Immigrant Bengalis

06/01/2024

ImmigrantBengalis.com is now 11 years old. Hard to believe! Feels like Amitabha Bagchi and I were kicking around the idea of such a website (to document experiences of Bengali immigrants for theit chidren and grandchildren) just the other day!

Thanks to all the Bengali immigrants for sharing their memorable experiences through ImmigrantBengalis.com . You have helped create a treasure trove of almost 200 articles, all based on true events and narrated on a first person basis.

The Janury 2024 postings include the following articles:

(1) "Nudity As An Art Form: Bengali and Western Art" (By Basab Dasgupta, California) (https://www.immigrantbengalis.com/nudity-in-art.html)

(2)"A Dozen Roses" (By Debajyoti Chatterji. New Jersey) (https://www.immigrantbengalis.com/a-dozen-roses.html)

(3) "You Can’t Go Back Home Again, … But I Beg to Differ" (By Satya Jeet, New Jersey) (https://www.immigrantbengalis.com/can-t-go-home--but.html)

To all our readers who have stayed with us, always or periodically, sincere thanks for your support!

https://www.immigrantbengalis.com/home.html

People from Bengal – a region that comprises the Indian state of West Bengal and the country of Bangladesh – have come to the United States off and on for over one hundred years. Up until fifty-odd years ago, they came mainly as visitors; and their ranks included such luminaries as the renowne...

15/07/2023

When I arrived in the US in 1967 as a graduate student, I was full of excitement, enthusiasm and hope. I had one clear objective in mind. However, with time, my ideas and aspirations evolved, and so did my understanding of the American society, politics and culture. In the 55+ years in this country,...

15/07/2023

Arriving back in New York from Kolkata left me with a strange sensation. I felt disoriented and disconnected. I had returned to familiar grounds, but I was neither home, nor away from home. True, I was not facing the same challenges as the scores of engineers and scientists from Bengal. They had to....

15/07/2023

Being born and raised in Kolkata, I had not seen any blonde during my childhood and teenage years.  The influence of Bollywood movies shaped my concept of an ideal woman who did not have any blonde hair. My dream woman was Saira Banu.However, the blonde women were there on the horizon of my sphere ...

15/07/2023

Immigrant Bengalis has published three new articles for your reading pleasure.

The third and final article is "A Love Story -- with Many Ups and Downs" by Debajyoti Chatterji.

Fifty five years ago, when the author arrived in the US as a graduate student, he was full of excitement, enthusiasm and hope. You might imagine that after so many years, he would be comfortably settled in his views and attitudes towards his adopted homeland. You might also guess that the author is unambiguously in love with America and everything American. Unfortunately, your guesses would be partially correct. In this article, the author takes you through the different phases of his feelings about America and the American society, politics and culture. Sometimes the author has loved America and sometimes not. Why?

For the author's experiences and insights, click on

When I arrived in the US in 1967 as a graduate student, I was full of excitement, enthusiasm and hope. I had one clear objective in mind. However, with time, my ideas and aspirations evolved, and so did my understanding of the American society, politics and culture. In the 55+ years in this country,...

15/07/2023

Immigrant Bengalis has just posted three new articles for your reading pleasure.

The second article in this series is written by Satya Jeet, and is titled "You Can'r Go Home Again -- May be".

(In Part 1 of this two-part article, the author had described the many experiences he had when he returned to Kolkata after fifteen years in the US. Partly delighted and partly frustrated with his trip, he returned to the US.) When the author returned to New York, he felt that he "was neither home nor away from home". But he knew for sure that he would not return to his old job at CBS. What followed over the next few years was a very colorful journey that brought him in close contact with a large group of religious Jains building a temple -- and with a community of Guyanian expatriates living in America, each requesting and delighting in the author's work as the creative director and cameraman of documentaries. In the process, he met Dr Chhedi Jagan, the last democratically elected prime minister of Guyana.

For the full story, click on this link:

Arriving back in New York from Kolkata left me with a strange sensation. I felt disoriented and disconnected. I had returned to familiar grounds, but I was neither home, nor away from home. True, I was not facing the same challenges as the scores of engineers and scientists from Bengal. They had to....

15/07/2023

Immigrant Bengalis has just posted three new articles for your reading pleasure.

The first article is titled "Obsessed with Blonde Women" by Basab Dasgupta.

Born and raised in Kolkata, the author did not see any blonde during his childhood and teenage years. But he was impressed by the looks of many blonde movie actresses like Marilyn Monroe and Brigitte Bardot. His fascination with blondes intensified after he came to the US and started interacting with blondes. After his divorce from his Indian wife, he dated several women, including a few blondes, and gained many insights (like most blondes are not "natural blondes" but have dyed hair). He also noted that unlike him, his Bengali male friends did not show preferential interest in blondes. Why do Bengali males in America show indifference to blondes? He presents several theories to answer that question. While the readers may find some of his theories debatable, they are nevertheless interesting.

For the author's theories, please click on

Being born and raised in Kolkata, I had not seen any blonde during my childhood and teenage years.  The influence of Bollywood movies shaped my concept of an ideal woman who did not have any blonde hair. My dream woman was Saira Banu.However, the blonde women were there on the horizon of my sphere ...

16/04/2023

I know scores of people from India who came to the US for higher studies in the late sixties and early seventies. Many of them stayed back and became immigrants. I have great respect for them. By and large, they have made valuable contributions to their adopted homeland. In 1969 when I completed hig...

16/04/2023

I must say I am not much into miracles and supernatural stuff. I have limited faith in a Supreme Being. But I am convinced that angels were looking after me on that fateful trip from West Virginia to California late in 1985.First a bit of the background to set the context. After graduating in 1963 f...

14/01/2023

The second article in this series is written by Soma Mukhopadhyay and titled "Temple and Belief".

Sumana and Jessica are grad students and friends at Temple University in Philadelphia, PA. They were both attracted to the university because the word "temple" subliminally reminded them of their own religious heritage. One wintry day, Jessica picks up Sumana from the Philadelphia airport, and on the way home, she starts asking Sumana questions about Hinduism in general and the many names and forms of Goddess Durga in particular. What ensues is a rich dialog on the many similarities among belief systems across continents and peoples. For the full story, click on

https://www.immigrantbengalis.com/temple-and-belief.html.

[Editors' Note: This is fictionalized account of a substantially true personal experience of the author. An earlier version of the story appeared in a local magazine from Augusta, GA called "The Soul."]

14/01/2023

The first article posted in this series is by Basab Dasgupta and is titled "Climbing Up the Corporate Ladder".

In this article, the author shares the inside story of how he became a manager at a young age and began climbing the "corporate ladder". He left his faculty position and joined RCA's Engineering Development Group in Indianapolis for a higher salary and greater career potential. Soon he began to develop aspirations to manage the Design Group, a more practical orientation and offered greater growth potential. He developed a plan on how to convince his boss to give him that responsibility -- and he succeeded! How did he do that? To read the full article, please click on this link:

https://www.immigrantbengalis.com/corporate-ladder.html

It seems that there are three phases in the professional life of any person.  The first phase is getting a job -- any job – after graduating from school or college.  One typically moves around from one temporary job to another during this phase.  The second phase involves settling down in a sem...

14/01/2023

We have recently posted the following two articles for your reading pleasure:

1) "Climbing up the Ladder" by Basab Dasgupta, and

2) "Temple and Belief" by Soma Mukhopadhyay

Click on this link to read these articles:

https://www.immigrantbengalis.com

People from Bengal – a region that comprises the Indian state of West Bengal and the country of Bangladesh – have come to the United States off and on for over one hundred years. Up until fifty-odd years ago, they came mainly as visitors; and their ranks included such luminaries as the renowne...

20/10/2022

The final article posted in the recent series is written by Amitabha Bagchi and is titled "My Changing Attitude to Advertisements".

When the author was a student in India, he thought he was immune to the lure of advertisements. As a budding intellectual, he thought he was above petty commercialism. But when he arrived in the US in the mid-sixties as a graduate student and visited supermarkets, department stores or pharmacies, he faced a bewildering array of choices for every item he wished to purchase. And none of his favorite brands for household items like soaps and toothpastes were on the shelves of American stores!

For the full story on how he adjusted to this new world through the medium of advertisements, click on this link:

https://www.immigrantbengalis.com/advertisements.html

When I was young and in India, I fancied myself immune to the lure of advertisements. I was exposed to a lot of them of course – in print media (newspapers, magazines) and on the air (radio only, because television was not yet available in the country). It was impossible to avoid the clever phrase...

20/10/2022

The second article posted recently is titled "Lord Krishna, Save Yourself!", and written by Dr Biswamay Ray.

When the author was a medical student in Kolkata, he chanced upon a small, brass statue of Radha and Krishna being offered for sale by a street vendor. He instantly fell in love with this beautiful statue, took it home and proudly placed his new-found idol at a prominent location in his room. He brought it with him when he arrived in the US in 1964. All went well but disaster struck on several subsequent trips. The author was separated from his beloved Krishna because of circumstances beyond his control. But every time a miracle happened -- and Lord Krishna saved himself from such calamitous situations.

For the full story, please click on this link:

https://www.immigrantbengalis.com/saving-lord-krishna.html

We have never been apart. I have traveled all over the world, and we were always together. I never thought there could be any problem in this togetherness. But who could predict the future? This time our travel turned out to be an appalling experience, one etched in my mind forever.

20/10/2022

We have recently posted three new articles for your reading pleasure.

The first article, "Reality Check", is written by Vishnupriya.

The author had just finished a weekend-long housecleaning and was totally exhausted. She had made two piles: used clothes that were to be dropped off at a donation site, and items that needed to be put away in her storage facility. She stuffed the two piles in her car and drove to the storage facility. While struggling to unload all the items to be stored, she ran into Mimi, an immigrant from Sierra Leone, and asked her if Mimi knew where the author could find a donation box for her used clothes. Little did the author know that her simple inquiry would open up for her a world of poverty, isolation and desperation experienced by newly arrived immigrants from a poor country.

Click on this link for the full article:

https://www.immigrantbengalis.com/reality-check.html

When you wake up on some days, they seem to stretch out interminably. It’s the million errands you need to take on in sequence. Otherwise, there’s way too much waste of time and effort, and also gas -- driving back and forth. And gas is big these days. The inflation is monstrously aggravating, a...

19/07/2022

SKETCHES FROM AN IMMIGRANT LIFE
By Satyajit Das
(Posted recently in ImmigrantBengalis.com)

The author is a writer, an artist and a photographer. In this article, he captures three vignettes of his life as a newly arrived immigrant in New York City, first without his family and later with his wife and two year old son. His sketches reveal the beauty and the ugliness of the city, its inner loneliness in the midst of never-ending streams of traffic and noise, and his longings for his hometown in India and the family he had left behind.

Here is the link for the full ar ticle: https://www.immigrantbengalis.com/life-sketches.html

​Scene #122 December 2006:My 2-year-old son and Sraboni had just arrived in NY. We were meeting after nearly all the time since our first child, Aloha, was born. I had left Calcutta on an early February evening, just about a month after he was born, and exactly 15 days since my dear mother breathe...

19/07/2022

CLINTON ARMS HOTEL IN NEW YORK CITY;
WHERE DREAMS MET REALITIES
By Debajyoti Chatterji
(Posted recently on ImmigrantBengalis.com)

If you visit the corner of 99th Street and Broadway in the Upper West Side of Manhattan, you will notice a seven-story brick building. This building has been standing at that location since 1910. Today, it is a hotel-cum-condo complex. You would not know that back in the 1970s, this building gave much needed shelter to many newly arrived Bengali immigrants. It was a silent witness to the many struggles these freshly landed students and professionals faced in a new country, some 8000 miles away from the homes they had left behind. Read more about Clinton Arms Hotel and the memories of some of the early Bengali immigrants who stayed there for a while.

Click on this link for the full article: https://www.immigrantbengalis.com/clinton-arms.html

                     [Editor’s Note: A shorter version of this essay appeared earlier in Ananda Sangbad, April 2022 issue]

19/07/2022

THE TALISMAN
By Indrani Mondal
(Posted recently on ImmigrantBengalis.com)

"Nisha woke up with a start. She had been talking in her sleep again. Her lips were still moving and she was bathed in sweat. But this time she instantly knew why. She remembered her dream, rather a nightmare, vividly." Thus begins a narrative that brings out the tensions and inner conflicts of a long term caregiver that are touching and evocative.

For the full article, click on this link: https://www.immigrantbengalis.com/talisman.html