Kalni : My heart wasn’t on my mouth, rather my feet and waist were crying out. The traveler in me would just not listen, so I went on. On the back of a 125 cc motorbike, into the harshlands of Sunamganj. I wasn’t riding that little old Japanese gem, it was my colleague who was doing that thankless job. For 2 days, 15 hours and over 300 km… roads, no-roads, boat, bamboo bridges known as Shako‘s, held our destiny with aplomb. The roads, aah well, that is why I went there. No, not to build them or break them. Rather to…
We Bengalis love our Monsoon. The beams of water pours making us youthful just like a freshly watered old dusty tree leaf. For us a rainy day became so important that it had to be in our curriculum with a must essay called “Memories Of A Rainy Day”. After the hectic , hot, melting Summer, Monsoon comes to revive. Monsoon lasts from mid June to mid August in Bangla calendar .. “আষাঢ় থেকে শ্রাবন”. This season has played a huge part in our Bangla literature by celebrating romance, clouds, rains and the emotions surrounding dancing to the melody of rain.…
[ Steaming goodness ] Two years back, during my sons’s activity project I had to learn making Bhapa Pitha. For a strange reason I always thought making Pitha (Bangladeshi desserts) is tough. Now that I can make an entire cake and decorate it too, I know making pitha can be tiresome but never impossible. Hence these days I make pitha at home, and don’t drive my mother in law crazy to make pithas for me. Bhapa Pitha is perhaps the most famous pitha. It is essentially a rice cake filled with molsasses and coconut. But I don’t like coconut in…
[ Pohela Boishakh spread ] Pohela Boishakh is around the corner. It means your house will be filled with batasha, misri, naru, muroli and lots of other desi delights. It also means you will look every inch a Bengali beauty with that red bindi on your forehead, your hair will be adorned with bunch of Jasmine, and your men will be dapper in white panjabi. Beside all these things, Pohela Boishakh also means your dinning table will have a new white table cloth, and it will have all desi food items from Hilsha to beef bhuna, bhetki paturi to nakel chingri,…
[ Stitched dreams… ] Bangladesh is a tropical country, with a mild winter and humid summer. In the northern side, the winter is stronger than the rest of the country. The span of winter is also very little. Thus the use of heavy blankets is limited to only few days of the year. Rest of the year we use Katha. Katha is a light sheet made of 6 to 8 sarees together. Making katha is an art like American quilt, only difference is, we didn’t market it as we should have. The art of Katha could have been a national…
[ Hemanta…. or Late Autumn ] All of my seasonal posts will begin with my favourite poet and his songs… Here is what Tagore says on Hemanta or late Autumn.. হেমন্তে কোন্ বসন্তেরই বাণী পূর্ণশশী ওই-যে দিল আনি॥ বকুল ডালের আগায় জ্যোৎস্না যেন ফুলের স্বপন লাগায়। কোন্ গোপন কানাকানি পূর্ণশশী ওই-যে দিল আনি॥ আবেশ লাগে বনে শ্বেতকরবীর অকাল জাগরণে। ডাকছে থাকি থাকি ঘুমহারা কোন্ নাম-না-জানা পাখি। কার মধুর স্মরণখানি পূর্ণশশী ওই-যে দিল আনি॥ Voice of spring in autumn The full moon does carry As if paints floral dreams Moonlight on Bakul stems What secret whisperings The full moon does carry…
Adibasi is a term used for all the heterogeneous set of ethnic and tribal groups considered to be the indigenous population of Bangladesh. Adibashi people live mainly in the hill tracts of Chittagong belt also they live many other plain land areas of the country. There are about approx. 40 groups of Indigenous communities in Bangladesh. They cover almost two percent of the total population. According to the government statistics the total number of Adivasi is 12,05,978 which is only 1.03 percent of the total population. The name of the indigenous communities are; Bawm, Chak, Chakma, Khyang, Khumi, Lushai, Marma,…
Have you looked at the sky today? Isn’t it the brightest of all. I see a bright blue sky with white harmless clouds passing through with nice gentle breeze. In other words it is called Early Autumn or Sharat in Bangla. We Bengali people are blessed with six different seasons unlike the western world that has only four. Our autumn is divided into two seasons, early autumn and late autumn. The first part which is early autumn is Sharat. In Bangla calendar the months Bhadra and Ashwin are together Sharat, from 15 August to 15 October. Though there are sudden…