LIFE AS IT IS

For someone like me, who loves to walk, the long, snowy winters of Minnesota bring nothing less than frustration with the weather. In the first few years here I could only walk outdoors during the summer and early fall — the rest of the year I moved about in our car and the public bus. But it changed after we moved to Minneapolis, which is believed to boast the world’s most extensive skyway system. Now I can walk about downtown Minneapolis in spring, summer, fall and even frigid winter. Its climate-controlled skyways stretch more than 8 miles and one can find almost everything there. By everything I mean that without having to go in the open air, one can go to her bank, health clinic, dentist’s office, pharmacy, salon, spa, department stores, post office and last but not least, her favorite coffee shops and restaurants. If one stands in the city’s downtown area and looks up, one will be amazed by the huge metal-glass footbridges that have connected the city’s various high-rise bu...

When I found out I was expecting, I was both excited and anxious. I was excited for obvious reasons but I was anxious because like all other mothers, I too wanted a healthy baby and feared for my baby’s health. From the very first day, I read as much as I could about babies and pregnancy. I took time to go to the local public library to borrow books about babies. Certain things in life are inevitable but there are some things that every expectant mother can do to have a healthy pregnancy. I walked. I walked every day. On days when I could not go outdoors, I walked inside our apartment. I would turn some music on and walk for at least 30 minutes. I even managed to walk about half a mile three days before my daughter was born. Walking during pregnancy is not only a good cardiovascular exercise but it is the only kind of exercise that you can do throughout your pregnancy. But don’t overstretch or exhaust yourself. Walk as much as your body can handle. I kept myself hydrated. I neve...

When she sleeps in my lap, I gaze at her. I gaze at her because I still find it hard to believe that I carried her for nine months. I touch her soft hair, her tiny fingers and toes, I pull her little round nose, I squeeze her cheeks and gently massage her arms. No, nothing wakes her up. She squirms for a few seconds but does not become fully awake. She perhaps knows that she is in a place that is as safe as it can be. The pain was harrowing, nothing I ever felt before. The twenty-three hours of labour seemed like twenty-three days of suffering. Her back was against my back when her back should have been against my belly. The result? Back-breaking labour. Yes, I had back labour, which is far more painful than normal labour. I thought I would pass out. A few times I thought I would die giving birth to my daughter. In spite of everything it was the first time in my life I thought I was strong. I always had an idea that I was physically weak but the birth of Wareesha just blew that idea ...

The aroma of dates, haleem and fried food is missing in the air, so is missing the ambience of Ramadan, but life goes on -- we fast like we did back in Dhaka. Many of us still prepare chola, peyaju, beguni and sherbet for iftar but many of us  don't. We drag our drowsy selves from beds to eat the early morning meal, but it does not feel like observing Ramadan in Dhaka. Fasting in a foreign country is a different experience altogether. We fast for almost 17 hours here in Minnesota. Being without food and drink for 17 hours is not easy but our bodies have somehow adapted well to the rituals of Ramadan here. Ramadan is so different away from home. A working man or woman does not have the luxury of going to work at 9 a.m. in the morning. He or she cannot leave work early either.  Sabina (not her real name), who works at a McDonald's store in Brooklyn, New York, starts her shift at 6 o'clock in the morning. "I eat a little something for sehr...

Friend, really? I  sometimes feel that I have too many friends but too few 'true' friends. Facebook has given me more 'friends' than I will ever need in a lifetime. The word 'friend' has always carried a very special meaning for me. So growing up, when people asked me to name my friends, I could never name more than five or six. A look at my friends list will therefore take people by surprise -- some 380 plus names already grace the list! 380 is not too large a number if compared to those who have a couple of thousand friends on their lists. Their list could as well be called a fan page because my human mind cannot grasp the idea of one person having 2,000 'friends.' As said earlier, the word 'friend' has always carried a very special meaning for me. But today, anyone and everyone can be a friend. Your boss, a former colleague, a guy who you took just one class with in college, a girl to whom you hardly spoke in class, a friend's frie...

It was my fourth time in Chicago, the windy city. One might wonder what makes me go back to this particular metropolis time and again. The answer is: it's a magnificent place that boasts racial and cultural diversity, shopping places, restaurants and a breathtaking skyline along with its many other attractions. Famous for its architectural grandeur, Chicago, in the State of Illinois, has skyscrapers that leave tourists awestruck. Once home to the world's tallest building, the 108-storey Sears Tower (now known as Willis Tower), draws millions of visitors every year. Many associate Sears Tower with notable Bangladeshi-American Fazlur Rahman Khan, who was the structural engineer behind this architectural wonder. Chicago's John Hancock Center, a 100-storey building, also boasts the structural engineering feat of F. R. Khan. So, if you are ever in this vibrant city, you may consider standing on Sears Tower's sky-deck to enjoy a panoramic view...

I wrongfully thought that my business with maps was over on my last day of eighth grade. I thought that I would not have to deal with maps again unless I accidentally agreed to teach geography to a middle school child. Oh well, but what one thinks for the future does not always come true therefore, today I look at the U.S. map every time I decide to find a new restaurant, mall, hotel, clinic, salon, tourist spot, bank, pharmacy, in short, almost any establishment. Now, I often say, "What would I do without Google Maps or a GPS (Global Positioning System) unit?" The age of technology has made living in a foreign land so much easier - the Google Maps application on my phone almost on a regular basis helps me find myself in downtown Minneapolis, MN. For someone whose sense of direction is rather deplorable, finding her way in a new city is only possible with a map. Street numbers are often just random numbers to me, for I also need pictures of buildings and streets to assure m...

I can't even recall making a cup of tea while in Dhaka. My relationship with the kitchen was limited to finding a jar of cookies or pickles from the cupboard. This very relationship changed soon after I set foot in the USA, where I learned to cook for the first time in life. I am just a cook, not a good cook, let alone a great one. I cook to survive. In the US, I learned to cook mostly fried veggies, lentils, egg curry and tuna kebab. While hubby happily experimented with cooking ingredients, I happily appreciated his culinary skills as I ate his beef and fish curries, biriyani, chotpoti and much more. Nevertheless, I cooked almost everyday, prepared what I could, and never dared to embark on a large culinary project. Then it all changed with the arrival of the woman who brought me to this world. Now, I have more or less gone back to my Dhaka days. I literally have not cooked in three months. I happily handed over the responsibility of cooking to my mother. Now, my own re...

I grew up seeing a copy of Ranna, Khadyo, Pushti by Siddika Kabir on our bookshelf. Like our house, countless other houses in Bangladesh have a copy of this valuable book that instantly helps ease a mother, wife or daughter's culinary vexation. As a child, I often saw my mother flipping through its pages, looking for the recipe of a Chinese dish or anything that she was cooking for the first time. Ranna, Khadyo, Pushti also graces the bookshelves of Bengali households outside Bangladesh. "I cannot help but consult Professor Kabir's book every time I cook a deshi curry," Nazia Hussein, a doctoral student at University of Warwick, U.K., said. Like Nazia, thousands of other men and women regularly consult her book before embarking on a culinary project -- be it shrimp malaikari, murighonto, biriyani or Chinese fried rice. "There was a time when Siddika Kabir's book was given as a gift to anyone going abroad," said Naznin Sultana, a homemaker from Dhaka....

Thanksgiving in the past three years came and went by and I did not feel the festivity around it. To me, Thanksgiving was synonymous to Black Friday shopping. But last Thanksgiving was different for me, and it was because of a group of people, who shouldered all the trouble of cooking a traditional turkey meal for themselves and their friends. There were baked turkey, mashed potato, sweet potato, corn, green peas, gravy, vegetable casserole, garlic bread and pumpkin pie on the menu. I ate to my heart’s and stomach’s content, it was my first traditional Thanksgiving meal after all. As I devoured the scrumptious food, I wondered if the first Thanksgiving celebrated by the natives and the Pilgrims, the first colonists to build permanent settlement in New England, had a similar menu. It turned out that the food served on the first Thanksgiving did not really have anything common with the kind of food cooked today.  There are mixed opinions though. While some believe that the feast h...

That day I left work for half-hour to grab something to eat. One step outside the building and a gush of wind almost blew me away. I put my hands on my freezing ears almost reflexively. This is just the beginning of the long winter, and I'm falling in love with it. The trees still have some yellow leaves left on them. When I look at the horizon, I see colours that I can't always describe in words. I think I see beige, golden, brown, yellow and perhaps, a light shade of green too. On some days, I feel like buying a long-distance bus ticket and leave home for a day-long road trip to another state. The reason? I can devour the beauty of the season in the streets, houses, trees and fields while on the move. I usually leave home about ten-fifteen minutes before time so that I can stand at the bus stop and look at the balding trees, the grey-blue skies and the distant yellow fields, where children frolicked even a month ago. I always take a window seat on the bus so that I can...