Masudul Hasan Masud, Bhuapur (Tangail)

The ancient traditional craft of rural Bengal is on the verge of extinction. The voices of rural Bengali women used to hear different kinds of songs and not the thump thump sound of the drum.

How many songs and proverbs were sung by the village girls. Today, the traditional clothes are on the way to extinction.

Both time and life are like flowing rivers. The environment is one in the tide and different in the ebb, the picture changes in an instant. In the neighborhood of the village, at one time, making rice by pounding it, breaking it, making flour, wheat, barley, rice powder for pies, rice for making kheer-today, that pounding has become helpless to the engine-driven machine.

In today's mechanized age, this familiar tune is often lost. With the evolution of time, the traditional pottery industry is about to disappear. At one time almost all houses in remote rural areas had thatched roofs. But now it is not so visible.

The main source of income for the needy poor women of the village was the henki. When the new paddy grew in the houses of the rich people of the village, the helpless needy women used to cut the paddy and make rice.

With what they got from that, they used to leave the family with their son and daughter. They used to tell different kinds of jokes and sing songs while pretending to be slurping rice.

In the past, every house in the countryside carried the Dhengi tradition. Hinkhi was made of long wooden sticks on the bark of palm or other trees. Shrubs are made by cutting the broad trees of the hard type into a satan shape. Its head is thick. And the back side is flat.

There is a scar on the head. It is called Mushal. An iron ring is attached to the end of the pestle. Some use wood, some use cement to make a ring and a place to read the mushal. This is called a note. Paddy is thrown in this note. With the Lakhi on the back side of the bowl, the front head is raised and falls on the paddy.

After that the paddy is roasted by continuously spreading it. A thatched house was built on one side of the house with some kind of canopy in the empty space of the village.

Besides breaking paddy in winter season, threshing machine was used to make tin pills. From dusk till late at night or early in the morning, the women used to dance. I used to wake up in the morning with the catch-catch, knock-dak sound.

At least two women used to break the paddy with a sieve. Some give it, some give it. This is how the work of steaming rice goes. When a guest came to the house, the hustle and bustle of cutting paddy would start. Under this rule, umbrellas and umbrellas were made.

 Then it was very enjoyable to make various pies and pies till late night and wake up in the morning to eat them. The battered rice, polao, jau and phirni were very tasty.

There was no pairing of kota chira and rice powder pitha in the dish. The fragrance of these foods would reach several houses. Thinking about that, now the mind becomes crazy to eat. On the other hand, doctors used to ask the patient to eat boiled rice as there are many vitamins in the boiled rice.

But with the evolution of time we have lost everything. And now, one of the ingredients for making pitha, even if I looked for a couple of villages to make rice powder, I couldn't find anything.

From the remote rural areas, the barking has almost disappeared. Even a few years ago, every house, including the wealthy ones in the villages, could see dhenki.

Now instead of thresher, modern rice breaking rice mills are being used to cut rice. Due to the lack of batter, many times pitha is not prepared and eaten even if desired. Moreover, now no one can find a door in their house.