City erupts with joy after victory

The humid autumn afternoon in the capital saw masses of youngsters parading the streets on Thursday, yelling at the top of their voices, ‘Bangladesh, Bangladesh!’
The celebrations for the Bangladesh’s victory over New Zealand achieved genuine fervour around the Raju Memorial Monument on the Dhaka University campus.
Groups of students and residents of the surrounding areas, with shirts tied around the hips and brandishing twigs torn from trees, circled the monument, with one in each group carrying the national flag.
The jubilation coincided with the celebrations of the Bijaya Dashami, the last day of the largest religious festival of the Bengali Hindus, Durga Puja.
The processions of devout Hindus carrying the idols for immersion in the Buriganga were also overjoyed by the victory of the Bangladesh cricket squad against New Zealand, the giant-killer.
‘I cannot believe we’ve beaten another former world champion! I still cannot believe it,’ yelled Shumon Arefin, a third-year student of Sociology from the top of a rickshaw flatbed van near the Teachers-Students Centre.
‘We had lost all hope that our cricketers would shine again because of their awful performance in the past few series, but they turned the tables by winning this match and we now have grounds to hope for better performances from them,’ said Showkat Islam, a fourth-year student of socialogy.
Hoards of motorbike riders honked their horns and carried the national flag as they traversed the avenues and alleys of the capital. Splinter processions were brought out in almost every area of the city.
While the upscale city blocks saw a few, sporadic groups of cars with cheering young men wielding cricket bats through the windows and sunroofs, the grandest of celebrations were held in the city’s fringes.
‘We were upset after the resignation of 10 regular players of the national team but our boys have proved that we have enough players to beat the former world champion,’ said Amsa Amin, a student of the North South University.
‘Defeating another world champion is a big achievement for the Bangladesh team. We thank the Tigers who have made us proud after a long period
of frustration,’ said Moudud Islam, a third-year student of Mass Communications and Journalism.