We found an Indian restaurant at South Kensington and I looked at the menu and said, "these people must be from Bangladesh!" By no means could a non-Bengali cook fish curry like that, and I was right. They were all from the place called Sylhet in eastern Bangladesh. They heard us speaking in Bengali and came over to talk to us. From them I heard that there is a Bangladeshi town near Aldgate East so the next day we went to find that.
That was unlike anything I ever saw so far in my life. We took a bus #14 to Oxford Circus and changed to #25 for Aldgate East. It was awarm and sunny day, so perfect for a bus ride. We found that township and my heart leapt when I saw written in Bengali - "swadeshi khabar, kheye jaan ekbar" (Come, taste food from your homeland). I had a mixed feeling... happy to find something that reminds me of home but sad for ripping away a part of Bengal to be made into Bangladesh. We had rice, daal, aloo bhaja, rui machher jhol and ilisher dim for lunch. On finding out that we are Bengali too they took such a great care of us. Well, may not be us, but only Arnab. They called him as "bhai" (brother) and asked him over and over if he was comfortable, if the food was to his liking, they served him some more rice, turned the fan towards him... but they never asked me!
The shops on both sides of the streets were just like Calcutta, the names were in Bengali, even the street names were in Bengali! There were tons of jackfruit piled up on the street side at one place, a replica of the shaheed minar of Dhaka at another street crossing!
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| The grand Bengali feast! |
The shops on both sides of the streets were just like Calcutta, the names were in Bengali, even the street names were in Bengali! There were tons of jackfruit piled up on the street side at one place, a replica of the shaheed minar of Dhaka at another street crossing!
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