Shakil Hasan
I was not much aware of the Canadian context of this word or concept, of course I knew this word, why wouldn't I, it is used as a word in Bangla language as well, it is even derived form a word, which is part of our birth country's name Bangladesh. From "Desh" came "Deshi", "Desh" means native land, while "Deshi" means which is originated in "Desh"/native land, so I would say this word is too familiar to me! But looks like in Canadian context, it has got a new meaning, it has got different dimensions, and the pronunciation has adopted Hindustani accent, in Bangla we would say "Deshi", emphasizing on 'sh', while here it is pronounced as "desi", like a person from Kolakata would pronounce in a local dialect.
I came across this 'desi' concept once or twice before, but have never given much attention or thought until recently, when Badhon and Shanto proposed this to be our main theme for the upcoming issue of the magazine; I was in doubt of it's significance, I asked them to reassure myself if this is really something significant in the identity politics of Canadian-Bangladeshi community, is it really something that we need to be conscious about, is it important enough to investigate it's meaning in our everyday experience as a diaspora. I would say they could show me how wide spread it was and I got convinced of its formative role eventually.
I asked my son Reet, who is now in grade 11, "Are you familiar with this term?", he nodded affirmatively! I was little bit surprised, why I haven't encountered it in my about a decade in Canada?! Immediate question that followed "What does it mean to you?". He explained. I tried to understand in my own terms: "Is it like, birds of the same feather flock together?" "You like to hang with your friends with South Asian Origin?". Reet kind of agreed to my putting "Desi" in that way. "But are you not also comfortable with your Caucasian-origin friends or Asian-origin friends?" Reet's answer was like this: "Yes of course, but there is a certain affinity between south Asian-origin friends, they have some common things, like Hindi movie, Shah Rukh Khan etc.". (…And hot spices?) But looks like "Desi" is mostly dominated by Indian culture. Do your Bengali culture gets a space under "Desi" umbrella. One culture's dominant presence, is subduing other less vocal cultures. I found that there can be interesting things underlying the formation of this "desi" concept, that has become part of Canadian vocabulary. We proposed Reet to talk to his South Asian friends (Indian, Pakistani, Sri-Lankan) to write what meaning they have for "desi" and arrange a round table with his friends, and we would record and publish those writings/discussions in our next issue! How is that!
Readers, you can also join this discussion and be a part of the exploration to find out what 'Desi' really mean in Canadian context, what role it play in formation of our identity as an immigrant, share your experience, share your thought, send your creative expression for out next issue of Hyphen Magazine.
