Mail Roundup – March 13, 2023

A roundup of messages we've received in the last two weeks

Vlad Palcu, 13.03.2023, 18:51

Hello everyone!

It’s been an
exciting two weeks, during which time we’ve received many interesting messages,
sent either by post or email. We are very grateful to everyone taking the time
to send us reception reports, leaving their impressions and comments or simply
writing to catch up.

Speaking of
catching up, this week we reconnected with our old-time listener and friend Ian
Morrison, who for many years has been tuning in to our station out of China.

I
have been listening to your station since 1987, back in the days when it was
Radio Bucharest, so you really are an old friend. It’s wonderful that you still
broadcast on shortwave, as so many other broadcasters from those days have
vanished.

That goes a really long way, and the
same can be said of Paul Flanagan from the United
Kingdom, who has been with us since 1978. This makes him our listener for over
44 years! Paul also enclosed the QSL he received back then as well as his own
list of reports submitted to Radio Bucharest.

This week a
number of listeners from India sent us wishes and greetings celebrating Holi or
Dol Festival. For instance, Bidhan Chandra Sanyal wrote:

Our India as well as our West Bengal is full
of festivals and celebrations. The
various festivals, rituals, customs etc. here are carrying the pre-Aryan
tradition. As a result of Aryan culture,
they have undergone some changes from time to time, but still their original
appearance can be identified. According
to the historical sources, the inheritance of the Austrian, Dravidian, Alpine,
Mongolian people here, the Bengali people have been nurturing Gajan, Charak,
Muharram, New Year, Jhulan, Holi or Dol festival since ancient times. As the essence of the festivals is practical,
so the appeal is spontaneous and sincere.
These have the influence or combination of different cultures. In this way, the essence of the Holi festival
of the past is mixed with the essence of the festival of the next era.

Many songs, poems or verses have been composed in
different ways around the festival of Holi.
The eternal appeal of these songs-poems-words-stories is for respect,
respect and absolute love to the people of all societies whether it is a city
or a village. There are many auspicious
beliefs-reforms, customs, rituals, totem-taboos about Holi in the folk
society. They stimulate man’s
self-consciousness, fill his heart with hope;
Loves the thought. People of
different religions, castes and communities come together in Holi
festival. The festival became a
gathering place for the masses. In this
meeting place, people get excited about collective emotions rather than
individual hopes and desires, happiness and sadness. And this collective emotion is the
traditional background of Bengali non-communal consciousness.

We are very
happy many of you chose to share this special moment with us, here on RRI.

A warm thank you
for writing to Allen Willie (Canada), Norihiko Ide (Japan), Apurba Kumar Pal
(India), KP Muneer (UAE), Francis Lawlor (Ireland), Jayanta Chakrabarty
(India), Igor Belevich (Belarus), Teruhiko Kachi (Japan), Madhab Chandra Sagour
(India), Debamakal Hazarika (India), Mikio Kohara (Japan), Richard Lemke
(Canada), Chris Malboeuf (Canada), Guido Panebianco (Italy), Kraig Krist (USA),
Francis Lubas (UK), Najim Uddin (India), Cyril MacDonald (Canada), Christer
Brunstrom (Sweden), Andrew Kuznetsov (Latvia), Idriss Boudina (USA), Piotr
Dembek (Poland), Michael Naven (USA), Digvijay Sarnobat (India), Paulo Rodrigues (USA), Pradip Kundu
(India), Alan Gale (UK), Peter Prichard (USA), Maria Khanim Moure (Bangladesh),
Muhammad Shamim (India), Karyono Wasmin (Indonesia) and Piotr Krupski (Poland).

Many thanks to everyone also writing us
on Facebook and WhatsApp!

We are currently
preparing the list of summer frequencies, which we will announce soon both
on-air as well as on our website, so make sure to check in every now and then
for updates.

The picture
above was taken by Hans Verner Lollike of Denmark in his own garden! And since
in many spots around the globe spring is slowly setting in, on behalf of
everyone here at RRI we wish you a wonderful warm season, with good tidings and
cheer!

73!