23 years old widow

Let me tell you a story.

Let's take a leap in time.It's the beauty of stories,you get to travel space-time without leaving the surroundings that are warm and familiar.

1925,East British-India. (You are welcome to imagine this in Black & White)
Majumder,just your average farmer,died,leaving behind his 23 year old wife and two sons.One of his sons wasn't even old enough to know what death was,and another son was merely 10 years old.The villagers,motivated by their utmost concern for them(insert sarcastic tone),suggested the 23 year old widow to put her elder son into the farm.His father was a farmer,why should he be anything different,right?The widow wiped her tears with her saree and said,"No,I want my son to continue going to school."

If you have any idea what South Asian villages are like,you would know that you CANNOT take a decision without having all the elder people giving you their wisdom.And if you are a woman,especially a widow,you cannot take any decision at all.

But that widow took her decision,and despite the society taunting her for it,she sent her sons to school.Her elder son,however,was a naughty one.He always managed to get himself in trouble,didn't do good in school,and all the other things disobedient kids do(which I wouldn't know,of course). Mrs.Majumder's elder son's actions were causing many disputes in the village,and she would get complains often.The villagers kept suggesting putting him in farming instead of school.The villagers were big with their wisdom,but when it came to helping the widow financially,no one offered a penny.Mrs.Majumder,who was uneducated herself,sold her lands in order to survive and keep her sons in school.Years past.Her elder son took the 10th grade exam,and he failed.No surprise in there.But her son ran away fearing that his mother would beat him.He decided to come back after a few months in Kolkata,India and he took the exam again.The second time,he passed.He was the first person from that village to have passed that exam.He was my grandfather.

My grandfather failed the 10th grade exam.He ran away from home,by home I mean Feni,Bangladesh and went to Kolkata,India.Where did you think I get the badass in me from?It was 1930 when my grandfather decided to come back and re-take the exam(called Metric exam back then). This was 17 years before the British left the sub-continent and India and Pakistan was born.Bangladesh doesn't appear in the scene until 1971,it was just referred as "East British India" back then(before 1947).

After my grandfather passed the exam,he went to Kolkata and got a job in the railway.He came back to Bangladesh(referred as East Pakistan)after 1947.He spent his whole life working for the railway,from 9 to 5. My grandfather,he didn't go past 10th grade.But you can't imagine how grateful I am to my great grandmother for sending my grandfather to school.

Everything I am today,I owe this to that 23 years old widow,who didn't give up,who didn't bow to society.Who realized the value of education,despite being uneducated herself.She'd never have any idea that her sole decision to be stubborn had a ripple affect which has changed lives,in the best way possible.

If my grandfather didn't go to school,he would remain a farmer,oblivious of the power of education.He wouldn't work day and night to send my father and his siblings to school.He wouldn't send my uncle to study here in America.He wouldn't apply for my family's immigration.If my grandfather didn't go to school,I wouldn't be here.I wouldn't be here writing this blog,I wouldn't be here loving Math and Science,I wouldn't be here knowing how education can change your life.I wouldn't be me,the girl who loves reading.

So this post is to the strongest woman ever,the woman I have never met--my great grandmother.Thanks for the fight you put up,thanks for realizing the value of education,thanks for sending grandfather to school.

I owe you one.

-Mourin

"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world."-Nelson Mandela

Speaking 3 Languages..and counting

Not bragging or anything(maybe I am),but I speak 3 languages-Bengali,Hindi and English.And I love speaking 3 languages.I am learning Spanish currently,and I can't wait to be fluent in it!

I genuinely love speaking multiple languages,because I feel like every language has an unique beauty,which belongs to that language and that specific language only. I have tried translating one language to another,and somehow it just loses all of its magic in the process.This is true for all the languages I speak,and something makes me think it is true for all the languages that exist.

Aside from these 3 languages,I speak more or less fluent Urdu(I didn't count it in because it's pretty similar to Hindi) and also I understand Marathi and some other Indian languages.Again,not bragging,I only understand these languages as they all have the same mother language,Sankskreet. All credit goes to my Bengali Grammar teacher who made me learn Sankskreet roots.Kudos!

I am going to sound horrible obnoxious now,but I sometimes feel bad for people who don't speak Bengali.Which is like,the world population-211 million people,but still.This might sound odd,I am a 16 year old teenager and I listen to songs which were literally written more than 100 years ago.Yes,Ladies and Gentlemen I am talking about Rabindranath Tagore. Don't get me wrong,most of my generation thinks it's uncool to listen to Tagore,but I can't help it.My mother and grandmother have taught me how to love Bengali literature,and this love for literature always brings me back to Tagore.If you are confused,let me tell you,Tagore was a writer and a musician and a poet and lots of other things.So anyways,I remember I used to think everyone understood Tagore as he got Nobel Prize and everything then one day I realized "Wait,everyone doesn't speak Bengali."And I instantly felt so bad.You don't know what you are missing out on if you don't listen or read Tagore.I know this sounds obnoxious,that every language has its great literature and music,but every language doesn't have Tagore,who is known as the Universal Poet.And of course Bengali is my mother language,of course I am biased. 

Let's talk about English.It is my 2nd language(or 3rd,Idk).Let's all accept the fact that English needs more alphabets.26 letters ain't cutting it Bruuh. Like literally,no one can pronounce(whose first language is English) the "dha" sound.They either say "da" or "tha".We literally have different alphabets in Bengali for those sounds.

Okay I am probably offending all the English language speakers now,I am sorry.English is a beautiful language.Speaking English makes travelling in the world so much easier.Thanks to the Brits for occupying most of the world for hundreds of years,almost everyone knows the littlest bit of English.But being the most known language(note: I didn't say most spoken) doesn't make English dull.I am pretty okay in English despite it being my second language,and the ways you can play with this language is just fascinating.When you actually start digging into a novel in an analytically,you know the thing English teachers make you do in High School,you realize how diverse and beautiful the language actually is.And sometimes I am more comfortable with communicating in English(even when the other person speaks Bengali) because I feel like it is a good language to use if you want to speak the truth and don't wanna offend anyone.

Lastly,Hindi.Oh India,your catchy bollywood songs made me fluent in Hindi without even having any official lessons.Hindi is an awesome language,especially for songs.Everything just seems to rhyme and make beautiful music.I can't really read Hindi,so I can't say anything about the literature.But Hindi is a great language to learn if you want to get a taste of India and also enjoy wanna enjoy dialogues like "Senorita,bare bare shahro main choti choti bate,hoti rehte hai.".(Did you know in Obama's recent visit to India,he tried to quote this dialogue?Keyword:TRIED.)

Every language is beautiful in its own way.I really recommend learning another language if you have some time to spare,learn another language.Just start by listening to a random song or watching a movie.Trust me,you will never regret it.

"Give me some sunshine,give some rain

Give me another chance I wanna grow up once again."

-Mourin