Spring has Sprung

Earlier this week, everyone came to the office dressed in yellow and red to celebrate the first day of Spring. I believe it was February 13th and was blindsided by the event. "Andie you are not dressed to celebrate Spring?" The Bangladeshi seasons and I have been on different wave lengths since I showed up in October. Example A: my colleagues wearing 3 layers in December and me in a sleeveless top contemplating turning on the AC. Though I did not 'feel some cold' I could see how this would be Winter to Bangladeshis. Spring took me by surprise though as I see photos on CNN of walls of snow in Romania and the colosseum in Rome with a white dusting. What planet am I on? My colleagues eagerly informed me that Bangladesh is the only country with 6 seasons - one season for every two months - but Spring is the king of all seasons. . the season of colorful flowers, singing birds, and love.

So what are these 6 seasons? Summer, Monsoon, Fall, Harvest, Winter and Spring. In that order. In consulting the googley, I found that tropical climates are known to have two seasons - wet and dry. And areas around the Indian Ocean have three seasons - hot, cold, and rainy. If you ask me, there are 2 seasons in Bangladesh - hot, and miserable hot.

These 6 seasons define the variety and richness of nature encompassing the entire existence of the people of Bengal. Festivals and poetry mark the welcoming and end of each season; pride in the beauty and uniqueness of all 6 seasons is abundant:

So that I may know

Before I leave

Why the green Earth

Looked up at the sky

And call me to her lap

. . .Before I depart

I pray that

I may end my song at its peak.

. . .Have the fortune of filling my container

With the fruits and flowers of six seasons.

~Rabindranath Tagore

Spring is the last of the seasons with the Bengali new year in mid-April to welcome the Summer. As with our Spring in the West, she breaths new life into cold bodies and bare trees reviving nature of its true colors. The king of all seasons. The end of the year. In Bangladesh, Spring has Sprung.