Amaar desh nei keno………

Mashi Ma: Shey kopal kore ki eshichish re desh bole tor achchei taki…
(Mashi Ma : You unlucky girl you don’t have a desh to go back to)
Ashalata: Keno nei keno? Mukuler desh achche, Harur Maar desh achche amaar desh nei keno?
(Ashalata:Why don’t I have a desh? Mukul has a desh, Haru’s mother has a desh, why don’t I have one?)
Rabindranath Tagore’s Chokher Bali.

Amaar desh nei keno…

is Kohima my desh, the sleepy hill town where I was born or is it Syhlet the Bangladeshi city my father hails from or is it Nawabdweep (the headquarters of Isckon) where my convent educated mother was born, or is it Kolkata a city i love and pine for and have spent my formative years in …or is it room no C 15 Ciefl men’s hostel, my sanctuary…

Binodini: ...ashole desh to moner moddhe naa re...

Or as Binodini says, maybe desh is what I come back to everyday…maybe desh is what i make of my world...