I was born and brought up in the state of West Bengal. I had my education there - from kindergarten to engineering. In 2001 after completing my BE I stepped out of the state for professional reasons. So, it has been more than 10 years. Barring speaking in my mother tongue, Bengali, unknowingly peppered with 10-15% English, eating Bengali food (60% of the time) and going to my native once a year I didn't find my of the "Bengaliness" in me. I am always skeptical about West Bengal and its people in any conversations regarding them. Because of the confused and declining socio-economic condition of the state, one of my favourite lines is, "it is Waste Bengal, not West Bengal".
There were times when I questioned myself about how much of a "Bengali" am I. I dont make the annual trip to the state during its most-celebrated festival, the Durga Puja. I do not indulge in the idle gossip, called adda, something that Bengalis are proud of. I dont boast of the poets and philosophers that the region produced a hundred years ago. I dont demean any other race or fellow-country-men to establish the fact that I am superior. I dont have much of the character that Bengalis, apparently, have. In the last 10 years, I have settled, unsettled and settled again. Travelled to some countries, met a lot of people. I have known a world that is much beyond the borders of West Bengal. And yet its hard to digest the fact that I am getting detached from my roots.
Introspection begins.
Does using a British accent make one a British? Does celebrating Halloween make one an American? Does eating pastas and pizzas make one Italian? A race is much beyond the only superficial manifestation of certain activities. Any race in the world has deep-rooted identifications that makes it different from the rest. Each has its unique position in the world map. The ancient Egyptians worshipped the Sun-God "Ra". But the Egyptian civilisation was much more than "Ra" or "Papyrus".
Likewise, Bengali culture is much more than the skin-deep show-offs. In course of time for any culture, the actual foundation principles become difficult to adapt and are slowly forgotten. People pick up the easier things to follow and hail them as the flag-bearers of the race. A British accent is ,perhaps, one of the easiest things that you can copy. Whereas the qualities that has made the English race like punctuality, discipline, supremely-refined english language and manners, are hardly adopted.
The qualities that made Bengalis one of the most prominent races in India are,among others, education and culture. The gossip or adda has its roots to the intellectual discussion of matters, currently reduced to arguments and counter-arguments of utopian thoughts. While our ancient writers, thinkers and scientists are a matter of pride, is it not time we should give a thought why Bengal havent produced such a great men in the last 100 years, while it had loads of them once upon a time?
I am glad that I do not pretend to be a Bengali with the superficial and artificial manifestations. The education I received since childhood, both in school and outside, from teachers and elders, from the air,water and the birds of Bengal flows through my veins. I am proud of them.
I don't have to shout over the rooftop to proclaim my roots. I dont have to stay in Bengal to proclaim so.
I am proud of my roots and respect and honour it in my own way, the way I think is the best.
