In lieu of today being 21st February and other certain events that involve tiny amounts of ill-feelings such as envy and of being cheated somewhat leading up to this day, I have decided to scrap my earlier plans for this week's chapter and have instead decided to write about this and the importance of such a day.

For a day which holds so much meaning to my motherland, I was a bit surprised and disapponted when i found out most countries outside of Asia, even some countries in Asia, have never heard of it, let alone celebrate it. This is especially more disappointing when you consider how much we pride ourselves over having had made it an international event, which is definitely no easy task. This is why I think everyone should atleast have some knowledge about the matter.

To explain the history behind this day a little, in 1947, the Indian subcontinent was divided into 2 parts by the British colonizers before handing over rule and departing. The two parts were of course India and Pakistan. Pakistan then had been further divided into West Pakistan, which is present day Pakistan, and East Pakistan, which is present day us, Bangladesh. Despite having almost the entirety of India between them and other massive cultural differences, they were combined into one country due to the simple reason to being of the same religion - Islam. In 1948, the then prime minister of West Pakistan, Muhammad Ali Jinnah declared Urdu, the mothertongue of West Pakstan, to be the only national language of Pakistan.

This sparked protests among all the people who speak Bengali because it would mean we wouldn't have the right to speak our mothertongue anymore. No one and I stress, no one should stand for such an inhumane thing and neither did most of the Bengali youth. Years of protests culminated in a protest by high school students on 21st February, 1952 when Pakistani soldiers suddenly opened fire on them, killing hundreds of young students. Their sacrifice is the reason why this day is so important to us. We celebrate this day to commemorate their unrivalled bravery in laying down their lives for their mothertongue.

It serves as a reminder for us that our mother language isn't something to be taken granted for and how important it is to us. Thats why despite it being so personal for us, i think the rest of the world could also learn something from it.

We never really stop to think how much of our thought depends on our language. Language is not only the way we express our thought, it is the way we think in the first place. We wouldnt be able to think something if we didnt have the words to think that thing. We wouldn't have the ability to think sophisticatedly today if our ancestors hadn't invented language. Back in the cavemen times, we didnt think of anything else other than food and survival simply because moans and growls alone didn't allow us to. Say, if a caveman felt angry, he wouldnt be able to think "I am feeling angry right now, this is anger" because of the fact that his language, moans and growls, cant define anger in any other way than an animalistic urge to physically harm whatever he is angry at. And so, he ends up doing exactly that.

The more sophisticated our language is, the more sophistically we can think. Despite being the most intelligent species, I wouldn't call humankind sophisticated by any means. We are plagued by various emotions and feelings we have yet to be able to define because of the limitations in our language. The most prominent example of this is also the most common - love. We cannot define the way love makes us feel in words and we cannot think anything of it other than "I'm in love" and/or of the person we're in love with. The failure to do so results in us most of the time expressing it with physical action. We have certainly gotten better at it from "I want to mate" to this, but I personally think we can do way better. However, a lot of people are disinterested in improving it further because it is good enough as it is already and lest it should ruin the magic. There's nothing wrong with that, but one of humankind's best qualities is to aim for the stars and dream, and that what I shall do.

However, in my opinion, such a language is a utopian thought and if not impossible, is for a time very far in the future. That's why people should realize their present day next best substitute - our mother language. A person expresses themselves the most fluently with their mothertongue. A person has the widest capability of thought with their mother language. Our mother language is the language we've known the longest and are the most familiar with, and that is the reason for it. It is the language which beats in our hearts and thus, it is the language with which our heart thinks.

By trying to take away our mothertongue from us, the Pakistani autocrats had tried to oppress the way our heart thinks and convert us to mindless drones doing their bidding.
We also see this in today's society and the internet more than ever with thought contagion spreading like a disease and the thoughts of the minority being overwhelmed and slandered by the thoughts of the majority. There is so much pressure on us to think the same, to be the same today cause of it that we are losing the ability to think as individuals.

International Mother Language day teaches us the importance of our mothertongue and serves as a reminder for us to stand up for the way we think which, in this modern day and time, we need more than ever. Thats why in my opinion, it is so important for the rest of the world to celebrate it as well.