I became more of a Bengali after coming to The States!
In India, though we spoke Bengali at home, most of the conversation at school and with friends would be in English. People called us “anglicized”. Form the day I landed in the US, I started missing all things Bengali and looked forward to having conversations with other Bengalis in our tongue, yearning for a simple namaskar. I did receive such a greeting in the Central library, in Manhattan, from a homeless and very American guy who had a pile of books on the Far East on his desk. Don’t get me wrong, but after ten such namaskars and with the perfect bow accompanying each greeting in a span of ten minutes, I was ready to quit the library in alarm, all appreciative of the “hello”. But in retro, I appreciate all those namaskars, and send a namaskar to him whose name I will never know.
Here at home, we speak in Bengali, occasionally the conversation flowing in English. I love the melody of our language and for my life cannot understand why fellow Bengalis give speeches in English at parties and weddings or any other formal event, even when the crowd comprises mostly of Bengalis.
It’s painful to watch the expression of the bride and groom, trying to appear cheerful and not cringe when the fathers and uncles from both sides give witty and loving speeches in English that is kind of lost in translation! We Indians are naturally emotional and very informal kind of people. At an otherwise very enjoyable wedding, the emotional “benglish” speech went on for half an hour. And some of us were forced to stare into space or nothing in particular with a beatific smile so as to not look at the perplexed faces of the English speaking guests. They were trying their best to understand, especially the part when the uncle spoke about the groom’s bygone diaper days. Hey folks, have pity on your kids and guests! Either read out a crisp speech in English from paper or Bengali pleeeze!
Why do we tend to get all mad and upset in English? A lot of Bengalis I know switch to English when they are really upset. My husband does and I have seen my friends doing it. And I wonder if the immigrant Italians or Russians or French revert to English to express their anger? Is it just an immigrant thing so that we have the best of both worlds?
More Later.
In India, though we spoke Bengali at home, most of the conversation at school and with friends would be in English. People called us “anglicized”. Form the day I landed in the US, I started missing all things Bengali and looked forward to having conversations with other Bengalis in our tongue, yearning for a simple namaskar. I did receive such a greeting in the Central library, in Manhattan, from a homeless and very American guy who had a pile of books on the Far East on his desk. Don’t get me wrong, but after ten such namaskars and with the perfect bow accompanying each greeting in a span of ten minutes, I was ready to quit the library in alarm, all appreciative of the “hello”. But in retro, I appreciate all those namaskars, and send a namaskar to him whose name I will never know.
Here at home, we speak in Bengali, occasionally the conversation flowing in English. I love the melody of our language and for my life cannot understand why fellow Bengalis give speeches in English at parties and weddings or any other formal event, even when the crowd comprises mostly of Bengalis.
It’s painful to watch the expression of the bride and groom, trying to appear cheerful and not cringe when the fathers and uncles from both sides give witty and loving speeches in English that is kind of lost in translation! We Indians are naturally emotional and very informal kind of people. At an otherwise very enjoyable wedding, the emotional “benglish” speech went on for half an hour. And some of us were forced to stare into space or nothing in particular with a beatific smile so as to not look at the perplexed faces of the English speaking guests. They were trying their best to understand, especially the part when the uncle spoke about the groom’s bygone diaper days. Hey folks, have pity on your kids and guests! Either read out a crisp speech in English from paper or Bengali pleeeze!
Why do we tend to get all mad and upset in English? A lot of Bengalis I know switch to English when they are really upset. My husband does and I have seen my friends doing it. And I wonder if the immigrant Italians or Russians or French revert to English to express their anger? Is it just an immigrant thing so that we have the best of both worlds?
More Later.
No comments:
Post a Comment