Writing POC 101

Bengali Characters - @Sapphlower

So, @JustKeepShipping touched base with a lot of Bengali things, but I'm here to add some other stuff I think is kinda important.

To start off, both my parents were born and raised in Bangladesh. They had an arranged marriage, which is actually still something a lot of parents do. My dad originally went to America, and later married my mom and brought her and my brother here.

I was born in America, and am the second, and most recent person in my whole family (extended and all) to be.

I personally have very few relatives in America, but I do have friends with a lot of relatives around the states.

My parents visits Bangladesh a lot, and I usually tag along with my mom every time she goes. The first few visits had me freaked out a bit since literally everyone was asking me to speak English. They think it's super cool how fluent I am. Either way, every single time they showered me with love.

​I usually bring clothes from Bangladesh to wear in the states whenever I go to a semi fancy party at any other bengali's house and for Eid. Our clothes party clothes are mostly the same as Indian's, we have Saree's, Lehengas, and Salwar Kameez. At most parties people actually just wear a long dress or a Salwar Kameez. Sarees and Lehengas are usually worn at weddings. Eid is the time when you'll usually see a lot of fancy outfits.

Speaking of Eid, most Bengali's whether they're Muslim (which most are even if in name only) or not, they celebrate it. My mom actually has a Bengali friend who is hindu, but she comes over during Eid every year. Where I live there are a ton of Bengali's in my neighborhood and all over town. My family usually goes and visits places outside of our neighborhood and then comes back and stays home for the people coming to see us. During this time I usually visit all my friends near by and the other aunties. While visiting a house the main thing you do is eat, and you're usually forced to eat something or else it's rude.

Overall there are 2 Eids, and both are pretty similar. Due to the fact my parents are super over protective and I am rarely allowed to take a single step outside of my neighborhood, Eid is very enjoyable for me.

In terms of how my parents act, they are more or less the stereotypical Asian parents. So it's always, 'Get good grades or else you are disgraceful', and blah blah. My parents personally are also very overprotective so I am not really allowed to travel anywhere by myself. Since my family is Muslim, dating is big no no, I am expected to have am arranged marrige. Luckily it's not like, "Oh we're getting you married to that trash bag of a person Bob from across the block. Final decision.", My parents will allow me to have somewhat of a choice on who I would like to marry.

My parents also compare me a lot. Like I'll forget to clean my room when they ask and then my mom'll go on a rant on how responsible and clean my best friend is (I mean she really is but...)

The auntie's (all the Bengali females who have children) are very close. In America everyone's not always out in the grass just sitting around, but when they talk, they talk for hours about legit everything. Plus they're really loud. Especially my mom, she more or less yells when she even says a word.

In terms speaking, at home I usually speak a combo of Bangla and English (I call it Banglish) to my parents, and my parents speak in Bangla all the time. Whenever I talk to my brother though, it's in English (which always irks my mom b/c she doesn't understand everything that we're saying)

With all my other Bengali friends who are around my age, I speak English. Though time to time we speak Banglish.

There are a lot of young parents who speak English with their children and as a result some of the younger kids don't really know Bangla, though I do have a cousin who can't speak an ounce of Bengali (He's like 21 or so) and a lot of my family members do make fun of him for it. (These aunties can be brutal sometimes.)

My mom and dad are both from Natore, which is a district of the Rajshahi Division located in northern Bangladesh. So I speak in the dialect from that area. There are thousands of dialects in Bangladesh so words could conflict and there also informal and formal words, etc, etc. But most of the Bengali's where I live are from different areas.

A lot of my female Bengali friends wear Hijabs, but with jeans or leggings and top. Most of us only wear traditional clothes at parties. It is frowned upon by the most parents to wear shorts or short tees/tank tops if you're a girl older than like, 7 or so.

​In terms of naming, most kids are given Muslim names or Indian names. There really aren't proper Bangladeshi names, though some people in Bangladesh's country side name their kids after objects. (There people whose names basically mean things like, Salt, Grass, Dog, Dog, Rain, Water Bottle, etc, etc..)​

​​Recently parents have started to do something to their kids which older Bengali's have, which is a nickname (but it's shown as their middle name). Most people in Bangladesh have a 'bhalo nam' (lit. Good Name) and a 'dak nam' (lit. Call Name), and are usually called by their 'dak nam'/nickname.

Most kids I know and some people in their early 20's, don't actually have a middle name/ 'dak nam' b/c they either never got one or didn't put it one their passports.

Another things people do, which I don't really get, but they have a different official name and a name which they're called by their parents.

I've also found that my parents are very vague sometimes. My mom will tell me to go and get the 'thing' whist pointing at a wall. I'll be there like, 'Wat.' and then she'll yell at me. Another time she'll be talking about someone and be like, 'Oh it's that one guy's cousin's second daughter's husband's sister's husband.'

Uh, for now that's all I have but feel free to PM me or comment if you have any questions or corrections. As @JustKeepShipping said, there aren't many Bengali characters but I think it'd be cool if there were!