Monday 1 October 2007

Cafe Noakhali from NL


It was a pleasant surprize to find out cafe noakhali in the middle of nowhere in Nederlands. I dobut if I would have ever chance to find it out unless Mr. Sharif a friend of mine from Cyprus gave me a hint. As it appears we are literally everywhere.


Check out their website if you know dutch.


Saturday 1 September 2007

Walking around Whitechapel




Few shots from Whitechapel area, first is the chemist shop in the junction of Whitechapel Road and Valance Road, the other is in Bethenal Green road.

If someone wants to get the mood and feeling of Bengali community in UK or London, the best place to be is Whitechapel. This is one single place where everything meets its peak. The street market, next door Brick lane. Huge number of shops and residents of Bengali speaking people, proximity to the other Bangladeshi area makes it very unique place to be. When the Bengali community started immigrating to UK from Bangladesh, it was this area where many of them were settled. With time a lot of them moved to other areas and new people came in.

Enjoy the show!

Friday 10 August 2007

Bobby of Brick Lane



Brick Lane, The famous curry street! This tiny back-road was never known as the best part or the best behaved part of London. Let it be the tauts shouting for another customer in front of the curry places or in the recent past heaven of breweries and pubs.


I guess the police force of Brick Lane branch has to a heck of a job to keep the things under control. No surprise that they don't have enough time to look after themselves. This photo here is the notice board in front of Brick Lane police station. If you have a look into the closer shot, you will see that it has tried to simulate Sylheti with Bengali writing, on the same way one of the lines are flipped. Although no one seems to be bothered about it.

Sunday 5 August 2007

Whats in the Taj







I am sure it will be difficult to find an educated person who doesn't know about Taj. When I say taj I don't need to say it is the Tajmahal by the Mogul emperor back in the days. But there is more taj than the taj of Agra. We are talking about the taj of Brick Lane.


It is surprising to see the assortment of collection in one store. Taj is one of the bigger departmental stores in London. Often the collection of Bangladeshi products will dwarf that of a large shop in Dhaka or anywhere in Bangladesh.


Some snaps of Taj were taken earlier this year in Brick lane.


Enjoy!


I'm sorry, forgot to take photo of the front and so

Wednesday 1 August 2007

সিলিকন ভ্যালির ঢাকা

Post from my cyberhero Ragib bhai,

Copy and paste of his entire post in somewhereinblog without permission :D

Jai Guru!

Original Post


ফরিদ ভাই চেয়েছিলেন, দেশ বিদেশের বাংলা লেখার সাইনবোর্ডের ছবি।

উনার জন্য ১০ দিন আগেই ছবি তুলে রেখেছিলাম। আলসেমি করা আর ক্যালিফোর্নিয়ার এখানে সেখানে ঘোরাঘুরিতে থাকায় আপলোড করা হয়নি।

ছবিতে দেখছেন, সিলিকন ভ্যালির সান্তা ক্লারা শহরের ক্যাফে ঢাকার সাইনবোর্ড। নর্দার্ন ক্যালিফোর্নিয়ার এই সিলিকন ভ্যালি এলাকার দেড়খানা বাংলাদেশী রেস্তোঁরার মধ্যে এটা একটা। (দেড়খানা বললাম, কারণ অন্যটাতে (গুলিস্তান) গিয়ে মেজাজ খারাপ হয়ে গেছে, ব্যাটারা নিজেদের পাকিস্তানী/ইন্ডিয়ান রেস্তোঁরা বলে দাবি করে সাইনবোর্ড দিয়ে রেখেছে, আর পাকি কাস্টোমারদের সাথে উর্দুতে গপসপ করে!)।

ক্যাফে ঢাকাতে চমৎকার তেহারী, সর্ষে ইলিশ, বিরিয়ানি, ডাল, সবজি, পিয়াঁজু পাওয়া যায়। মালিক বেশ আন্তরিক একটা পরিবার ... আর সবচেয়ে মজা হলো অন্য সব পাকি বা ভারতীয় রেস্তোঁরা যখন রাত ৯টা বাজলেই বন্ধ হয়, সেখানে ক্যাফে ঢাকাতে বাংলাদেশীদের আনাগোনা শুরুই হয় রাত নটার পরে। জিজ্ঞাসা করেছিলাম, কতক্ষণ খোলা থাকে , জানলাম, বাংলাদেশীরা আসলে আর যেতেই চায়না, সপ্তাহান্তে রাত দুইটা পর্যন্তও বসে থেকে ডাল ভাত খায়।

লস অ্যাঞ্জেলেসে গিয়েছিলাম গত সপ্তাহে, ওখানে আলাউদ্দিন আর লিটল ঢাকাতে খেয়েছি। তবে সন্ধ্যা বেলা হওয়াতে ছবি তোলা যায়নি আলোর অভাবে। দেখি, সামনে শিকাগোর ফিশ কর্নার এবং আল আমীন স্টোরের সাইনবোর্ডের ছবি দেয়ার চেষ্টা করবো।

সিলিকন ভ্যালির শত শত ইংরেজি, চীনা, কোরীয় রেস্তোঁরার ভীড়ে বাংলায় লেখা দোকানটার নামটা দেখলেই খুব মন ভালো হয়ে যায়। আপনারা কেউ এই দিকে আসলে ঘুরে যাবেন অবশ্যই।

Friday 27 July 2007

Eskimo Never Rests




Few more Pics from Canada, Courtesy from the same contributor. This time link to Eskimo if someone wants to get to know the fearless fighter bit more closely.



As it appears people are ready everywhere to take a bit of the Yunus pie.


Everyone's welcome to contribute.

Wednesday 25 July 2007

From Corner of Toronto





Sorry folks, I was away for a while. So couldn't do the promised updates on the blog of global connection for the use of Bangla. Being offline for about two weeks in a streak was quite an experience.


But here is the good news. The Bangladeshi Eskimo lives in Toronto and was kind enough to lend a few shots. As it appears there is quite a bit of Bangla going on up north near the top of the world.


Enjoy the beautiful photographs.
Mini Commentry:
1. Departmental shop with Tri-Lingual signboard having a banner for Somoy Mela
2. The banner says Binodon bilingually but not really sure what the shop is for. Probably stationary service.
3. Bangla Kagoj. Looks like the office of a community news publication service. Good luck.

Thursday 12 July 2007

Between Brick Lane and Fourniar Street


This was a shot taken late afternoon few months ago in 'Historic' Brick Lane. On the left the picture is of the road sign of Brick Lane and the wall is of brick lane mosque. The mosque is in junction between brick lane and Fournier St. As the area is dominated by Bangla speaking population, most of the road signs has Bengali version as well.
More coming on Brick Lane :)
I would recommend to click on the image to have an enlarged version.

Friday 18 May 2007

Starting a Global Snapshot

Today in the early twenty first century we have an amazingly large population that speaks Bangla and over the last century our population has been greatly diversed. From Japan to Alaska there isnt a place where it is impossible to find people speaking Bengali.

This blog is geared in general adding snapshots of pictures on the use of Bangla in different billboard and street signs from all over the world.

Everyone is invited to contribute