enable the community to play an important role in the multicultural society to express solidarity and create community cohesion.
I believe that annual or biannual publication of ‘Roots’ will help us to materialize our aims and objectives by making continuous improvement. It will assist us to build our foundation stronger with heartfelt theological true entity. All we need to do is create a sincere friendship, brotherhood, sisterhood amongst members from different regions. I would like to enlist those who started the journey by arriving in the UK with their cultural and social value. An awareness of immigrant life and strong connection with roots would create strong bonding and inseparable entity amongst new generations.
Our aim is to make this publication of ‘Roots’ a historical document and an inspiration for the future. I would like to thank all writers and contributors to this magazine and other participants for making the effort to join from all over the UK. I wish the exchange of goodwill on our joyous 20th Anniversary last forever