I am well-known in my circle for being a talkative introvert. Sounds like an impossible thing? But it’s a fact!

Are you wondering why I am sharing these facts with you today? Because I am in a mood of talking about facts that build me and contribute a significant role in my life journey.

So, here we go! Know me better with these facts and let me sing for you “Jane Tu, Yaa Jane Na…”

I am a trained classical singer:

Since I started my learning of music at an early age of four, I completed the course well before it was my age to sit for the graduation exam. That’s why my music teacher suggested my mom to allow her to utilize those extra years in teaching me Nazrulgeeti. So, I’ve done my specialization in Nazrulgeeti. I have deep love for Kazi Nazrul Islam in my heart; every Nazrulgeeti I sing, is my offering to his feet.
However, I also like to sing Bengali folk songs, semi-classical songs, and devotional songs. I never saw my maternal grandfather, but I can feel him every time I sing Bengali folk songs, especially the songs of Gour-Nitai (Mahaprabhu Chaitanya and Mahaprabhu Nityananda). Sometimes I cry while singing these songs, just like my Dadubhai. (I fondly call my maternal grandfather Dadubhai.)

I am a small-town-girl and I am very proud of that:

I was born and brought up in a small town named Chittaranjan, the railway town of Bengal. My hometown is surrounded with thousands of trees, protected and nurtured with utmost care.

I have been raised in such a town that penalized people who cut trees. Yes, that’s why I am closer to nature and have been privileged to witness its abundance.

I call myself a daughter of mother earth.

I love to spend time with nature:

Even I can spend hours after hours sitting beneath the moonlight sky and conversing with the stars. I never feel bored. Similarly, I am a pluviophile and thus, I can spend hours conversing with the rain drops and weaving stories with them.

Sometimes I sing the rain songs and rain Ragas while it’s raining outside. Sometimes I recite poetries. Also, one of my favorite hobbies is reading books while listening to my favorite songs in loop, and smelling the rain-bathed earth.

I am a spiritual person but my beliefs vary from Sakarvaad to Nirakarvaad:

I am spiritually initiated in the RKM order, and an ardent devotee of my Param Guru. I follow the Advaita Philosophy and am a believer of Non-dualism.

I have been practicing meditation since I was 14 years old. My uncle taught me how to meditate to increase concentration for studies. I left the habit during my college days but resumed it from 2016 and I am still into this.

I am more my Dida’s daughter:

Dida, my maternal grandmother, was the savior from mom’s scholdings during our visits to my maternal home. Dida was the one whom I complained about my mom and she scholded mom (yay!). I really wish she was here to do the same now. I miss her badly.
Except her blind faith in superstitions, I follow her in every step. She has been the most courageous woman I have ever seen. A single mother widowed at an early age, an illiterate woman who didn’t know to read and write yet managed to raise her kids to become self-dependent. An excellent swimmer who crossed the river twice during floods, only to visit the hospital where my Dadu was admitted for his cancer treatment.
She breathed last turning her head towards me, eyes open, staring her dearest elder daughter. I witnessed the last moments of her journey from this material world to the abode of peace, and this is one of the painful memories of my life.

Though Dida is not alive now, but I know she is still with me, in me, to keep her fiery gene alive.

I am from a family which witnessed the consequences of partition of Bengal:

My ancestors are from Bangladesh. Our original house is in the district of Khulna and our original surname is Debnath. My paternal grandfather changed our surname from Debnath to Nath after coming to India.

I spent my childhood hearing the stories of Bangladesh and my Dadu’s (paternal grandfather) memories there.

Both my paternal and maternal families are from Bangladesh. I have a wish in my heart, I want to visit Bangladesh at least once in my life because I want to touch its soil, bow my head and see the spendour of the motherland we left many years ago.

Every Bengali household could be categoriezed into two sections: Bangal and Edeshi. Bangal means the families who came from Bangladesh. On the other hand, Edeshi means families who have their roots in India only. We, Bangals are often labelled as ‘Refugees’ . But I am a very much proud Bangal who loves the Bangal culture so deeply that I am even ready to fight with anyone who will oppose our rituals and show strong dislike for them.

In my school days, one day, I declared to my closest friends that I would marry only and only to a Bangal boy because I never want to go to a house with the Edeshi culture. (Please don’t take it otherwise; kindly understand my love for my ancestors’ land).

I did my schooling in Bengali medium and am an ardent admirer of the Bengali Literature:

From the first day to the last day of my school, I studied in Bengali. I was an excellent scorer in both the papers, Bengali and English. I always topped my class in the English paper and scored the second highest or the third highest in the Bengali paper.

For the entire period of 12 years, I have been taught my first language Bengali by my father. My Baba is my Bengali teacher; at first, he studied my syllabus and then he taught me everything through storytelling and real life examples.

Until my first year in Engineering, I never read an English story book. All my childhood and teenhood days were spent with the Bengali books: Children’s books in the initial years and then when I got promoted to my ninth standard, I started reading the Bengali classics.

Till now, I feel more comfortable reading Bengali books than English books. Whenever I feel lost or stressed or aimless, I seek refuge in some Bengali books that give me shelter beneath their shadow, just like a mother’s lap.

Ending this special post with a poetic note:

I call myself a wandering miracle.

I have seen failures shattering myself into pieces, yet,

I have seen success touching the pinnacle.

Although I write a lot, I am a worshipper of the silence.

These are some facts that reveal the other side of me,

to you, to the world, maybe,

but I still love to be guised,

Wrapping myself,

with the myths and mysteries that remain unveiled.

(This post is a part of #BlogchatterBlogHop)