Nazrul, Nazrul!” The tiny room erupts with the demand for a song by the late Bengali poet and musician. “Let’s sing a Nazrul! Let’s sing his Pechhon theke daaka (A call from behind)!”
AKM Mohsin, editor and publisher of Banglar Kantha, looks up from a pile of papers on his desk and at the group of young men playing music. A smile plays on his lips. The men, Bangladeshi migrant workers in Singapore, have gathered in Mohsin’s office for their weekend music session. After a week of gruelling work, this is their spot of entertainment.
Mohsin’s office in Little India, from where the 52-year-old brings out the Bengali bi-monthly newsletter, is a place of refuge and recreation for many Bangladeshi migrant workers in Singapore, who are adrift in an alien land. They pick up the harmonium and flute that Mohsin keeps in his office, and soak in the nostalgia, memories of home and a family left behind. For those few hours, this tiny space becomes “home” to those forced by economic compulsions to live away from their homeland, sometimes for years. Full story...
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AKM Mohsin, editor and publisher of Banglar Kantha, looks up from a pile of papers on his desk and at the group of young men playing music. A smile plays on his lips. The men, Bangladeshi migrant workers in Singapore, have gathered in Mohsin’s office for their weekend music session. After a week of gruelling work, this is their spot of entertainment.
Mohsin’s office in Little India, from where the 52-year-old brings out the Bengali bi-monthly newsletter, is a place of refuge and recreation for many Bangladeshi migrant workers in Singapore, who are adrift in an alien land. They pick up the harmonium and flute that Mohsin keeps in his office, and soak in the nostalgia, memories of home and a family left behind. For those few hours, this tiny space becomes “home” to those forced by economic compulsions to live away from their homeland, sometimes for years. Full story...
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