"Bangla and I"

Bangla is my life; I speak in Bangla, I dream in Bangla, I cry out in pain and pour my heart out in joy in Bangla- my mother language.

Bangla has played a very significant role in my life. I grew up speaking in Bangla because I was born into a Bengali family, and I continue to learn Bangla as a language at school. Bangla is a language that I use to connect with my family and friends. I think that as a Bangla-speaking person, I am emotionally attached to Bangla. It helps me express myself better with others.

There's a comfort and a pleasure that comes from speaking in your mother tongue that you can't find anywhere else. I've traveled around the world and met a variety of people with whom I could speak in English, but there was always a longing inside of me to return to my home country, Bangladesh, and speak in my mother language. Bangla provides me with a feeling of independence. It’s hard to explain but the bond I have with Bangla is not one I can have with English. Bangla is a language that I choose to interact with from the bottom of my heart.

I know for a fact that I will lose my identity without my language and that I should work towards treating Bangla as a priority through every phase of my life. I will continue to speak Bangla with pride and perhaps keep searching for the words that can truly express my love for my mother tongue.

- Ayesha Mahbin Masud (VI-H)

When I first uttered the word ‘Maa,’

The journey began with my sweet language.

My feelings, my sorrows, my stories,

It all started with Bangla.

Bangla is in my heart, it is my strength, my love.

No matter where I go, I will never forget you.

Dear Bangla, you are my life.

-Shanum Tahim (VI-H)

I have recently realised that I can no more forget my roots than I can forget my own name. Perhaps the words of poet Pratul Mukhopadhyay can describe this feeling more accurately, as when I had heard this song for the first time, I had felt a resonance with its words immediately: 

"আমি বাংলায় কথা কই

আমি বাংলার কথা কই

আমি বাংলায় ভাসি, বাংলায় হাসি

বাংলায় জেগে রই..."

There are two more lines in this poem that I deeply connect with:

"আমি আমার আমিকে চিরদিন

এই বাংলায় খুঁজে পাই..."

The translation of the two lines quoted above is: "I find myself in Bangla for eternity". I feel this is an accurate depiction of my personal relationship with the words, and the language itself. No matter how much I learn another language, when I am sad or angry or happy or feeling any kind of emotion to its fullest, I involuntarily switch to my mother tongue. When I sing a song or read a book, or simply talk in Bangla, I feel at peace, at one with myself, and I feel that it is in my blood. Bangla and I are one, we are inseparable.

- Afsheen Afsara Biswas (VI-H)

Jack Edwards had once said, “What is a nation without its mother language?”

This quote upholds how one's mother language is not just a language, it is the root of the identity of a nation. Similarly, my mother tongue, Bangla, is the foundation of my identity as an individual. Our mother tongue is the language that has been spoken to us by our mother and our family members since we were born. Thus, it is the language which helped mold us into the person we are today. Without even realising it, our mother language and our connection to it shapes how we speak, how we think and how we act. Thus, it is the root of our identity. Bangla, my mother language, plays a major role in carving the identity of the citizens of Bangladesh.

Personally, I feel the most content when I am speaking Bangla. It is not only a way of connecting to our heritage, it also helps us connect to ourselves. Most importantly, mother language has the word “mother” in it, which represents the importance of mother tongue in a very simple way. I think it shows how our mother tongue is like a mother to us. Just as our mother takes care of us and guides us through life, our mother tongue is like a familiar and loving and guide which forms the basis of our identity.

Through my relationship with this language, I am able to decipher the reason why human beings have such love for their mother tongue. Bangla and I share a special relationship as it embodies my individuality.

- Syeda Maisarah Hoque (VI-S)

I used to think, “What is the actual use of speaking in Bangla outside of current academic glory? I plan on studying abroad anyways, so Bangla would be of no use to me by then.”

This was an extremely ignorant and close-minded mindset. Bangla is not just another language that I can easily forget about, it is a representation of who I am. I am proud of myself for debunking this wrong image I had had of the role of Bangla in my life. I am also glad that I was able to realise that shutting out my mother tongue just because I did not see any practical use to it in my future plans was not how things should be.

Bangla is not a tool, it is a part of me.

- Raidaah Arefeen (VI-R)

Bangla and I were best friends when I was a toddler. The first words I spoke were ‘Ma’ and ‘Baba’. The next words were ‘dada’, ‘nana’, ‘asho’, ‘dao’, and ‘bairey jabo’. All of these are Bangla words. I even liked some of the common Bangla songs which my parents used to listen to all the time. Soon, I was introduced to my second language (English) through lullabies and nursery rhymes, and later through cartoons and television shows. My parents spoke mainly in Bangla with me, but through these external sources I became further acquainted with English.

Most of the time when I am speaking to my friends; I tend to speak in English. They prefer communicating in English so I also end up doing the same. Gradually, I have found myself becoming more and more comfortable with English. It has now become a habit of mine to keep speaking in a mix of Bangla and English when conversing. My mother sometimes points out to me that I tend to reply in English when she asks a question in Bangla. She keeps insisting that I should at least try to speak in Bangla with her and the rest of the members of my family. I am ashamed to say that I do not do that anymore.

Even though I keep saying that I am more comfortable speaking in English than in Bangla, I have also noticed that whenever I am under stress or in pain, I tend to express my feelings using the latter. Bangla comes naturally when I get hurt. This makes me realise that no matter how comfortable I feel speaking in English, if I have to be true to myself then I have to admit that expressing my feelings of sadness, anger, or happiness in Bangla is much more instinctive for me. That is the beauty of my mother tongue and the relationship that Bangla and I share.

- Taraz Khaleque (VI-S)

Personally, Bangla has a strong emotional connection with me. Bangla has a wide range of terms that allow me to express myself when writing, speaking, and thinking. When I speak in Bangla, I have the impression that the words are accurately reflecting what I'm trying to say and how I'm feeling. I consider myself fortunate to be able to communicate in such a beautiful language for which our country's martyrs gave their lives. Bangla is a remarkable language, and I feel honoured to call it my mother tongue.

- Sreya Najib Chowdhury (VI-S)

I am from Mymensingh. Naturally, I have an accent, even though I tend to conceal it more often than not. Nobody other than my family can bring out that side in me. The Bangla I use with my family may sound broken and misplaced to people who do not know us. That version of Bangla, however, is completely clear and proper to my family and I. It’s not broken, it’s not misplaced. It’s just simply us.

- Mahiba Anam (VI-H)

When I was younger, my parents would send me to my grandparent’s house quite often when they went to work. My grandfather was incapacitated and it was usually my grandmother who would look after him. She was very fond of old films, which had been made in her juvenile years, and she would speak about the history of some of those films to me. Due to my grandfather’s ill-health, he was hampered in his speech and would often say a few made up phrases which only my grandmother would understand.

For me, that was the casual language or “Cholito Bhasha” that I started using, which left even my friends bewildered as I would use some words that were slightly different from the language used at school. I would make up my own words to address my relatives by taking references from the formal word used to address that relative and another name I would learn from a Bengali cartoon I used to watch.

A lot of my family members came from the teaching profession and their spoken Bangla is quite formal, whether at their institute, at home, or in public. My father used to watch the news regularly and relate to me different kinds of stories while using formal language. Listening to those stories while growing up and through the lessons taught in school, the language I started speaking at public and local places became my formal language or “Shuddho Bhasha”.

That was a long time ago. As a person, I have changed as I have grown up, and so has the environment I live in. English has become a dominant language in the country now and the only time I hear Bangla is during my Bangla lessons. With the changing environment, I started to have trouble speaking fluent Bangla like I had been able to quite easily when I was in Kindergarten. I have realised, though, that it doesn't take a lot of effort for me to regain my flow in Bangla. For example, when I get the chance to read a Bangla book, my speech improves a lot in a brief amount of time. Going to places where people speak the formal Bangla language and interacting with those people helps me with building on my vocabulary, though it does get difficult understanding a few phrases and words every now and then. Even exploring old childhood places after a long time being away helps to freshen up my grasp over Bangla.

I mostly speak English with my friends and almost everyone I talk to as I am always told that if I am fluent in English, it would show that I am more “literate” or that it would help me in the future with university and job applications. The suggestions could be true, but no one ever spoke about how important it is to interact with one's mother tongue as well. Just because English is not the first language for someone does not mean that they are illiterate, it just shows that there is more to them than just the English they can speak. Our society has in some ways created an environment over the years where speaking one's mother tongue has been looked down upon. One's mother tongue is an intimate language that lets people create boundaries and form personal connections with others in their life. English, on the other hand, as the most dominant and widely spoken language in the world right now, only creates a way of communication but not connection.

- Nuzhat Nusaiba (VI-H)

Although I don’t take part in all Bengali traditions, like going to a fair to welcome the Bangla New Year (also called Pohela Boishakh), I still do love embracing Bangla, and culture and traditions that come with its community. I love waking up every day, having Bangla as my mother tongue, even though I’m horrible at it. I could cut Bangla out of my life and just speak English all the time, and accept the fact that my Bangla is worse than a kindergartener’s, but I won’t. It is never too late to improve, it is never too late to start to love what you do, no matter where you stand in terms of proficiency. I love speaking Bangla and I love being a Bangladeshi- even if I happen to mix up 35 and 53 in Bangla.

- Sunnehra Mahjabin (VI-R)

When we are first born

we cannot speak-

say even a single word

from our mouths,

all we can do is weep.

But as we grow up

we hear and see,

all the things people

around us acquit.

When we're able to speak,

the first words we're taught

are from the language

of our mother tongue.

Everyone has a mother tongue.

Mine is BANGLA.

I am honoured to have it be so.

It was the language

I spoke my first words in,

cried in,

slept in,

and laughed in.

Bangla is the sweetest language in the world.

It brings me such joy

to call it my "mother tongue".

My relationship with Bangla

is quite good,

but everyday I try to enhance it.

It is a part of who I am.

It defines me as a person.

I will love it and cherish it

till the day I cease to be.

- Anusha Siddiqi (VI-S)

I take much pride and satisfaction in speaking Bangla as my native tongue. As a mode of communication, Bangla is critical to my identity and psychological development, and I love it from the bottom of my heart. It defines me as an individual and also as a citizen of this nation. This powerful language in many ways contributes to a positive self-image and enhanced self-esteem within me.

Bangla is one of the greatest languages in the world. It is through Bangla that I articulate and transmit my ideas and experiences the best. There is something about Bangla which always makes it sound so sweet. Even if a person is angry and is shouting in Bangla, it still sounds charming and nice to me. Even what some people would call "broken" Bangla sounds beautiful to me.

The various dialects of Bangla are so stunning! For example, the Vikrampur dialect makes me feel at home since I live in Dhaka, the Sylheti dialect reminds me of the fascinating tea gardens and makes me want to drink tea, the Barisailla dialect takes me to the rivers, the Varendra dialect reminds me of silk and mangoes, the Rangpuri dialect stirs up my memory of tobacco cultivation, and the Nadia dialect defines me as a person- since this is the dialect I speak.

Often I love just sitting, relaxing and watching the sunset and researching about Bangla as a language. Through this exercise, I have found many interesting dialects of Bangla such as "Christian Bangla''- which is a dialect used for Bangla translations of the Holy Bible- and the Dobashi dialect, which is a highly Persianised dialect of Bangla originating from the Bengal Sultanate. I also love listening to Bangla songs, especially the ones written by Rabindranath Tagore and Kazi Nazrul Islam.

The national anthem of Bangladesh instils such a feeling of patriotism and fulfilment in me. It is a sign of unity, and loyalty to Bangladesh- one which I have been hearing since my childhood.

I feel that my thoughts and emotions are perfectly conveyed through Bangla because the tone of this language in my ear and its meaning in my heart fills me with confidence. Simply put, my mother tongue and my identity are inextricable from each other.

- Jawadul Haque (VI-S)