Are we Bangalies better at literature than sports?

[Rifat]

Navo, thank you for your insightful post

[BengaliPagol]

The concern for your health in Bangladesh is pretty shocking actually. My father is healthy for his age. He does treadmill everyday and he never puts on weight. But when we were at Bangladesh people kept asking him if hes sick because our relatives were not used to seeing something in good health at his age.

One of the first things everyone asks each other in Bangladesh is if they have diabetes . Diabetes is fairly common for everyone to have in Bangladesh. And the bhat, bhat, bhat diet certainly doesnt help the cause either.

So im not suprised that we dont produce world class athletes.

[Navo]

Originally Posted by Rifat
Navo, thank you for your insightful post

Thanks. I wonder why this thread suddenly died :p

[tiger_bright]

Originally Posted by Leafs PWN
Our Literatur > Sports.

We have a Nobel prize winner, and one of the greatest poets ever in Kazi Nazrul Islam, just to name a few.

Sports wise, we aren't there yet. Cricket is the only sport we're pretty good at.

We used to be good at hockey, but the lack of structure screwed that up.

We are good at cricket?

We are thinkers. In our region it is North Indians and Pakistanis who have brawns.

[Zunaid]

Originally Posted by tiger_bright
We are good at cricket?

We are thinkers. In our region it is North Indians and Pakistanis who have brawns.

No, we are not thinkers either. Apparently, we are prime self-loathers.

[tiger_bright]

I just articulated what 99.999999% of Bengalis think.

[Beamer]

Balaka cinema hall er shamner footpath er literature o ki literature?? ektu elaborate korey bolen dada ra..

[Night_wolf]

Originally Posted by Beamer
Balaka cinema hall er shamner footpath er literature o ki literature?? ektu elaborate korey bolen dada ra..

LOL..oita little acher(copyright moc bhai)

[Shock]

I don't believe that we are better in literature than anything physical activity like sports for example. Even though we are homogenous society, we are heavily mixed, in bangla shonkor. That is why you see some of us toller, some shorter, some has noses that isn't shart, somes has fair complextion etc etc. Psychologically we are not same too. Even though we are called homogenous society, we are actually very diverse. Only good in literature or sports apply to those nationals who are not mixed, totally homogenous,

[Beamer]

^^^ wow..wild claims..

[Sohel]

Originally Posted by Shock
I don't believe that we are better in literature than anything physical activity like sports for example. Even though we are homogenous society, we are heavily mixed, in bangla shonkor. That is why you see some of us toller, some shorter, some has noses that isn't shart, somes has fair complextion etc etc. Psychologically we are not same too. Even though we are called homogenous society, we are actually very diverse. Only good in literature or sports apply to those nationals who are not mixed, totally homogenous,

What [a bad] way to end an otherwise intelligent post! So I suppose Americans and Latin Americans are not amongst the "only good" in literature and sports because of their ethnocultural diversity?

Why don't you Wiki a list of writers, athletes and sports teams from the Americas and have a look at the facts.

[BANFAN]

We are best in Adda and killing time...Adda topics primarily are politics, film and poroninda.... Utterly un productive... .. We can hardly name a few good/world class writers in Bangla literature spreading over a century....olosh Bangali sportsman hobey kotheke.... Well, may be the trend in changing...with cricket...

[Shock]

Originally Posted by Sohel NR
What [a bad] way to end an otherwise intelligent post! So I suppose Americans and Latin Americans are not amongst the "only good" in literature and sports because of their ethnocultural diversity?

Why don't you Wiki a list of writers, athletes and sports teams from the Americas and have a look at the facts.

Watch your mouth! Get some study first and then talk. Anyway I reported your post.

[Shock]

Originally Posted by Shock
I don't believe that we are better in literature than anything physical activity like sports for example. Even though we are homogenous society, we are heavily mixed, in bangla shonkor. That is why you see some of us toller, some shorter, some has noses that isn't shart, somes has fair complextion etc etc. Psychologically we are not same too. Even though we are called homogenous society, we are actually very diverse. Only good in literature or sports apply to those nationals who are not mixed, totally homogenous,

I believe that there is no society in world today that can say itself purely homogenous.

[roman]

Originally Posted by Shock
Watch your mouth! Get some study first and then talk. Anyway I reported your post.

Brother Shock, IMHO Sohel bhai is one of the most educated posters here in BC. I don't think he says anything without evidence. If you read his other posts you'll know what I am talking about.

[bujhee kom]

Yeah Night-Wolf bhaiyo, but also don't forget Bengalis are good at Fine Art and Gaan-Bajnaa as well. Very rich imaginative group of people.

[Neel Here]

Nekre bhai, the answer to your question is an emphatic 'we are'. the reasons for that are lack of sporting icons, social practices, or what we call 'culture' (not in the sense of arts). I don't believe in racial superiority except in scientifically proven cases, like that of the west african runners. the chinese have put paid to the theory of european superiority in swimming this year.

coming to sporting icons, bengal did have quite a few in the past, especially in football, Gostha Paul etc were extremely famous. India became asiad champions a couple of times just after independence and came 4th in olympics, mostly due to the services of bong footballers. was even invited for the world cup at the time.
the pre independence days also saw the mushrooming of fitness clubs like anushilon samiti (the dhaka branch was particularly influential) which were actually armed anti-british revolutionary outfits. the way they took the fight to the british empire couldn't have happened without sound physique. indeed, one of the leaders of the chittagong revolt was a noted body builder. (as an aside, there is going to be a film on it later this year, directed by a bengali director for a change, who surprisingly enough, used to be a scientist at NASA. I promise it would be far better than the khelein hum.. idiocy done by abhishek bachchan. try and watch it )
there were also a couple of bengali Mr Universes, a different category of the same competition brought arnold scwarzennegar to the limelight.

yet, whatever sporting icons we had unfortunately couldn't jump start a culture of sports because of the pervasive poverty and unemployment. in the first few decades of independence. people wanted a safe option, studying and getting a job was always the safer and surer option. conversely, in some countries, like say ethiopia, kenya or jamaica, sports is a way of getting out of poverty and thus that social dynamics has created a sporting culture.

in a nutshell, to create a sporting culture you need sporting icons to jumpstart them and it has to be reasonably safe to take it up. this is basically the american/free country/relatively prosperous country model. the govt may or may not play a part in making sports as an occupation safe. (UK for example does, US largely doesn't)

the other ways are
a) chinese/north korea way : create a country wide net with pyramidal structure selecting candidates towards better and better standards. force those who have natural aptitude to train at a fierce level whether they like it or not. ruthlessly weed out at every stage those who do not make the mark, without bothering what they do for the rest of their life (many chinese national and olympic players who do not succeed end up as sweepers and janitors)

b) kenya/jamaica way. sports is comparatively one of the best avenues out of poverty, huge talent pool, support structure exists, talent and training takes care of rest.

[Night_wolf]

Thanks neel bhai, its always a pleasure reading your post, Totally agree with you regarding sporting icons

[Neel Here]

btw, reading Rifat's post on health consciousness (how are you Rifat, btw ?) reminds me. sometime back I decided to watch my calories. I realised that the typical bengali lunch of bhaat etc has many times the calories needed for our usually sedantary/semi-sedantary lifestyle.

while that amount was perfectly alright when we as a society were agrarian/rural, where every amenity was a mile's walk away if not more and many people had to work in the fields, the amount is absolutely ridiculous now.

[Roey Haque]

To answer this question in one word, yes. Lot of things can be said, but let me demonstrate with one example. Bd has a lot of young talented music artists who sing/rap in english. Music is a form of literature too,as songs contain lyrics. Now more so than a lot of other countries, Bd has a lot of these young artists who rap/sing in a language not native to them. Does the nation have an edge being a former british colony? Sure, but narrow it down to just the rap genre, Bd has way more skilled rappers than India, a country which has a substantially larger more educated population. Just care to do some research and you'll be surprised how true the last statement is.More names,more finesse, more prolific rapping. I don't see this in sports, but when it comes to music/literature, Bengalis do have this go-getter attitude, where their ambition fuels a spark of genius inside them which allows them to get work done! And ultimately it all comes down the amount of effort you put in your craft, which is why it's important to get your work done.

*Of course the environment is a big factor with oriental parents generally favoring labor or education, depending on your social class, but rarely ever sports. So it's easy to understand why someone can cook up a screenplay,novel, or lyrics to a song when these are all sedentary activities. In the guise of education, you can actually be imaginative instead of studying. With sports, you need to go out and practice everyday, so it's a gone case without your parent's full backing.

Keep it 100,

Roey

[Rifat]

Originally Posted by Neel Here
btw, reading Rifat's post on health consciousness (how are you Rifat, btw ?) reminds me. sometime back I decided to watch my calories. I realised that the typical bengali lunch of bhaat etc has many times the calories needed for our usually sedantary/semi-sedantary lifestyle.

while that amount was perfectly alright when we as a society were agrarian/rural, where every amenity was a mile's walk away if not more and many people had to work in the fields, the amount is absolutely ridiculous now.

Alhamdulillah, I am good, Havn't seen you here in a long time Neel da? nice to see you back.

[BengaliPagol]

I wish 'adda' (talking) was a subject cos all Bangalis would ace it.