‘Ladies and gentleman, this is your captain speaking we are roughly about 40 minutes away from touch down. We will be landing about 6:30 am local time, the weather outside is 14 degrees and the next call from us will be after 20 minutes when we will secure the aircraft for landing.’
‘Finally!’ I said out loud, the excitement of being home overwhelmed me. I had fully come into my element by then. The whole flight was a skin shedding process for me and I had finally transformed into a proper Bengali. I was loud, talking out of turn, getting into other people’s businesses, judging them, talking shit, and discussing politics. I was ready and more Bengali than ever. I was ready for all the bhortas (mashed foods), mach (fish), shagh (spinach), biryani (c’mon you know this!), and every other desi food under the sun.
Twenty minutes flew by and the captain made the announcement that he had secured the aircraft for landing and the descent had started. Through the clouds the outline of the city started to become clearer with every passing second and before I could finish filling up everyone’s good declaration form we had landed. Seat-belts went off before the sign did, phones turned on, and people had already started taking down their luggage from the overhead bins and rushing towards the exit. The plane was yet to be stationed, so though I was very happy to be home I resisted being that enthusiastic. I disembarked the plane shortly after and finally got to put my feet on Bangladeshi soil after almost a decade; the feeling was…