Dear friends at Shetubondhon,

Salam and greetings.

There are many other forums dealing with Bangladeshi community and therefore
I was somewhat hesitant about the idea of another one. There is really no
point in having more and more forums unless each has some meaningful value
to add and contribution to make. Thus, this idea and initiative of
Shetubondhon is intriguing as well as exciting to me.

Shetubondhon's Charter and Welcome Message have already been posted on the
forum. I believe that both documents give some reason to be
somewhat excited. I am an ordinary kind of person. I see enough of
discussions, dialogs, gatherings that so easily degenerate and turn into
slice of reality as people routinely experience in Bangladesh. I participate
in forums to exchange ideas, share our mutual feelings and thoughts,
sometime agree and at other times disagree, enrich myself by expressing
myself and reading others' analysis, reflections, and viewpoints, keep up
with pertinent information from people with focused interest, but last but
not the least important reason, is that I also seek some enjoyment through
my
participation. I like challenging, forthright, enlightening, entertaining,
critical - all sorts of - exchange of thought and information, but what
usually turns me off is the usual absence of this last element: enjoyment.

So far I have not experienced many cases where we engaged in hearty and
thorough discussion on a topic, and then left with a feeling of enrichment,
upliftment, enjoyment, and (whether I agree with others or not, but) a
heightened sense of mutual respect for all of us. That's why I like the
analogy of Baash (bamboo) and Baashi (flute). I prefer Baashi for myself on
which I can play and hear the tunes of creativity, vitality, hope,
challenge, adventure, problem-solving, love - the whole spectrum of life.
Sometimes, I may use my small Baashi for self-defense in minor situation.
But I find Baash hard to carry, and when I see that we are becoming so
accustomed and accomplished in using our
intellectual/philosophical/religious Baash, then I have reasons to be
concerned, because Baash is good for so many reasons, but not for playing
the kind of tune I just mentioned.

Is Shetubondhon going to be different? It's hard to say because it depends
on us. I am cautiously optimistic because it seems that there is a conscious
commitment underlying this initiative. If we all do our share, then, I
do believe that it's possible to make a difference.

What do my comments have anything to do with tea? A good question! Since
this is my first posting, I thought, along with others, I will try to break
the ice. An excellent way of breaking ice among ourselves and introduce to
each other might be a virtual hot cup of tea. While thinking about this new
forum I
tried to imagine what it could be like: well, it could be a really lively,
enriching, enlightening, challenging, and enjoyable forum. That's my idea of
this "virtual" (but somewhat serious) Adda with some special purpose of
Shetubondhon. Of course, how can Bangladeshis, excepting a few, have Adda
without tea? "Where there's tea there's hope" - - [Sir Arthur Pinero]

If you don't mind, I will share some more thought about tea in this posting.
When I participate in this forum, whether I find myself in agreement or in
disagreement on any particular issue or thread, I desire to see the
discussion
wrap up with a feeling like:

"Tea pot is on, the cups are waiting,
Favorite chairs anticipating,
No matter what I have to do,
My friend there's always time for you." [Anonymous]

Apparently, tea is quite common in many cultures, even among cowboys.

"If I pour your cup, that is friendship.
And if I add your milk, that's manners.
But If I stop there, claiming ignorance of taste,
That is tea.
But if I measure the sugar
to satisfy the expectant tongue,
that is love.
But if I measure the sugar
to satisfy the expectant tongue
that is love;
Sitting untouched, and growing cold."

"Cold Tea Blues" This is an old Cowboy Junkies song (circa 1993?) (most of
these quotes are from: http://www.stashtea.com/quotes.htm )

Then, my train of thought took a little more serious turn. I remember the
historical context of Bangladesh, the subcontinent, the British, and so on.
If I am not incorrect, the British had major contribution in promoting tea
in our subcontinent.

"Every nation in creation has its favourite drink,
France is famous for her wine, it's in Germany I think.
Turkey loves her coffee, and they serve it blacker than ink
Russians love their vodka, England loves her tea. . . "
[John Baldrey, "Everything Stops for Tea"]

Are we to understand that England "with love" brought to us (or us to) tea?
Apparently, we love tea too. Apparently, all our CHAowa-Paowa begins with
CHA. How about that? Well, I was thinking about tea for the last
few days since I recently read a poem about tea, written by none other than
Kazi Nazrul Islam. I was amazed at the colorful storm of word patterns and
rhythms he created in the cup of tea using all the "Cha" words. Now, I have
a much better appreciation for tea (and even for Sharabun Tahoora). Instead
of tea, Nazrul would have preferred "Dushshashoner Rokto Pan", but then I
thought may be even he would not have refused to sit down with one of the
English gentlement, if they could sit together as equals and have some fun
time with tea. If you have not read Nazrul's "Cha", you can do so at my
Nazrul site:
http://www.globalfront.com/nazrul/nazrul_works/bangla_poems/cha.htm ; if you
also want to listen to an audio file of recitation by an unprofessional
voice, try http://members.xoom.com/farooqmo/recitations/cha.ram ).

Enough for breaking ice. Let's keep the water and spirit for tea brewing.

Best regards.

Farooq

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Mohammad Omar Farooq, PhD
Associate Professor of Economics and Finance
Upper Iowa University
farooqm@...