At a celebration marking the Bengali New Year in Plano, Hashmat Mobin, 60, was a fixture.
He chatted with attendees, fixed a tent, and helped vendors at the May 26 event organized by the Bangladesh Association of North Texas, a diaspora organization in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. At least 1,000 people attended the celebration, known as Boishakhi Mela, a sight that Mobin could not envision when he first immigrated to North Texas in the late 1980s.
A little over 5,500 Bangladeshi people live in the metropolitan area, according to data from the 2022 American Community Survey, but community members say the population now numbers in the tens of thousands. Mobin helped start celebrations in Irving with the organization when, he said, less than 500 people would show up.
“Community members here try to emulate a lot of what they had done in their childhoods growing up [in Bangladesh],” said Mobin’s 30-year-old daughter, Adiba. “But it’s filled with so much color. It’s outdoors because the weather is great at the time, there’s flowers and colors, there’s children and face painting.”
Bengali New Year, referred to as Pohela Boishakh, is celebrated April 14 in Bangladesh and marks the first day in the Bengali calendar. The event comes at a critical time for the organization as it seeks to build a community center and find the next generation of leaders to take over.
At a procession, members waved the green-and-red Bangladesh flag, and many wore red, which symbolizes the blood of those who fought for the country’s independence. Children wore traditional Bangladeshi sarees and kurtas and danced and sang Bangla songs on stage. Performers wore white flowers in their hair and as corsages on their wrists, and some carried signs with drawings of the Bengal tiger, Bangladesh’s national animal.
Mixed through the event were several singing and dancing performances and a fashion show.
To Shagor Shamsudduha, 53, the president of the association, the event is more about the cultural festivities and the music. It’s a chance, he said, to bring the Bangladeshi community together, which once found its roots in Irving but is now dispersed throughout the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
“We are giving BANT to our next generation,” said Hashmat Mobin, who has four children born in the U.S. “I am the first generation, my daughter is the second. … Now I think it’s time for them to take over.”
‘Strong ties to culture’
Even though she was born in America, Adiba Mobin has strong ties to her culture, crediting that to her parents. She said they only spoke Banglaat home when she was growing up. If she and her siblings tried to utter any words in English, her parents would ask them to try again.
Celebrations and shows that highlighted Bangladeshi culture were a part of her upbringing, Mobin said. Her parents dragged her to the shows when she was a child, and she began performing at a very young age.
“Since I was 7, I’ve been singing in Bangla and dancing to Bangla songs on these huge stages, and I feel like it’s really strengthened my bond to the community, my bond to the motherland,” Adiba Mobin said.
Each upcoming show excited her, with anticipation building on what Bangla song would she get to sing or dance to now, she said. Over two decades later, she holds a dual role as both a performer and a manager of these shows. She has made it her mission to attract more millennial Bangladeshis. One way she aims to do so: music.
When BANT hosted the annual convention for the Federation of Bangladeshi Associations in North America last year in Irving, Mobin said she worked with the committee to bring Muza, a Bangladeshi American artist from New York. During his concert, at least 200 young people stood right up in front of the stage, with over a thousand in their seats, Mobin said.
“It opened a lot of eyes to the older generation, who are just like, ‘Oh, wow, so these kids do want to jam out to Bangla music, but we need to kind of deliver it to them in a medium that they relate to,’” Mobin said.
As a draw for the Boishakhi Mela, BANT brought Souls, a popular Bangladeshi rock band that started in the early 1970s.
“This is a band that like our parents grew up with,” Mobin said.
‘Our mission and vision’
Bangladesh Association of North Texas was established as a nonprofit in 1988, state records showed. Hashmat Mobin said it began as an organization that would hold one annual event and occasionally help people with their needs.
When he took over, he said it became a big initiative of his for the nonprofit to host its own Boishakhi Mela. From that, he branched off to other major Bangladeshi celebrations like Victory Day and Independence Day.
With Mobin retiring last year, Shamsudduha was elected president with a new committee at the beginning of this year. He became a volunteer for BANT after Mobin encouraged his wife to bring their kids to a Boishakhi Mela.
Now the leaders aim to build a Bangladeshi community center in North Texas. Shamsudduha said the center will help create a central hub for cultural activities and tackle some immigration and medical needs within the community.
“That’s our mission and vision,” he said.
While they haven’t yet decided on a location, Mobin said Irving is a good location because it’s in between Dallas and Fort Worth, it’s close to a large mosque and has a large population.
“It’s a transit area. That’s why we think Irving will be the best place,” Mobin said.
The hope is the next generation of Bangladeshis like Shamsudduha’s three children can continue these celebrations and build a greater sense of community over the next decade. At the Boishakhi Mela, his children, Waafi Awal, 19, Fabiha Oyshi and Nashwan Sham, 11, each performed.
“I’m really proud of being Bangladeshi, like really proud of it, and I’m proud of the people I’m able to represent,” Awal said.
