2010 Olympic Winter Games Comes to an End with Canada's Pride

_

The closing ceremony of the Olympic Winter Games, Vancouver, B.C.
Photo courtesy: http://www.vancouversun.com/

With Canada's 14th gold medal win in the ice hockey, the 2010 Olympic Winter Games at Vancouver, B.C., came to an end yesterday, February 28. Canada defeated the US hockey team 3 to 2. Mirthful Canadians all over the country have been in Cloud 9 dancing, shouting, partying and enjoying the prideful win in their own way.

The official end of the Olympics came with the impressive and colourful closing ceremony in Vancouver. Canada was the first host country ever to win maximum number of gold medals in the Olympic history. The top ten medal winning countries are as follows:

Country	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
United States	9	15	13	37
Germany	10	13	7	30
Canada	14	7	5	26
Norway	9	8	6	23
Austria	4	6	6	16
Russian Federation	3	5	7	15
Korea	6	6	2	14
China	5	2	4	11
Sweden	5	2	4	11
France	2	3	6	11

One Sad Episode: Death of a Georgian Luger

Nodar Kumaritashvili, a 21-year-old luge slide player from Georgia, died in a deadly high-speed crash on February 12 in a pre-Olympic practice run at Whistler, B.C., just a few hours before the opening ceremony. The Olympic officials sadly remembered the departed Olympian and publicly paid a tribute to him.

Modern Olympic Games Have a Roman Catholic Connection

According to weekly The Catholic Register of Toronto, the modern Olympics have a Catholic connection. Baron Pierre de Coubertin (1863-1937), was a French Catholic educationist and historian. He was the founder of modern Olympics. He strongly believed that an international sporting event could promote peace through fostering of brotherhood across cultures, races and religions. He studied under the Jesuit priests. He chose as the Olympic motto "Faster, Higher, Stronger" from a phrase coined by a Dominican priest. He founded the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1894, and, in 1896 modern Olympic Games were established in Athens, Greece. Pope Pius X (1835-1914) was an early supporter of Pierre de Coubertin's Olympic idealism. For more than 100 years, Baron Coubertin's ideals are in practice throughout the world.

The Photo Meditation of the Month (February, 2010): DEATH

_

A dead bird, a torn sandal, and a piece of deadwood
are symbols of death, as seen near a stream
on a beach on the Oregon Coast, USA

Photo (Oregon Coast, USA: 1976) © Jerome D'Costa

Death

In the above photo, we see the symbols of death. If there is a birth, there is a death, too. Death is a sure and eternal truth -- for human beings, and the flora and fauna. The difference between human beings and other living organisms is that humans have a soul and a free will, whereas others don't have these. The body is mortal, but this soul is immortal. Because of the soul, humans are unique beings.

We came to this world for a period of time to go to another life upon our death. Those who believe in God, also believe that God sent us to this world to lead a life so that we be worthy to be with him in the life eternal. For this purpose, we are to love God and our neighbours in this world in such a way that we we be worthy for him. If we do not live worthily in this world, we will live our next life in an unblessed way -- devoid of the blessings of God.

Atheists say that there's neither God nor afterlife. When human life comes to an end in this world, there's nothing more to be expected or no other place to go to.

If there's no God, no afterlife, then we are like other animals and the flora. If it is so, then we could live a life like animals. If it is so -- if upon death everything comes to an end -- why do we need to live a good life -- loving our neighbours, showing courtesies to others, striving for good virtues, and working for peace? Like animals, we could just fight for our food, forcibly take away others' things, sleep wherever we can, and die -- and then finitum est (everything is finished)! Why spend so much time, money and effort in child rearing and parenting, other training and education, discovery and invention? Why do we need aesthetics, ethics, morality, music, plays, movies, and the like?

It's in the human heart that death leads us to another life. We saw in the rural areas in our country (Bangladesh) -- where most of the people are illiterate -- that as people age, they gain more understanding and realization that death is approaching and they prepare themselves for death by good behaviour and increased religious practices. Nobody forces them to do so. If there was nothing after death, why would they behave like this naturally?

If we focus on death, if we believe in God and afterlife, we will lead our life in a befitting manner and be ready to enter the blessed life eternal.

The Quotation of the Week (February 28-March 6, 2010)

Unbound curiosity of young boys at the sight of an elephant

on a walk near the Mirpur Zoo, Dhaka

Photo (Dhaka: January 31, 1981) © Jerome D'Costa

Bangla (Bengali) Language in Toronto, Canada -- 3

Here are more Bangladeshi-owned Danforth Avenue businesses using both Bangla and English signboards. Besides these, there are more such businesses and offices in other parts of Toronto. For my immediate purpose, I am just mentioning a few here.

Marhaba Super Market, like other similar Bangladeshi-owned
stores, sells Bangladeshi groceries

Mozza-e-Mozza deshi restaurant

Binodon (audio-video-CD-DVD-VCD service)

Shahjalal Grocery

Joy Hair Design Salon

Bangladesh Community Centre

(The End)

(To go to the First Page of this write-up, please click on here)

Bangla (Bengali) Language in Toronto, Canada -- 2

I am presenting below some photos of businesses and offices owned by immigrant Bangladeshis in Toronto. These, situated on the Danforth Avenue in between the Main Street and Victoria Park Avenue intersections, have both Bangla and English signboards.

Gharoa Restaurant. At the left of the main door is the
temporary Shaheed Minar set up for observance
of the Bangla Language Martyrs' Day on February 21.

Sarker Foods is a grocery store

Anondo Restaurant

Asha Video Plus and Dhanshiri Super Market

New Kabab House -- another restaurant

United Exchange for sending money home

Photos (Toronto: 2008 - 2009) © Jerome D'Costa

(Continued)

Bangla (Bengali) Language in Toronto, Canada -- 1

Samples of some newspapers published in Bangla from Toronto
-- (Top row: L-R) Deshe Bideshe and Desher Alo,
(Bottom row: L-R) Shomoy, Bangla Kagoj and Aajkal.

Layout: Joachim Romeo D'Costa

Photos © Jerome D'Costa

Where there are Bangalis or Bangladeshis, Bangla language follows there -- not only as their mother tongue but also as a Bangla language movement. When they are in foreign lands, they practise and propagate Bangla through songs and other cultural programmes and by publishing Bangla newspapers and magazines and writing signboards and billboards of their businesses and shops.

Here we speak of some of the Bangla newspapers being published from Toronto. They are:

Printed Bangla Newspapers:

• Deshe Bideshe: Edited by Nazrul Minto, it is in its 20th year of publication. It was whole of Canada's first Bangla newspaper that started on February 21, 1991 as a printed paper. Initially, it was an irregular newspaper, but from June 6, 1996, it became a regular weekly. From December 1, 2008, it stopped its printed version and progressed into an online daily. It is available at: http://www.deshebideshe.com/
• Bangla Kagoj: Edited by Khurshid Alam, this weekly is 10 years old. It does not have an online presence yet.
• Shomoy: Edited by Alamgir Hussain, this weekly is in its 7th year of publication. It is not yet available online.
• Desher Alo: Edited by Ahaed Khandakar, this weekly is in its 5th year of publication. It is available at: http://www.desheralo.ca/
• Aajkal: Edited by Ronny Ahmed Chowdhury, this weekly is in its first year of publication. It is available at: http://www.aajkalca.com/

Online Bangla Newspapers:

• Deshe Bideshe: See details above, under "Printed Bangla Newspapers." It is now an online Bangla daily.
• Notun Desh: Edited by Serene Ferdous, this weekly is published online. It is in its second year. It is available at: http://www.notundesh.com/
• The Bengali Times: Edited by Shahidul Islam Mintu, this weekly is published online and is in the second year of publication. Although this paper has an English name, it is published in Bangla. It is available at: http://www.thebengaltimes.ca/

(Continued)

Bangla (Bengali) Calligraphy Needs Encouragement

_

I am not a calligrapher, but the above one is a daring attempt
of mine into Bangla calligraphy!

This is a good example of Bangla calligraphy done by
renowned artist Murtaza Bashir of Bangladesh

Image courtesy: http://www.mukta-mona.com/

1913 Nobel Laureate and poet Rabindranath Tagore's
signature in calligraphic style

My Brush with Calligraphy

My first encounter with calligraphy was in 1960 at Holy Cross High School of Bandura, Bangladesh. At that time Brother Neville, CSC, an American missionary, was one of the English teachers. He was an avid stamp collector and coffee drinker. He used to use Bangla modh (village-brewed 'wine' in name only, but in reality almost 100% pure spirit!) not for drinking but for heating water for his many of cups of daily coffee intake in a tiny stove. This is the first time I come to know that Bangla modh is such a powerful drink that it burns when a match is set on it! Instead of going to the kitchen so many times a day, it's good way of boiling water in one's own room.

One day he was speaking of his stamps and stamp collection. Since my father had a modest collection of stamps, which I used to browse from time to time in my village home, I became interested in looking at the Brother's collection of stamps.

At his invitation, one day, several of us went to see his stamps. His thousands of stamps in several big American-made albums stunned us all. From that time on, I also became a small collector of stamps. Sometimes in future, I will talk of stamps. Brother Neville also showed us his work on calligraphy -- both in English and Bangla. Calligraphy was his hobby. I never saw such a beautiful stylized handwriting in my life! Just amazing! This is the first time we also came to know that this type of writing is called 'calligraphy.' He had several writing pens, dozens of nibs for ultra-thin to quite thick writing, and several small pots of black China ink. He then demonstrated his dexterity in calligraphy on a sheet of thick paper.

Brother Neville's ordinary handwriting was also extremely beautiful. He would encourage his students to practise good handwriting, although it was not compulsory for school children.

What is Calligraphy?

Calligraphy (in Greek kallos = beauty + graphein = to write) is beautiful handwriting. It is a stylized handwriting. Some call it ornamental writing. This type of writing has an aesthetic value and it is part of the fine art.

Calligraphy gradually developed in different languages and countries. Some language calligraphy achieved quite a high standard. The Chinese, Arabic, Persian, English, and some other European language calligraphy not only excelled, but also became widespread among their population. It became an integral part of their culture.

A sample of Arabic calligraphy

An example of ancient Chinese calligraphy

A Chinese poem done in calligraphy

A Persian calligraphy

Indian Languages Calligraphy Not So Developed

Indian languages, including Bangla (Bengali), did not develop calligraphy as they should have. One reason might have been lack of enough patronage and encouragement from the ruling classes. Another one might be the very low literacy rate among the populations.

We have seen that those who studied under the British in the then India (included in it, the present India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh regions), penmanship (standardized writing style for common purposes) was taught in schools, resulting in the habit of good writing style among students. After the British were gone and several countries emerged from one India, penmanship began to fall into disrepair. After the emergence of Bangladesh in 1971, the standard of ordinary handwriting has deteriorated further.

We can see some examples of calligraphy on walls near the Central Shaheed Minar (Language Martyrs' Monument) in Dhaka every year on the occasion of the Ekushey February celebrations, but this form of art is not in the mainstream at all.

As a Respect to Bangla Language, Calligraphy Should be Encouraged

Bangladeshis love their mother language Bangla (Bengali) from their hearts. They are highly inspired by the Bangla language movement (1948-1958) and the language martyrs of 1952. Presently, computer is increasingly invading the homes, institutions, offices and business firms creating a dent on the habit of handwriting, let alone good handwriting. The western countries are already victims of this indiscriminate computerization regarding handwriting.

The Bangladesh government, educational institutions and business firms should come forward to encourage standardized handwriting in general and calligraphy in particular. Religious precepts, good quotations, poems and other stuff can be written in calligraphy and framed for display. This will also be a good art form for the Bangalis. Encouragement may come in the form of sponsorships, trainings, competitions, awards and the like. These efforts, then, will be a real tribute to the Bangla language and its martyrs.

For Those Interested in Calligraphy

If you are interested in calligraphy, you may visit the following sites:

• Wapedia: Calligraphy
• Lettering Styles
• How to Do Calligraphy: Video Series
• Ray Typography (World of Ray: Satyajit Ray...the Legend)
• Discover a Hobby: THE ARTS: CALLIGRAPHY
• Calligraphy Chinese
• Chinese Calligraphy in Poetry
• Arabic Calligraphy
• Abbasid Koran Folio from Egypt (Arabic Calligraphy)
• Persian Calligraphy
• Sanskrit Calligraphy