Noboborsho teaches us the diversity of our beautiful country I was first introduced to Pohela Boishakh by the Bengali community in Gaya, Bihar, India, where I lived and worked in the late 1960s. If Songkranti brings the year to a close, Pohela Boishakh on April 14 is a new beginning. Bengali or Bangla New Year is a relatively “new” celebration, but “Songkranti,” or in Thailand, “Songkran,” goes back millennia.