Bangladeshi Identity Crisis
On my trip to N California, Asif brought up a very interesting topic about Bangladeshis and their identity confusion. It is a topic that I feel that a lot of problems of our people stem from. Are we Bangladeshis, Muslims, Bangalis, Desis, Abcds, Fobs, or dare I say it , Indians.
Bangladeshis: Some of us like to separate ourselves from W. Bengalis by saying that we are Bangladeshis. And we call ourselves Bangladeshis. A lot of our choices in life depend on this thought or identity.
Muslims: A little more fundamental thinking on the previous group is that We are not Bangladeshis, We are part of the Muslim Ummah. We "belong" to this larger group. We are not merely Bangladeshis. A lot of our decisions in life flamboyantly reflect this line of thinking, like gay people flock their colors in the streets of San Francisco.
Bangalis: A lot of people think the birth of Bangladesh happened because of Bangla, the culture, the lifestyle. These people think that this identity is the original identity and rich in values and meaning. This is a dying breed in thinking schools, other thoughts seems to be overwhelming this one voice. These people do things to unite Bengalis together, despite religional and regional differences.
Desis: We are part of the Indian Sub-continent. Since we are in a country where the white people see us as Indians anyways, we must team up and call ourselves Desis, and unite in the bigger umbrella. It is not very common. But I have noticed this with isolated Bangladeshis/Bangalis.
ABCDs: (And Wannabes) We are cool. We are confused. I can't speak Bangla so, I must be cooler than you, cause you speak Bangla. I grew up with some of these people, As much as I wanted to strangle them when I was a younger, now I know that in this crazy zoo of a cosmos, these imbeciles have their uses too. No. I do not have much contempt for them. I just think they are retarded not to have learned who they are. Obviously, they think they are not confused.
FOBs: (And FOB Wannabes?!?) I don't think we identify ourselves as FOBs but classify others that way. And make self-deprecating jokes about ourselves when we call ourselves FOBs. I think when we do that, we become more of a FOB and more of a ABCD wannabe.
Indians: We dress like Indians. We watch hindi movies. We act like and lust after Aishwariya Rai. We identify ourselves and lust after this Indian filmstar mentality. We sell our culture to the Indians, one hindi movie at a time.
I think all of this stems from who we think we are inside. We would rather be slaves in another nation than masters in ours. Sometimes.
- Green Bangla
Bangladeshis: Some of us like to separate ourselves from W. Bengalis by saying that we are Bangladeshis. And we call ourselves Bangladeshis. A lot of our choices in life depend on this thought or identity.
Muslims: A little more fundamental thinking on the previous group is that We are not Bangladeshis, We are part of the Muslim Ummah. We "belong" to this larger group. We are not merely Bangladeshis. A lot of our decisions in life flamboyantly reflect this line of thinking, like gay people flock their colors in the streets of San Francisco.
Bangalis: A lot of people think the birth of Bangladesh happened because of Bangla, the culture, the lifestyle. These people think that this identity is the original identity and rich in values and meaning. This is a dying breed in thinking schools, other thoughts seems to be overwhelming this one voice. These people do things to unite Bengalis together, despite religional and regional differences.
Desis: We are part of the Indian Sub-continent. Since we are in a country where the white people see us as Indians anyways, we must team up and call ourselves Desis, and unite in the bigger umbrella. It is not very common. But I have noticed this with isolated Bangladeshis/Bangalis.
ABCDs: (And Wannabes) We are cool. We are confused. I can't speak Bangla so, I must be cooler than you, cause you speak Bangla. I grew up with some of these people, As much as I wanted to strangle them when I was a younger, now I know that in this crazy zoo of a cosmos, these imbeciles have their uses too. No. I do not have much contempt for them. I just think they are retarded not to have learned who they are. Obviously, they think they are not confused.
FOBs: (And FOB Wannabes?!?) I don't think we identify ourselves as FOBs but classify others that way. And make self-deprecating jokes about ourselves when we call ourselves FOBs. I think when we do that, we become more of a FOB and more of a ABCD wannabe.
Indians: We dress like Indians. We watch hindi movies. We act like and lust after Aishwariya Rai. We identify ourselves and lust after this Indian filmstar mentality. We sell our culture to the Indians, one hindi movie at a time.
I think all of this stems from who we think we are inside. We would rather be slaves in another nation than masters in ours. Sometimes.
- Green Bangla
posted by Grinner at 10:15 AM
6 Comments:
Dude, I didn't even finish writing and you are commenting on it!!! Let me finish the draft at least... :)
Anyways... Everyone is welcome to add more identity confusions, we might have.
Or refute any that I already have. Get rough boys and girls.
This is a good topic.
-Grinner
well the way I see it, there really ought not to be a identity crisis in the first place if we go back to the roots of our existence. Bangladesh by its very definition is the land of the Bengalis. But then we take it a step further. Bangladesh is a fairly secular nation, yet we have an identity that is very distinct from that of West Bengal. Perhaps it was not true 50 years ago at the time of independence from the British. But over time, this has become a distinction that is infallible and can no longer be denied. Lets break it down:
1. Bangladesh is land of the bengalis. This mainly because we have a majority bangla speaking population. Where does this leave some minorities for example the Chakmas who're non bengali? Well we embrace them into the larger fold of our society.
2. Bangladesh at the time of partition was carved as a separate nation by virtue of the fact that the majority of people in Bangladesh (or West Pakistan then) were muslim. Yet, 13% of Bangladesh's population is non-muslim comprising Hindus, Buddhists, Christians and any other myriad religion. However, to the most extent everyone lives in harmony.
So that brings us to the original question, what is our identity?
Bangladesh in my opinion is the land of the Bengali Muslim. However at its core, it has the heart and place for a plethora of people from any and all backgrounds. That is our identity...
Beduins, in a spritual sense, have no faith. If you have no faith to ground yourself on, you will undoubtably have no spiritual rooting.
You call yourself a beduin, a true beduin does not shelter behind a faith in family or intermarriage family. That creates safe roots. A true beduin fears not the path unsafe.
-True Beduin Grin
touchÈ...
Once again, the great al makdis has humbled the Grinner with superior wit and wisdom.
- Humbled Grin
PS. Is the spirit truly free if it is tied down by dogma and faith? Roots make the spirit blind. Roots of faith make them blinder.
Could u please differentiate faith and dogma, for the poor fool that I am?
What is the difference between faith and dogma?
- Grinner Scrabble Dictionary Challenge
Say it slower... Cause I still missed that one.
Faith is hope?
What is belief then? Isn't belief faith? I have faith in something, I believe something.
-Grinner
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