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What's Common Between 'Dhaka Salad' in Paris and a 'Special Sylheti Dinner' in New York ? Innovation.

MY WORLD

Little has been said and hardly any investigative research done on what is probably one of the unwritten tragedies of the Third World, one that has also touched Bangladesh. It is the fate, with all its ups and downs, that immigrants, legal and illegal, from developing countries have suffered during the past four decades.

S.M. Alt
w * ou must try our Dhaka
Y the fair
A compiexioned Kashmiri waiter whom I had mistaken for a Turk or a Greek with a mischievous grin. as if he too was a little amuaed that this "delicacy" should be served at a restaurant tn Parts
Then, tn a peculiar mixture of Urdu. French and English, the waiter explained that the preparation eras a speciality of one of the two Bangladeshi young men working In the kitchen. It was an offer I could not refuse
There was nothing particularly special about the salad It was a plateful of tomatoes and onions, cut into thtn slices, mixed with plenty of green chillies and vinegar It was hard to make out tf there any thing else, like any spice was used tn the preparation that for some Inexplicable reasons had been given the Dhaka label.
Perhaps, the reason was quite understandable Obviously. the two from Bangladesh were anxious to do something different, like the "invention" of a new dish, to get some work tn the kitchen.
Earlier, on learning that I was from Bangladesh, the Kashmiri waiter liad brought the two young men out from the kitchen. It was past the normal lunch hour. During a quiet chat. I had been told tliat the two, both looking thtn and a little nervous, were college
students, one in Khulna and the other in Bogra It was hard to make out tf they had completed their studies and how they managed to come as far as Europe They evaded my questions and kept watching the main entrance
There was no need to find out more about them. They were the two typical illegal immigrants from the Third World. among whom Bangladeshis now occupy an unspecified but growing number.
Despite their nervous look and unimpressive appearance.
there was something nice but pathetic about the two I feh terribly sorry for both, know Ing full well that the restaurant which had certainly found out that they had no “papers” to stay on In France probably treated them as charity cases entitled to two meals a day — with plenty of Dhaka salad — and a small pocket allowance — and nothing more
Just two days earlier. I had met another young man whom I Instinctively knew to be a Bangladeshi, selling flowers — a cover for begging — at a Paris underground station. I had
spoken to him In Bangia He had answered and then low ered his eyes For a moment. I thought that he might break down, in shame After putting a five Irani coin. I had walked away, with an uneasy feeling bordering on a sense of guilt lor our country.
Little has been said and hardly any investigative research done on wliat la proba bly one of the unwritten tragedies of the Third World, one that has also touched Bangladesh It Is the fate, with all Its ups and downs that Immigrants legal and Illegal, from developing countries have suffered during the past four decades
From being the much sought after cheap labour in the fifties and sixties in Britain and In major industrial coun tries in West Europe, the immigrants no longer feel that much wanted in any of these countries The anti immigra tton policy manifests Itself tn many different ways, while the inability or refusal of workers from Asia and Africa, setting up their own enclaves In the major cities of West Europe, to belong to the mainstream create inevitable social pres sures and tension. The result, a developing crisis of major magnitude
As compared to North Africans. Vietnamese and Laotians. Africans from former European colonies and now Srl
Lankans Bangladeshis const! tute small minorities among immigrants In most European cities. However1, like Sri Lankans, they are better edu rated than most other cate gortes of nationals from devel oping countries who have flocked to Europe for better life. But unfortunately they are reluctant to take on such tough manual jobs as, say garbage collection which may be acceptable to black Africans So. they end up by hiding in the kitchens of restaurants in France, selling” flowers in a Paris metro station, hawking newspapers of all places, in Vienna (which I saw myself years ago) and. as just reported to me by an Italian visitor to Dhaka washing cars in Rome.
Running away from home In search of opportunities one cannot find In his own country Is certainly no crime But an illegal Immigrant violates the law of the land and can languish tn prison like a common criminal, sometimes for years. I have seen this happen in-Thailand Now. the same may be the case tn some European countries Herein lies a tragedy, but a tragedy overshadowed by greater misfortunes and disasters which are part of life in the Third World. So as the saying goes, who cares ?
This writer has been accused of paying a bit of extra attention to this paper s coverage of Maulvl
Bazar — tn plain language It ts called parochialism — at the cost of reporting from other parts of greater Sylhet! The complaint comes from a dear friend who. a resident of Sylhet town, happens of know of my ancestral connection with Maulvl BaZar. a fact that Is unknown to my competent colleague in charge of the national page It is on this page that we do see news from Maulvl Bazar often prominently displayed, the credit for which goes to our local corresoondent. Well, here's something for our cor-resoondents tn other districts to think about
Meanwhile, I can promise
to my aggrieved friend at Sylhet that next rime I write a nostalgic piece. It will be on the town he fives
Well, why not something now ?
Next to Dhaka salad served In a Paris restaurant, the meal that I remember with both amusement and fondness Is "Special Sylheti Dinner”, mentioned as a treat of the month, at a Bangladeshi owned restaurant at Manhattan. New York some years ago
A Filipino friend with me was absolutely fascinated that my home district — that was years before Maulvl Bazar had been upgraded in Its status — should have earned such a distinction as to have a four-
course meal named after 1L and that too tn New York
The first course was a thtn tomato soup, when 1 had hoped for a bowl of khatta' which can compete with a typical Thal tom yam soup. The reputation of other delicacies of the district had not reached Manhattan either. So. are ended up with the usual chicken curry, mixed vegeta' bles and dal. which. I assumed, would be served, say. as a "Special Chittagong Dinner" as another treat of the restaurant the following month
Bangladeshi Immigrants legal and Illegal, are full of an innovative Ideas. In many cases, their survival depends on them