Editorial

I am in a love affair with Bangla grammar. It's not like I am good at speaking or writing in Bangla, regrettably so, but I just really enjoy small tidbits of Bangla grammar that I learned in school.

When I hear an interesting word, if I can remember its grammatical roots, I will tell my annoyed/astonished friends everything I know about it. The shondhi, the shomash, the prokriti-prottoy, whether the word has a Sanskrit root, and if it does, what level of distortion it's currently suffering – I'll say it all. It has become a bit of a party trick at this point, and while I love the attention I get from it, I like to think there are other, more important reasons.

Language is fluid, it transforms, it flows, the same language can roll off the tongue or get stuck in the back of the throat. I was lucky enough to have some excellent teachers of Bangla grammar growing up, and despite failing to learn many things they wanted me to know, I think the one thing that impressed upon me is how Bangla grammar is all about transformation. It's beautiful, it often feels like magic, and I am in love with it.