“As a non-binary person, I find the most freedom in expressing myself through Bangla. It doesn’t confine me to gendered pronouns: I can simply be a ‘tui’ or ‘tumi’ to those I love. My Bengali identity thrives in Satyajit Ray’s films, in the comfort of aloo-sheddho bhaat, and in the Durga Pujo essays I wrote every year in school, guided by my grandfather’s handwritten notes.” — Zoya Khan, filmmaker, 27
“Political movements, intelligence, culture: Bengalis have always been at the forefront of these things.” — Pratyasha Pal, a post-graduate student of History, 23
“Bengali identity is the Bengali language, Durga Pujas, and football. The way we express ourselves in Bengali, our mother tongue, is crucial to expressing our true emotions.” — Guddu Adhikari, hospital intern, 21
“We have a lot to be proud of, as Bengalis, like our literature and our freedom fighters.” — Soumit Choudhury, journalism student, 19
“To me, anyone who speaks Bangla is Bengali. There isn’t a divide if you are Hindu or Muslim or where your place of origin is. As a student of Bengali literature, I am very attached to our great writers: Rabindranath Tagore, Jibanananda Das, Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay.” — Riya Nayak, Bengali literature student, 19
