Born and brought up in a Bengali community . 17 years of my life passed but I still can’t continue my counting after 30 in Bengali, and I don’t blame it on the English medium school I studied.
May be it was my fault, may be I never tried to that, because I thought it was cool to speak in English other than Bengali. I won’t say I disrespected my own mother tongue but the situation demanded something like that. Teachers forced us to talk in English, my mother’s eyes sparked when I started talking in English.
Well, this is what happened when I was a kid, but life drastically changed when I stepped to the shoes of a teenager. My way of talking changed where there was more of hindi-english mixed in each sentence of mine. I started dating a non-bengali guy where his ‘ Ami tomake bhalobashi’ sounded more cuter than the other Bengali guys who used to tell the same. I started going on diet and literally ignored my mom’s fish curry.
But you know what the best thing is, my heart still skips a beat, when I see the streets getting lighted up during Durga Puja,the MAHALAYA which is being broadcast-ed at the 4 am in the morning still brings a peace to my heart, my mom’s ‘ lal-para, shada-saree’ is what I drape against my waist during Ashtami.
The gulping off puchka down my throats is still the most enjoyable moment for me.
The lush green Victoria field is what i will point out as the Bengali’s Lover Point. . The tram rides is still fun in this high-speed metro life.
‘MA and BABA’ still sounds way better to me than ‘MOM AND DAD’
The coffee shop near my place and the never-ending adda with my cousins is something irreplaceable.
I still love to sing the song ‘Brishti pore tapoor-tupur’ when it rains heavily bringing all new freshness to the street of Kolkata.
And last but not the least I love it more when people call me ‘Bengali’ instead of ‘Bong’.
p.s no matter what I wear, how I talk, what I do, I will be a true Bengali from heart FOREVER.
