LIFE AS IT IS

I t was the summer of 2013, I was strolling along Jamaica's Hillside Avenue and turning my neck every time I was hearing someone utter something in Bangla. It was my first time in Jamaica, a neighbourhood in New York city's borough of Queens, which boasts a large population of Bangladeshi Americans and is considered one of the most ethnically diverse places on the planet.  Jamaica is a slice of Bangladesh away from it. With 'deshi' men and women speaking Bangla on the streets in traditional garbs like panjabi, pyjama and shalwar kameez, streets lined with Bangladeshi-owned restaurants and grocery stores selling your favourite 'deshi' vegetables, halal meats, and foods ranging from shingara-samosa, chotpoti-fuchka, naan-kabab, doi-mishti, and halua-paratha to kachchi biriyani, tehari, Haji-r biriyani and bhat-mach-bhorta, Jamaica is an instant reminder of the country you have left behind.   For a second, you might even forget that this place is very much a part o...

C lear azure skies, cotton-like fluffy clouds, fragrant night jasmine, and kans grass swaying to the autumnal breeze symbolise the advent of Durga Puja in Bangladesh. The Bangladeshi diaspora spread across the world miss not only the Durga Puja \"vibes\" at this festive time of the year, but also their friends and family, the sound of  dhaak , the smell of  dhoop , the food stalls at puja mandaps, the shopping spree, and the pandal-hopping experience. "I miss the  \"puja-puja-bhaab ,\" which is felt in Dhaka\"s air at this time of the year," said Puja Karmakar, a Bangladeshi American who now calls Delaware, USA her home. "We look forward to celebrating Durga Puja every fall, but the energy, vigour, and grandiosity around the festival that you witness back home are missing here". The festival, which symbolises the triumph of good over evil, is not an elaborate five-day affair abroad. Durga Puja organisers generally choose a weekend to celebra...