The Song above is by Late Bhupen Hazarika. Where he sings about him being a nomad. How the world has embraced him and he has forgotten where home is. His physical journey from the Ganges to the the Mississippi; Ottawa to Austria and Paris. Talking about Gorkhy, painting the colors of Chicago.
Then the metaphorical journey where he has seen lines of sky scrappers and then also homeless people sitting in the shadow of those buildings. Through these experiences he has made strangers his loved ones and kin became distant.
Jajabor means a Nomad.
As I travel through cities, I do manage to make new friends and add the interesting ones to he mantle peace of my memoirs. What is it that i lack is often I question. I know to most of the people I come out to be Charming and intelligent. To…
Ami Ek Jajabor by Bhupen Hazarika The Song above is by Late Bhupen Hazarika. Where he sings about him being a nomad. How the world has embraced him and he has forgotten where home is. His physical journey from the … Continue reading →
Khiyo is officially releasing its first track on 26th March, Bangladesh Independence Day. Listen and share, thank you ! Amar Shonar BANGLA….. AMAZINGLY SUNG.. and Salute and gratitude to KHIYO..
About 139 kilometers from Chittagong, you need to detour left from Feni; Greater Noakhali. We pass Sebarhat, Jomidarhat, and reach Choumunhi. The time taken to cover the 100 Km from Chittagong to Feni was covered in 2 hours. However the remaining 39 would take us an hour and half was not expected. I was not keen in celebrating Eid in the Village. However, my parents insisted and I thought I would a good trump card for me to play later in case I wanted to bail out from something else. I know sounds like an evil plan; I do have that side too. Everyone from Chittagong had already come to Bari ( often the name given to your home in the village, fascinates me that even today we continue to call this Bari and homes in cities Basha!). Our extended family and family friends too. In my car was Didi…
As young as 13 year old girls were raped by Pakistani Soldiers in during the war. It has painful stories of the past.
It is a pity that Pakistan Government still does not recognize this and calls it a civil war. A shame for the nation.
300000 women were raped and this is just recorded ones! While just before the victory of the war the Pakistanis broke our backbone by killing the intellectuals ( economists, policy makers, activists etc). Such an act is worst than the Holocaust! Of course every single life is important, but when it comes to nation building someone with the know hows is so much more important.
But its all Karma, today Pakistan is on the verge of being a failed state which Bangladesh shines its way to be a strong power house for commerce.
(The write up is purely personal and my opinion expressed. What this cup meant to me and perception of how it felt for the nation. It should not be taken personally)
I am not a cricket fan. All my life I followed cricket only when it was India Vs Pakistan. My support for India is because I don’t want to support Pakistan. No offense I may sound old school or do not think a game to be a game. Being a Bangladeshi, I cannot forgive Pakistan for the atrocities against our nation. I know there will be Pakistanis who will read this blog too. However, as I said it’s not personal to anyone. Just like a choice of White wine over Red (as Red stains teeth). Though today I got a “hate mail” from a Pakistani lady who commented on an Indian man’s status that India Bought the World Cup and ICC. My fault? I said “if that is so, work on your economy and make it as robust as India’s!”
Every time a patriotic song plays I hum along. Like many my heart fills up with pride and there is a feeling which seems like bubbles in the heart and leads to a smiling face. The breath that I take is filled with satisfaction and bloats my heart with pride. I am not sure if everyone feels that and some might find it too dramatic. Although I know many people who feel this way. It’s a feel that is blissful! Why is it that I feel this way? When I was growing up in India as a child many of my Indian friends would mock me saying what we have to be proud of. Like all they would also look up to America or Japan. I did not know, but a book of the collections of pictures of 1971 from my mother’s book shelf; the dead bodies, the spirit of the people, the captions made me feel something. I did not what it was, but writing now reminded me of that instance. As I grew up I learned about my country. We have a many things not to be proud of. We have been the most corrupted country in the world for a few times; we run on absurd political dynasties, terrible infrastructure. However nothing beats the stereotypes (that we all face); Ohh my God; your country has so many poor people! If you manage to meet people whose world is built on the perceptions of the Media then God save you!
However, we do have a number of things to be proud of. Be it controversial; ours is the cradle of eliminating poverty thought micro- credit. Bangladesh is the home for innovative health care solutions like ORS ( Oral Re-hydrating Salt), vaccination of Small pox. Hans Rosling in his site gapminder.com ( a must check out) has a video called “The Miracle of Bangladesh” ( link attached). An American friend recently told me; “Now when I hear Bangladesh, I don’t think floods and poor people. I think I have so many clothes that are made there.” We have become the second largest exporter of garments in the world and soon to be numero Uno. Amartya Sen says “ It is only in Bangladesh that more girls are going to primary school than boys. Such an action has tremendous effect on the future of this country. While India continues to focus on its middle class ignoring the 50% of the population; Bangladesh has built education and basic healthcare for them.” ( on NDTV in early March 2012). Goldman Sachs, Merill Lynch, J P Morgan et al have named Bangladesh as “ The Emerging Tiger”, included Bangladesh in Next 11 ( 11 future economies after BRIC ( Brazil, Russia, India & China); one of the Frontier five countries. Despite frustrating political ploy of the Democratic Monarchs; our GDP growth rate is 6% consistently. All this and much more makes us proud? Yes it does, but not in our everyday life. These are the thoughts of strategists, economists and policy makers. What does a common man see? Inflation, Political instability, power cuts, power play by the politically strong, lack of infrastructure, politicians who are oblivious to the common man’s life and much more to the common man’s eyes ( obviously even Indians have seen and still see it). The world’s perception towards us does not end there. Indian media has demonized us as the place for breeding extremists, Refugees. The Middle Easterners and South East Asians see us as construction workers, Laborers ( not that we don’t take pride in the Forex sent home by them) and not the forget the Brits see us as the restaurant owners! Obviously there are many more and we all have ridiculous experience of surprising people when we did not fall into their perceptions.
When Bangladesh started to play the Asia Cup, we as a nation did not have any thought about the finals but we thousands did turn up at the stadium to support our team; “the Tigers.” Our lost to the Pakistan team in the first round was close and only cricket lovers were discussing it. Next match was against the world champions. Tendulkar’s 100th 100 and 2 players’ century lead a sky rocketing score. Our Tigers went on the pitch and with team works and consistency lead us to victory by reaching the score of 330. I was thrilled; called up my brothers in UK and US. My friends on Blackberry who commented earlier saying “we will thrash the shit out of Bangladesh today” were awestruck and complimented us. Many took this as a “Luck by chance” (many of us did too). Then we went ahead and beat Sri Lanka (another World Champion); today the commentators did not dare call us the underdogs. What celebrations and happiness. How simple the people are, we smile and are content such achievements and the baby steps. We were to look out for. For obvious reasons, we did kick India out of the tournament. In 2007 when a victory of Bangladesh, kicked India out of the World Cup; a presenter Mandira Bedi ( don’t know for what God forsaken reason she was there) said “ India got kicked out and for whom a team like BANGLADESH!”. Now I thought we do not have to be evil for revenge but just stick onto our mission to be better. Today we were better for an instance because we played well and no one could say it was luck or chance. Post Sri Lanka’ , the whole nation pulled up their sleeves to support our TEAM. It was our Team our pride and our love. The spirit was amazing. Reminded me of a time in the World Cup ( 2011) when a victory of Bangladesh got everyone in Chittagong on the road in celebration. I was driving home when a Rickshaw puller smiled and me and said “ Sir WE won”. Indeed it is “WE”. Our Nation. I still remember that smiling face. This was the month of March; the month of our Independence. It did add fuel to our fire of zeal. Flags of various sizes being sold on the roads, bandanas, stuffed dolls of Tiger, vehicles running around the city with flags on them, as if it was one of those national days. By 3 pm the roads of Chittagong (where I live) were deserted. As I drove by I felt like an alien myself. A whole nation glued onto TV or live updates, online telecast. Where ever they are Dhaka University or MIT; the tea stall round the shanties or the coffee shop in the 5 star hotel, in Chittagong or Chicago; Sylhet or London ( sorry last one was to lighten the mood for those familiar with it), we were all together BANGLADESH. There was no difference, we did not think of us as a poor nation, we did not think about cursing the government for power cuts ( it DID NOT happen during the match) nor did we blame opposition. Each moment of excitement, people were updating facebook status from the Stadium, homes and abroad. Those at work ( mainly abroad) were calling, messaging friends ( smarter ones followed online ) for updates. Nail biting moments, ball by ball. It wasn’t just cricket lovers; it was all of us again and again. Our ballers initially gave an exceptional fight to the Pakistan team, except the end. When Bangladesh came to bat it was all apprehension. Living all ball at a time, at one moment we had given up hope and then the next we gain it with amazing boundaries. Our players did not give us a chance to complain (except for Shahadat); we were all cheering a loud. The whole Stadium, sixty thousand fans cheering BANGLADESH in unison. When a wicket fell the Song “Dhono Dhanney Pushpay bhora” was played; I feel it boost the morale of the spectators. A patriotic song; but not the national anthem. There was no anti Pakistan sentiment but it was our Nationalism. As the match proceeded the commentators complimented out players and I saw facebook status updates of many Indian Cricket lovers ( for same reason they supported us as I support them). Every hand caught on camera was folded in prayers, lips chanting Suras and facebook Status of someone was “Allah”. My maid said “Allah I will offer 2 rakat nafal for you”- 4 balls 6 runs; 3 balls 4 runs and there goes a Wicket! Have we lost? Not yet? 1 ball 2 runs. Yes we lost. It must have been one of the most silent moments in the history of the world. 170 million people Silent! We all looked out to infinity. Shattered we were, flags, face painted, tiger prints painted all over the body, our hands supporting our faces all lifeless. Naveed Bhai said his 6 year old daughter burst into tears, someone young was taken to the hospital for a panic attack, my friend Goutom’s mother’s blood pressure shot up. Shoto Asha ( infinite hopes); indeed Shoto Asha all gone. We did not know how to take this as? We lost? After so much of anticipation? Our Dreams of being the Asia Cup Champion, so Close, yet so Far? Facebook status’ again sprung up. Some hating, blaming, encouraging, and appreciating. It took us time to take it on. However when our players started to cry, many of us could not hold it.
Very soon Media ( local and International), every cricket lover, critiques, retired and current players from every cricket playing nation gave Bangladesh a standing ovation (of course metaphorically). I was showered with compliments from friends and so was many across the globe. Our Indian friends were the first. Our players crying and we all were there to wipe of their tears. What pain? Everyone was out of words; and said “We love you tigers”. Our Heroes. It was these heroes of our Nation that brought us all together.
An Indian Friend posted a picture of our players crying and captioned it as:
“Bangladesh Cricketers Crying After Losing Close Asia Cup Final. Don’t Cry You are World Heroes, You have won Millions of hearts and made your Nation Proud !”
A friend wrote to me saying Check Google NOW, when you type Bangladesh the first thing that comes is
‘Bangladesh lost the Asia Cup but Won a million hearts” – ESPN.com
From Brian Lara’s Page
“I felt very sad seeing the people and the players crying. Could be either ways. Bangladesh lost, but won the hearts of million people, in fact they won everything except the cup! Be aware world, Bangladesh is the new terror!”
Why did this mean so much to us? Was it because we see it as revenge to Pakistan in the month of March. Was it just to be champions? Was it just the victory and the post celebration? In my eyes it was NOT. It was that respect and pride. It was the to all those moments of belittled by someone cause of out green passport, it was to all those Mandira Bedi’s of the world who would say Bangladesh with a Smirk. All ignorant ones who would look down upon us. All those who thought we were their chefs, all those who thought we are just a country as the “problem basket of the world”. We are strong. We were proud of the fight we put up. I too feel that even though we lost, our team established something which we all craved for years, we did it. We won millions of hearts. It gave us all the sense of integrity and bound us together. After all this was the motive of competition.
Yes that recognition and respect that each one on earth craves for their Nation.
We are Proud we are Bangladeshis.
“Ekti Bangladesh Tumi Jagroto Jonota, Shara Bissher Bishoi. Tumi Amar Ohongkar.”
Awakened the people of Bangladesh, you are the wonder of the World and YOU are my PRIDE.
When I put up a status about which city to choose from Prague or Budapest. Karn told me pick Budapest. Keval who recently wrote is his Mumbai Mirror Article ” Budapest the most beautiful city in the world”; I remember Shalinder saying that she loved here a couple of years and those were most memorable ones. Well Keval and I share certain connection when it comes to weird nerdy things ( though we both are in denial)!.
However I did not understand what this fuss is about. This morning I climbed down my from berth in the train and biting the croissant i looked out this view!. I just could not take the next bite. It was like those hills never looked prettier and the water was never so still. The sky seemed to be waiting for the clouds to pass; like a driver waits for pedestrians.
Are we in Budapest already? No, but this was Hungary.
Budapest has mainly got 2 parts; the Hilly Buda and the plain flat pest; each on sides of the great Danube River. A river which crosses 4 capitals of the world and flows through 9 countries. What makes Budapest so special? I don’t know! I am not going to go into the historical details.
The feeling of this city. They say the water here has healing power; which lead to the construction of many bath’s and spas with natural water ( of course the invasion by the Ottoman Empire also has an influence) . Climbing up the Castle Hill; one sees the majestic Royal Palace which is now the National Art Gallery. The roof top dome is however open to the balcony for visitors. It is here that i feel in love with this city. I just stood there in this place watching the banks of Danube. From this palace over the hill; one can have the panoramic view of it all. The island between Buda and best. The multiple bridges crossing over the river, and the Chain Bridge. One can see manicured Lawns filled with colored flowers. If i was 5 yrs old I would say these are crayon colors filled b the first boy of the art class! The water of the river still! the wind would blow to your face and you would resist it and feel that cool feeling while looking at the warm sun. I take deep breath. I am still not convinced that WHAT is it? I don’t know, its like that feeling of teenage day love. When you know or don’t know if its love but there is a feeling in the stomach which bubbles up to your chest. I was having that feeling and was pretty sure it wasn’t GAS! ;p
Walking down and towards the Matthias and the Bastion; one does not just feel the pristine white structure but the openness to the bastion builds upon the feeling. The walk into the church takes you away from the regular churches in Europe. At first I felt I was back in Hagia Sofya in Istanbul!. The hand painted motif’s on the wall instantly will become an art lover’s playground! Each step and climb adds to your surprise. Walking out, Life could not get more post card like for sure. Streets met at corner and welcomed each other with flowers, while cafe’s spilled over its people by the streets. It does not seem to be something very much different from Prague and Vienna. Then Why does it feel different? Is it the air?
Coming back to the Bastion, I took a nap on the top ( yes and got burned in the sun).A power nap never felt this recharging ( see picture for reference). However I descended the Castle and walked by the side of the Danube. I kept asking what is it that makes this city feel so special. Its beautiful? Yes, but to the eyes of many it may not be the city like a in south east Asia or in Middle East. To me many of those cities seems plastic and lacks life. Budapest has cigarette stubs all over; yet its go this sense of perfection which very much not perfect.
This river and its banks just has a emotional cleansing attached to it. I dipped my feet in the water and felt it pass through me. Along with the water a tempest of thoughts gushed through me. A million faces of people I love ( even from my past) and a million question they poise me. Why did I? When will I? Who will? How? I withdraw my feet and walk back to the Hotel.
Its evening, while walking i picked up a large beer can and soon i reached the bank and started to walk. The breeze, the cool feeling, the tourists etc. I reached the chain bridge and sat at the same location where most people would sit; at an angle of 35 degree was the bridge on the Pest . I thought to myself what is it that i feel and want.What is it that this city makes me feel so different. What is it that i can and cannot give myself? I felt this whole paralysis of thoughts. and my soul mate’s flashed and questioned me again.
I thought I have never seen waves of a river so closely ever ( I was even closer in the afternoon). I felt i could jump into this river. would it be suicide? I then thought normal Saif would never have the courage may be its the tequila shots and the beer speaking.The river’s waves were shining at different curves there was a different light of the buildings on the buda hills.It was like watching a crisp white Sari and the sun’s light falling on the crevasses. Reminded me of Arundhati’s Roy’s “God of small things.”
I did not what about the thoughts, far away a man played the violin. Was it somber or happy? All I knew was there was so much emotion built in me. After ages I wanted to cry and let it flow out. The water in the river and the place had this charisma. It was exhilarating. I did so. In no time i felt fresh and the Violin was happy.
The complete feeling of the competency of best city can be felt until you sit on the shore of Danube on the Pest side, look at Buda and the lit up Chain Bridge.
There are places on earth where you must have traveled in your thoughts and seen in the mind. A place where you would find moments of Nirvana on earth. I was glad to have found it on the Banks of Danube.It healed me and brought me back to life.
saifthesquarepeg 