Kee Khobor Stories
Kee Khobor will feature blogs, poems, vlogs and podcasts. The reflections will be shared publicly throughout the year, with our official launch on 26th March 2021.
The various identities of the Bengali community in the UK will be explored and celebrated. We will facilitate an open exchange of ideas and give voice to views, some of which may otherwise not be heard.
The project will leave a legacy that provides stewardship for future generations to not only have pride in their identity but to own it and derive strength from it, and give younger people who may be struggling the confidence and opportunity to belong to something wider.
The reflections will provide an opportunity to look ahead to the future development of the community and not only stay relevant as a community within a changing society but be inspirational to the development of wider British society.
A Conversation
There is another factor which comforts me. A large part of British society has always had profound admiration and respect for the Jamdani sari, indeed for any sari. If I am invited to an English gathering, I often choose to wear a Jamdani. It opens conversations because English people get to know that, a long time ago, we were supplying and dressing English women with muslin which came from now Bangladesh.
Bijoy Dibosh - Remembering the women of war the Birongona
I was born in a tiny earth and bamboo home in Sylhet and I was made in the city of London. I thank my luck and ancestors for carving a path that allows me the privilege of freedom of choice
Living in a World of Difference - I love looking at life through my kaleidoscope of neurodiversity
I will never stop being neurodivergent, it is for life. But I actually love looking at the world through my eyes
It is a rainbow coloured kaleidoscope. It keeps me active, gives me purpose and I feel I am changing the world every time I have a new idea
Born in the UK but made by Bangladesh
I was gently pushed forward. As I handed the bag of rice to the Prime Minister and said please help Bangladesh and our people. He smiled down at me and someone took the bag. I had done my job and was helped to turn around and walked out of the crowd.
The Matriarch
Photo: Syed Rifat Hossain
Mamoni was shorn of all adornment, dressed in a creamy white saree with no border, the parting in her hair bereft of the meandering stream of vermillion, looking bloodless and stark. What you noticed from a distance, was the blank canvas of her forehead, no longer marked by the pomegranate red kumkum powder, painstakingly shaped into a perfect circle every morning by Mamoni’s deft fingers