| Pulse - Feel the Rhythm |
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Ever since my childhood days, there are two things that I am particularly adept at., and I have a feeling that I may not be the only one. The first is to shut my mind and ears when the chairperson of a Shabha gets up to speak. Since Bengalis love to hear the sound of their own voice, this usually lasts from one to two hours, and is a good time for a lengthy nap. The second one is to avoid reading editorials in magazines and periodicals, deeming them utterly unimportant. So I was a little taken aback with the prospect of having to write the first one for our budding newsletter GRBA Pulse.
If you are like me, then you have probably moved on to the next article by now. If not, bear with me for a little while. For if you are wondering why we have decided to come up with a newsletter after all this time, I have two possible answers, ekta shohoj ar ekta kothin (one easy and the other one difficult; if you have been one of those people who watched this year’s Bengali drama "Refund", you will recognize this famous quote from it). The easy answer is that it an initiative of us, by us and for us. The difficult answer will probably read like "A brief history of the Bengali immigrant experience". Most of us come to the USA as students, and graduate through our twenty year old Toyota, instant noodles and more instant noodles, n-th hand furniture collected not infrequently from beside the garbage dumpster in our respective apartment complexes, and finally through whatever degree one aspires for. After that, life leads us through hunting for and landing jobs, revamping the old wardrobe, taking out the spouse on a "real" holiday (that is, not shack up on the floor of a friend’s apartment while in New York City), and finally have cute kids. This is when you start realizing that you may have succumbed to the "X=X+1" syndrome. For the uninitiated, this refers to the never-ending promises that one chants to oneself (and in some cases, to apprehensive parents), that I will return to India "next year". Hence, the X number of years equates to X+1. And as the lower-back pain increases and joints get stiffer and kids start speaking in American English than your native Bengali at home, you realize that there might yet be a slim chance to give your kids a glimpse of your roots and values and culture, and maybe they will appreciate that and have some childhood memories that they will cherish. The inherent idea is that, while being quintessentially American, they should also retain a part of who you are. It is from this apprehension that we gather in community programs, hold our traditional festivals, and encourage our children to participate in those things that they would not find outside of Bengal. But we keep thinking, "is it enough, is it satisfactory, for them, and for us?" It is with this view that we strive to go further, and the idea of this newsletter is to provide us one more platform to reach out to our kids, and to each other. In the present times, change is the buzzword- from Obama to Mamata. So let us input a little change in our daily activities and participate in this new venture. Support this initiative, for it is for all of us. Have your children participate, and participate yourself. Let your creative side show bright. At the end of the day, the satisfaction will be yours, guaranteed. -- Priyadarshi |