Where are those — recordings?

Loathe to do so, perhaps, my mother-in-law nevertheless kindly made recordings of seven children’s stories a good while back as I mentioned over 2 years ago. I cannot for the life of me find them on my computer. Although it is fairly new we did copy everything over. Anyhow, I have taped my recording of Farmer Duck. It would be great to be able to listen to hers and then make mine from them.

Anyhow, that’s all I can leave you with for now, my attempt of the first half of কৃষক পাতিহাঁস (Farmer Duck) which I recorded recently. As for more recordings by my mother-in-law, I get the feeling that she would prefer reading poems to stories as the former are not too lengthy. I have some children’s type nursery rhymes which I will take to her when next we go.

Alchemy at the South Bank Centre until 21 April

The South Bank Centre on the Thames in London is currently presenting the festival Alchemy with music, dance, literature, design and debate from India, the UK and South Asia and this year it is running from Wednesday 10 April until Sunday 21 April.

The festival celebrates the meeting between South Asian and British cultures. As you would expect I have scoured the programme for anything related to Bengali! I couldn’t find all that much. Sam Mills, the husband of Susheela Raman (who both performed at the opening on 10 April, she singing and he on guitar) speaks Bangla and has worked with Paban Das Baul. The Alchemy Food Market (SouthBank Centre Square, Monday-Friday noon-8.00 p.m., Saturdays 11-8 and Sundays 12-6) may or may not have Bengali street food. (I would love to go and find out but I’m not up in London during this period although I did catch the opening night.) Anoushka Shankar is Bengali and performed on Saturday 13 April from her album Traveller. Khiyo was performing last night (16 April)- it is a London-based band mixing Bengali heritage music with a modern acoustic sound. Having generated word-for-mouth acclaim for their version of Tagore’s Amar Shonor Bangla they performed a special concert at Alchemy. There is still plenty else on, interesting if not much to do with Bengali – take a look at the programme!

Now you can hear…the Tagore poem!

You might remember way back during Christmas 2011 my husband and I were trying to locate and then translate a Tagore poem which begins:

প্রেমের দূতকে পাঠাবে নাথ কবে

and which turned out to be no 153 in the Bengali Gitanjali and no 17 in our English translation. Well, I have recently discovered SoundCloud through a friend and I have been able to upload my mother-in-law’s recording of the poem so you can hear the original.

Happy listening!

If you enjoy this you can read the previous posts here:

So where is that exactly in the Gitanjali

We found the poem

The final translation

On the road…

I went to Oxford on Tuesday and the number of Bengali books in Blackwell’s bookshop was not very impressive – there were only three. Still it did give me a look at Hanne-Ruth Thompson’s hefty grammar book which is looked like it would definitely be a good reference book.

Then to London on Wednesday where I came across a Bengali DVD at my mother-in-law’s house with two films on it which looks like it should be some practice though I get the impression there will be no sub-titles so I might not be able to follow.

I am feeling more confident about speaking so that is good. I do still feel a bit fed up about Teach Yourself Bengali because I think it encourages you to build on inadequate foundations and so demoralises you.

I also went on my usual hunt for Bengali script on culinary items in my mother-in-law’s kitchen and came across some সরষের তেল mustard oil. Bengalis do love their সরষের তেল ! It think it is like olive oil to an Italian. Last year Mashi put shosher tel in my old olive oil bottle. I was not happy!

Happy Easter

I’ve found that reading in Bengali a text which you already know in English renders it so much more powerful. William Radice in Teach Yourself Bengali recommends, I believe, reading or listening to news stories in Bangla where you know something about the story already.

I will leave you with this verse from the New Testament of the Bible – which Gospel is it from? Matthew, Mark, Luke or John? And this might lead us onto a discussion of Mary Magdalene.

মরিয়ম তাঁকে বাগানের মালী মনে করে বললেন, ‘মহাশয়, আপনি যদি তাঁকে নিয়ে গিয়ে থাকেন তবে আমায় বলুন তাঁকে কোথায় রেখেছেন, আমি তাঁকে নিয়ে যাব।

যীসু তাঁকে বললেন “মরিয়ম!”

May the blessings of the risen Christ be with you!

Teach Yourself does not teach you much

I’ve been feeling quite fed up that I’ve spent so much time on Teach Yourself Bengali when it does not actually teach you Bengali, rather describes the language.

I’ve been working through Supriyo Sen‘s website designed to help Bengali learners progress from beginner stage and it is much clearer. I’ve been through Learn the Bangla Alphabet and am now on Learn Conversational Bangla. It’s laid out so much more clearly than Teach Yourself Bengali.

Anyhow, under Nouns, I’ve learned some new words. I’ve cut out the words I already know and listed the ones which are new to me.

Nouns-Entities

public জনগণ jonogoN

woman নারী narI

Nouns-Parts of the Body

body শরীর shorIr
skin চামড়া chamoRa
throat গলা gola
ear কান kan
cheek গাল gal
chest বুক buk
blood রক্ত rokto

Nouns-Nature

sun সূর্য sUrJo
moon চাঁদ chan^d
ocean সাগর sagor
north উত্তর দিক uttor dik
south দক্ষিণ দিক dokShiN dik
east পূর্ব দিক pUrbo dik
west পশ্চিম দিক poshchim dik

Nouns-Common Animals

cow গরু goru
goat ছাগল chhagol
sheep ভেড়া bheRa
horse ঘোড়া ghORa
monkey বাঁদর ban^dor
deer হরিণ horiN
Nouns-Common Birds

crow কাক kak
owl প্যাঁচা pYan^cha
eagle ঈগল Igol
Nouns-Common Fruits

grape আঙুর aNgur
guava পেয়ারা peyara

Opposites attract – vocabulary building

I’ve found one good way to build vocabulary is to learn adjectives together with their opposites. You kind of learn two words for the price of one. See how capitalism has invaded our way of thinking?! It also helps to clarify the correct Bengali word when the English word has two meanings (e.g. old as in “you’ve had it for a long time” or old as in “aged”) by seeing the word with its opposite. Old is পুরনো for the first and বয়সী for the second. Although the noun is also used for an old person – বুড়ো (male) বুড়ি (female). Affectionately, these can also be applied to children. Perhaps a confusing example to have chosen!  I’ve learnt the word for ‘opposite’ itself through surfing the net when writing this post.  বিপরীতার্থক শব্দ n. a word opposite in meaning, essentially an antonymn  according to the Samsad Dictionary. The image above is an illustration for a book called Opposites published by Milet, perhaps good for teaching Bangla to our children.

Anyhow, can you help me get to 100 pairs over the next few weeks or months? I will then gather them together into one post. Just post a pair on a comment. It’s good whatever your level. If you are more advanced go for things like urban/rural!

I’ll get going with 10.

বড় / ছোট big small

উপরে / নীচে above below

খুশি / অসুখী happy unhappy

পুরনো / নতুন old new

আরো  / কম more less

 অল্প-বয়সী / বয়সী young old

বুদ্ধিমান(m) বুদ্ধিমতি(f) / বোকা  intelligent stupid

পাকা / কাচা  ripe unripe

সুবিধা / অসুবিধা  convenience  inconvenience

সহজ / কঠিন easy difficult

Exciting birthday – this blog is two today!

I just realised yesterday that today is the second birthday of My Bangla Diary. It’s fitting that I’ve got to the end of the second section of Teach Yourself Bengali and have been looking at the various lists of numbers, months of the year, days of the week and so on together with the verb tables which come at the end of section two. I’ve just started the third section which is literature. Hopefully I can finish by the time we go to Kolkata in the Summer. It will have taken me three years but I guess this is not too bad as I’m a busy mum and not a full-time student!

So, I was quite excited and wanted to celebrate. First I thought of making cupcakes, then eventually realised that these were not very Bengali. So I thought মিষ্টি of course! But I cannot stand rasgulla or sandesh which I believe would be more quintessentially Bengali than burfi or jellabies which I used to like and have gone off in any case.  I love malpua, but not sure I could make them. (And surfing the net it looks like what I thought were malpua were actually pathishapta)

Then… I alighted on the perfect sweet  – gulab jamuns! I do like them and I love rosewater.  So I started surfing the net for a recipe. It appears that I can substitute the khoya for milk powder for the jaumuns. Anyhow, I couldn’t find full fat milk powder only skimmed. I did get some full fat milk. I have rosewater. But the end of the day has come and I’ve driven around the whole day running errands as tomorrow is horrendously busy. So no gulab jaumuns and I fear they may meet a similar fete as the unmade lemon sorbet I keep intending to make for my nut allergic son (all the ones at the store have nut traces).  I can’t find the manual for the ice cream maker and it’s not a very sophisticated one, only making a pint at once. I do plan on mango kulfi at some point where the rest of us can sprinkle the pistachios on top. Oh well, I will dream of gulab jamuns tonight – and that will have to do. Happy Birthday blog!

Belatedly – শুভ সরস্বতী পূজা !

(photo by Christina Kundu, February 2007)

Almost two weeks ago (15th February) it was Saraswati Puja. Saraswati is the goddess of learning, wisdom, knowledge, fine arts, refinement, science and technology. The Goddess Saraswati is worshipped and the day is treated by celebrants as Saraswati’s birthday.  People worship Goddess Saraswati to attain enlightenment through knowledge and to rid themselves of lethargy, sluggishness and ignorance.  She is generally shown to have four arms, which represent the four aspects of human personality in learning: mind, intellect, alertness, and ego.

The festival is celebrated every year on the fifth day of the Indian month মাঘ  (Magh), the first day of Spring and appears to be a combination of worship of Saraswati AND a celebration of the start of Spring. Perhaps just as Easter (the word deriving from Eostre, a goddess celebrated in German paganism) marks for Christians the resurrection of  Jesus Christ into new life AND takes place in Spring when the Pagan festival would have done.

This initial spring celebration which is combined with Saraswati puja is Vasant Panchami which later culminates in Holi (the Festival of Colours). The seasonal aspects of the festival are more significant in Northern India due to a sharper contrast between Winter and Spring.  The colour yellow plays an important role in Vasant Panchami as it is related to the bloom of mustard flowers during this period. Celebrants usually wear yellow garments, Saraswati is worshiped in a yellow dress, and sweet saffron rice and yellow sweets are consumed within the families.

Saraswati’s place seems a little like that of the virgin goddess Minerva in Roman mythology (Athena in Greek) who is the goddess of wisdom. War is combined with wisdom for Minerva which it is not for Maa Saraswai for although Saraswati does not have children she is the consort of Brahma.

I had a go….

All I can say is – I tried.  After my Bengali translation I’ve put the English again. Corrections are badly needed!

পূহ  দিকে দিকে দেখেছে – প্রথমে ডান দিকে এবং পরে বাঁ দিকে।

“উপহার?”পূহ বলে।”জন্মদিনের কেক?” পূহ বলে।

“কোথায়?”

“তুমি দেখতে পারছেনা?”

“না,”পূহ বলে।

“আমিও না,”  ঈঅর বলে,”ঠাট্টা করেছিলাম. হি হি.”

পূহ মাথা চুল্কিয়েছে, একটু ধাঁধা লাগিয়েছে।”কিন্তু সত্যিই এটা তোমার  জন্মদিন?”

“সেই,” ঈঅর বলে।

“ওহ! ভালো হয়ে থাক,ঈঅর.”

“আর ভালো হয়ে থাক, তুমিত্ত,ছোট ভালুক.”

“তবে এটা আমার জন্মদিন নয়!”

“হ্যাঁ তুমি সঠিক এটা আমার জন্মদিন.”

“কিন্তু তুমি বলেছো ‘ভালো হয়ে থাক -‘

“কেন হবেনা তো ? আমার জন্মদিনের সময়, তুমি কি নিত্য অসুখী আছো কেন?

“আছা, আমি বুঝি,’ পূহ বলে।

“এটা অনেক খারাপ,” ঈওর বলে, প্রায় ক্রঁদ করাছে, “যা আমি খুবই অখুশি,কারণ আমার উপহার নেই, আমার কেক নেই, মোমবাতি নেই, সবাই আমাকে অমনোযোগী হয়, কিন্তু যদি সবাই অখুশি হবে -“

সব অসহ্য পূহের  জন্য।

“ওখানে থাকো,”পূহ ঈওরকে ডাকাছিল একই সময়ে ঘোরেছে আর বাড়িতে তারাতারি চলে গেয়েছিল;কারণ ওর কিছু উপহার ইওরের জন্য পাওয়া উচিত আর পরে একটি টিক টিক উপহার এওরকে দেবে।

Pooh looked–first to the right and then to the left. “Presents?” said Pooh. “Birthday cake?” said Pooh. “Where?”

“Can’t you see them?”

“No,” said Pooh.

“Neither can I,” said Eeyore. “Joke,” he explained. “Ha ha!”

Pooh scratched his head, being a little puzzled by all this. “But is it really your birthday?” he asked.

“It is.”

“Oh! Well, many happy returns of the day, Eeyore.”

“And many happy returns to you, Pooh Bear.”

“But it isn’t my birthday.”

“No, it’s mine.”

“But you said ‘Many happy returns’–”

“Well, why not? You don’t always want to be miserable on my birthday, do you?”

“Oh, I see,” said Pooh.

“It’s bad enough,” said Eeyore. almost breaking down “being miserable myself, what with no presents and no cake and no candles, and no proper notice taken of me at all, but if everybody else is going to be miserable too—-”

This was too much for Pooh. “Stay there!” he called to Eeyore, as he turned and hurried back home as quick as he could; for he felt that he must get poor Eeyore a present of some sort at once, and he could always think of a proper one afterwards.