Our member Ms M. Sen has shared an experience which has touched her heart.
Back in 2001 my family and I were visiting Paris. As dusk descended, we started walking along the riverbank. Eventually we got hungry. We spotted a Vietnamese restaurant and decided to have dinner. A charming Vietnamese lady ushered us in with a beaming smile, but she spoke in French, leaving us a bit confused. She then called a young waiter who took us to our table. Although a bit shy, he spoke in an impromptu blend of French and English. My husband asked him his name. He responded in a soft voice: ๐๐ถ๐ฎ๐ข๐บ๐ถ๐ฏ ๐๐ข๐ฃ๐ช๐ณ. We were intrigued. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ? He hesitated and responded: ๐๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ญ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฉ. I seized the opportunity and asked him: ๐๐ข๐ฏ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐๐ฆ๐ฏ๐จ๐ข๐ญ๐ช? It was as if he had been awakened from a dream. Yes, he replied. In that instant Paris became a global village. It had been ages since Humayun had left Bangladesh and hearing Bengali after such a long time moved him to tears. He helped us select dishes that seemed closer to our Bengali palate. He even took it upon himself to bring us assorted delectable pastries, just to make our experience more memorable. Humayun may have moved away from home, but he hadnโt forgotten his roots.
In 2006, we met Pa-Peter in Bali, Indonesia. He managed the resort ๐๐ช๐ด๐ข๐ต๐ข. Pa-Peter had left Germany 30 years ago and had settled in Bali after marrying a local girl. After his wife had passed away, he stayed on. He was now 82 and Bali meant everything to him. I asked him: ๐๐ฐ๐ฏโ๐ต ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฎ๐ช๐ด๐ด ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ? Pa-Peter looked up to the sky, searching for an answer and responded with a lump in his throat: ๐ ๐ธ๐ช๐ด๐ฉ ๐ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ ๐ท๐ช๐ด๐ช๐ต ๐๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ข๐ด๐ต ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฆ. I still wonder: ๐๐ช๐ฅ ๐๐ข-๐๐ฆ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณโ๐ด ๐ธ๐ช๐ด๐ฉ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ณ๐ถ๐ฆ?
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๐๐ผ๐บ๐ฒ ๐ถ๐ ๐ช๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ ๐๐
