Second letters form Mariom from Bangladesh to Sahil in UK

 

Sender: Mariom Bentee Rahman

Senders Location: Rajshahi, Bangladesh

Receiver: Sahil Amin

Receiver Location: Glasgow, UK

Translation:

Hello Sahil,

 I hope you are well. I received your letter a few days ago.  It's nice to finally know who I'm writing to.  I was impressed with the way you described the traditions of Scotland - especially the food, clothing and mythological characters in your letter.  While reading your letter, it kept coming to my mind that, 

 "Hey! Wait! This is also in our Bengali tradition!" 

 Well, well, it would be wrong to say that because things are not the same. There are just some similarities.

 Like you said about food, Haggis.  When we hear the name of the food, the name of Scotland comes to our mind, similarly, when we hear Hilsa fish and Panta rice, the word Bengali comes to our mind.  Since my country,  Bangladesh is a riverine country, fish is an integral part of our lifestyle and Panta rice is basically socked rice or rice with water.  So this Panta bhat and fish - especially Hilsa fish has become a part of our tradition from the old custom. Here, if you go to each district, you will get various food items that carry the identity of that district.

 For example, the Yogurt of Bogra, the Bakarkhani of Dhaka,  the Mejban of Chittagong or the Lychee of Dinajpur.  In Rajshahi, we too have such an identity-carrying food, and that is mango. If I start writing about the mangoes of Rajshahi, the letter will not end, but if you get a chance, to come to Rajshahi during the summer season, then you will understand why and how mangoes carry the identity of Rajshahi.

 The Tartan Pattern you mentioned in your letter, do you know that a somewhat similar pattern is used in our country, for towels, and lungis? And another type of fashion similarity can be said between the lungi and kilts.  Both can be called boys clothes and both have become part of the tradition now.

As it can be seen, the warriors in the Scottish war wore Kilts during the fight, similarly, our Bengali freedom fighters were also seen to fight with guns in Lungis. Apart from this pattern, it has been seen that the Jamdani pattern is very traditional in Bangladesh.  And when it comes to the traditional clothes of Rajshahi, the first thing that comes to everyone's mind is Rajshahi Silk.  You may not be able to understand what the fabric is like without seeing or touching it directly, but if I have to use a simile to describe it, then I may say that Rajshahi silk has a texture similar to malted chocolates and it is made from the silkworms. And then again various designs are made on this Rajshahi silk- Paisley Pattern is one of them. You may be surprised to know that this Paisley Patten is from Bengal and do you know how it came to Bengal? 

From Mango!!

 Isn’t it really interesting to see, how the objects of our daily life become part of our heritage, and how the previously worshipped gods and goddesses become mythological characters?

 As you mentioned in your letter, about the Loch Ness Monster, how they live in the water.  Such stories are also prevalent in our Rajshahi city. A goddess who once rose from Padma and went to Padma and resided there was once worshipped. And her name was 'Ganga'.  Although there are some similarities with Loch Ness, the biggest difference is that the Ganga was much more beautiful. 

 Maybe if we talk more, we will find many more such similarities, but for today, I think I should end here. And I am eagerly waiting for the next letter.

From,

Your penfriend, 

Mariom