English or Bengali?
Reflection
I talk with trees, birds, ladybugs, mosquitoes, stars, the moon, etc. Any living creature I am fortunate to meet deserves a greeting. My big question is, what language should I use when talking to them?
English, Bengali, or Sylheti? Or the conversational Hindi and Urdu that I can get away with? They seem to understand all the languages I speak with them and silently acknowledge me, but I want confirmation. Sigh!
I am bilingual and fluent in Bengali, coming from Bangladesh. English is my second, but my first language is Sylheti. Sylhet is situated in the northeastern region of Bangladesh, and I grew up there. Sylheti was a recognized language long ago, but now only the spoken survives.
It rained heavily last night in the part of Georgia, USA, my present life station. The sky was lit with stars when I stood on the deck of our house at dawn. It seemed the rain had washed the dust and clouds within my vision.
“Helloo, stars!!” I was ecstatic. The English version didn’t satisfy my enthusiasm.
“Eije tara, kemon acho shobai?” The Bengali version of “Hey stars, how are you all?? Nope, that didn’t feel the happiness inside me.
“ Ere tara, tumrare dekhia oto khushi ami, kita koitam?” Sylheti’s version of “Hello stars, I am so happy to see you. How can I…
