Brother Nicholas Thielman, CSC, Observes His Golden Jubilee in the USA

Brother Nicholas Thielman, CSC, a member of the Congregation of Holy Cross and a missionary to Bangladesh for 45 years, celebrated his 50 years of Brotherhood in Silver Spring of Maryland, USA, on June 9. 

The golden jubilee celebration at the local White Oak Community Centre comprised of a special jubilee Mass and a reception followed by dinner. Father John Ford, CSC, of the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., Father John Stanley Gomes of the Seton Hall University in New Jersey, and Father Thaddeus Hembrom, CSC, a Bangladeshi priest and a student at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, concelebrated the Mass. Some American relatives and friends of Brother Thielman joined several dozen Bangladeshi-Americans in this celebration.

Jude V. Gomez, President of the Mary Lou Kalla Foundation (MLKF), that assists over 100 tribal students in Dinajpur District of Bangladesh with a school and educational materials, welcomed the jubilarian and his relatives, friends, and well-wishers. The attraction of the reception was the Bangladeshi dance sequences of children. 

At the Golden Jubilee Mass at White Oak Community Centre of Silver Spring, Maryland, USA: L-R: Brother Nicholas Thielman, CSC, Father John Stanley Gomes (from Seton Hall University, New Jersey), Father John Ford, CSC, (from the Catholic University of America (Washington, D.C.) and Father Thadeus Hembrom, CSC (Bangladeshi priest and a student at the University of Notre Dame, Indiana.

Brother Thielman and Father Ford at the Jubilee Mass

A section of the Jubilee Mass attendants

Singers and musicians at the Jubilee Mass

Brother Thielman in front of a banner announcing the golden jubilee of his Brotherhood

Brother Thielman decked with a garland and flowers in the Bengalee style

Father John Stanley Gomes speaking at the jubilee celebration

Brother Binoy Gomes, CSC, the former Provincial of the Brothers of Holy Cross in Bangladesh, speaking on the life and work of Brother Thielman in Bangladesh

Children greeting Brother Thielman with one of the Bangladeshi dances

Brother Thielman with the dancers

Jude V. Gomez, President of the Mary Lou Foundatin in Silver Spring, along with some organizers of the Jubilee celebration is greeting Brother Thielman

Brother Thielman with a section of male and female organizers

Photos: @ the courtesy of Jude V. Gomez

Early Bangali Immigrants Blended With Blacks and Puerto Ricans in the USA

Vivek Bald's ground-breaking book on early Bangali immigrants in the USA

Photo courtesy: www.mixedracestudies.org/

Bangali immigrants with their wives meet at the 1952 Pakistan League of America banquet in New York

 Photo courtesy: inamerica.blogs.cnn.com/

Bangali (also written as Bengalee or Bengali) immigrants, who mostly worked in British ships, jumped ships while in the USA in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries and blended with Blacks and Puerto Ricans for survival. They, thereby, lost their Bangali identity – language, culture and even skin colour in their descendants – and connection with their motherland, present Bangladesh or West Bengal region of the then British India. 

A century later, Vivek Bald, of mixed race ancestry himself, enumerated this formerly unknown immigration saga in his book, Bengali Harlem and the Lost Histories of South Asian America, recently published by the Harvard University Press. 

Vivek Bald tells the CNN:  “This was a population who came to the United States at a time when this country had erected quite draconian race-based immigration laws.” He also said: “They came during that time but were able to build networks in order to access jobs all over the United States."

To learn more on these lost immigrants, please visit the following: 

• BengaliHarlem: Author documents a lost history of immigration in America

• Mixed RaceStudies

Bangali Taxi Drivers in New York Demonstrate Honesty and Integrity

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(L-R) Mohammad Asaduzzaman Mukul and Osman Chowdhury
Photo courtesy (left: www.notundesh.com/ and right: www.dailymail.co.uk/)

When some highly-paid corporate CEOs and honchos have been raiding their companies bankrupt in New York, there are examples of poorly-paid persons winning over their greed and covetousness with plain honesty and integrity.

The stories of Mohammad Asaduzzaman Mukul, 28, and Osman Chowdhury,43, -- both from Bangladesh and working as taxi drivers in New York city -- are such examples.

Mohammad Asaduzzaman Mukul

It was Christmas Eve, December 24, 2009. Felicia Lettieri, 72, an Italian grandmother and six others hailed two taxis to go from midtown Manhattan to Penn Railway Station -- both in New York city. One of the taxis was Asaduzzaman Mukul's.

Mr. Mukul, a Bangladeshi medical student-cum-part-time taxi driver, later finds Ms. Lettieri's purse on the back seat of his taxi. When he opened it to look for any address, he found bundles of euros, some expensive jewelry, and a few passports with an address of Patchogue, Long Island, 60 miles away. Without even counting the money, his only thought at the time was to return the purse to the owner with its contents.

He then deposited his taxi to his company and called a Bangladeshi friend with a car and requested him to drive him to Patchgue following the address. When they reached the address, there was none available there. Yet, Mr. Mukul left a note on the door of the house. In the note he gave his cellphone number and asked the owner of the purse to call him so that he could return the purse.

Later the expected call came and Mr. Mukul again went there again to return the purse. The owner was Ms. Lettieri from Pompeii, Italy and she was extremely happy to get her purse back. There was US $ 21,000 worth euros in it. She wanted to give some money as a reward but Mr. Mukul declined it by saying that he was a devout Muslim and, therefore, he could not accept the reward.

Mr. Mukul went 240 miles (386 kilometres) in total spending his own money for vehicle gas but proved his honesty sacrificing any compensation.

Police and others had advised Ms. Lettieri that there was little chance of recovering the lost money and goods.

Francesca Lettieri, 79, the sister of Felicia Lettieri, told the Newsday that the honest taxi driver had saved her family's vacation. "We really love what he did," she said.

Mr. Mukul, a full-time student at a city college near his apartment in Jamaica, Queens, started to drive taxi a few days a week when his work hours were reduced at a factory job.

To a question of why he was so honest with the money, he replied: "My mother is my inspiration. She always told me to be honest and work hard."

He also said: "I'm needy, but I'm not greedy. It's better to be honest."

Osman Chowdhury

It was a day in February, 2007. A woman from Dallas, Texas, rode Osman Chowdhury's taxi to go from the Hilton Hotel in midtown Manhattan to an apartment about 15 blocks away in New York city.

Some hours later, when Mr. Chowdhury opened his taxi's trunk to keep luggages of three other passengers, he realized that the woman from the hotel got down from the taxi without taking her luggage.

He then drove to the apartment, as since he did not know the apartment number of the woman, he took the suitcase to the headquarters of the New York Taxi Workers' Alliance where he is also a member.

When opened, the Alliance president and Mr. Chowdhury found two display cases with 31 diamond rings inside. After finding a luggage tag inside with a Dallas phone number, they called and reached the woman's mother and told her about the find.

Later in midnight, the owner of the suitcase went to the Alliance office and retrieved her luggage.
When the woman offered Mr. Chowdhury a cheque for US $ 100, he first declined it but later accepted it on insistence to cover the fares he lost while trying to locate her.

Osman Chowdhury was a contractor in Bangladesh before coming to the USA 17 years ago. He drove taxi in New York by renting one.

"I'm not going to take someone else's money or property to make me rich. I don't want it that way," he said. "All my life, I tried to be honest. Today is no different," he said.

Bangladesh School Textbooks Should Include These Stories

These stories of real-life honesty in face of temptations and competitions should get a place in Bangladesh School Textbooks. The next generations of Bangali students will find them inspiring.

What Do We Learn From These Stories?

Some strangers, some foreigners in our midst may be bad, but all strangers and all foreigners are not evil-charactered. Some Muslims may be terrorists, but all Muslims are not so.

We may recall the parable (story) where Jesus Christ mentioned of the "Good Samaritan," who was neither a Jew nor a Christian, but a pagan! (See the Bible: Luke 10: 25-37)

Fruit Carving Is an Art

Fruit carving and presentation by Bimol Gomes
at a party at Chaffee in the state of New York, USA

Bimol Gomes with another fruit carving done on a melon
Photos (June 27, 2009) © Jerome D'Costa

Ars fructis -- 'fruit art' in Latin. Fruit art comes from fruit carving which is a profession of its own. Fruit carving has come a long way and the presentation of carved fruits in a platter draws a lot of saliva of food aficionados in parties.

Bimol Gomes, originally from Bangladesh, presented his ars fructis at a party of his relative and received a lot of kudos from invited guests.