Why do Sylhetis find it difficult to mix with Bengalis?

[Riyad]

Gour Govinda Fort, a popular tourist spot in Bangladesh.

Gour Gobinda Fort is most advocated tourist spot in the hillside in Sylhet of Bangladesh. The Gour Gobinda Fort stands as confirmation to the defiance of heroic soldiers of the king Gour Gobinda.

Gour Gobinda Fort is located by the hill side of sylhet. It situates as evidence to the disobedience of fearless soldiers of the king Gour Govinda. But he was a cruel ruler and to save the people from this harsh ruler the Saint Hazrat Shahajalal. Along with his friends fought with the king and shattered the Gour Gobinda Fort to overcome him.

Gour Gobinda Fort is very striking for its earliest architectural beauty. Visitors only will find only the remainders in this tourist spot at present. But they will certainly attract visitor and take thousands of years back. This fort abides memorable old history of the region. This landmark will reminds of olden history of the region.

If visitors want to visit Gour Gobinda Fort from Dhaka, they can take the bus, train and air way. A lot of bus services are available at Dhaka. These travel services take people to this tourist spot. They will find trains in Kamalapur Railway Station in Dhaka which leaves for Sylhet. The place is placed in the middle of a city named Chauhatta. It is about one to two kilometers away from the Sylhet Sadar.

It is very easy to reach to Sylhet. Visitors will find many hotels and restaurants at Sylhet Sadar. Most of these are located in the Mazar Road. People will find all kinds of home and foreign foods at these restaurants.

They are very much reasonable as well. Visitors may regard as the hotels and restaurants as well as Hotel Holy Gate which is situated at East Dargah Gate and Hotel Golden City which is at Dhaka-Sylhet Highway road.

https://touristplace.bangladeshinformation.info/gour-gobinda/

 

[Saiful Islam]

You do realize more than 360 awliya came to Sylhet ALONE. lol

 

[Nilgiri]

So Sylhetis not Bangalis??????????? News for me !!!!!!!!!!
What is the story here can you please explain . @Atlas , @Nilgiri , @Al-Ansar

Just read the thread and enjoy the show ....and understand this is why in the end its easy (for India) to control BD.

 

[Nilgiri]

^^ @waz @Dubious personal attack on another member

 

[bluesky]

Sylhetis today maintain a distinct identity separate from or in addition to having a Bengali identity, due to linguistic differences, geographical uniqueness and historical reasons.

The Sylhetis may think themselves different from or above others only because of this uneducated group had the opportunity to go to London long before 1947 and work there as house-servants, kitchen and cleaning staff and thus earned money which was far above the average income of other Bengalis.

In the case of Bangladesh, there is no brotherly feeling towards another unless he has money. If Sylhetis do not like to mix because they earned money from the London dirt it is also true for people of other areas who have also lately migrated to other developed countries. So, it is not specific to the uneducated/half-educated Sylhetis doing menial jobs in London, earning money and hating others.

Sylhetis are a shame to Bangladesh. Early migrants from other regions of Sub-continental India including the Pakistanis are now better educated and many of them are working white color jobs in foreign countries, Sylhetis keep themselves uneducated and superstitious. These people want "Pikdani" even in the airplanes, keep the London streets dirty and move in his Mahalla wearing Lungi.

In fact, people from other areas look disdainfully at Sylhetis and because of this, the latter do not love to mix with others.

 

[bluesky]

Sylhet was given from Assam during Partition, right? I don't think it was part of Bengal province pre 1947.

True. But, it was given and joined to Assam by the British in 1874 for an easy administration of this region. Before that Sylhet was never a part of Assam, it was with the Gour Kingdom and with Bengal Sultanate after that until 1874.

@Atlas, @Md Akmal

 

[Destranator]

So Sylhetis not Bangalis??????????? News for me !!!!!!!!!!
What is the story here can you please explain . @Atlas , @Nilgiri , @Al-Ansar

Brother, Sylhetis are Bengalis. They don't "struggle" to mingle with their own kind from other parts of the country.

Yes they do have a strong dialect which is difficult to understand for non-Sylhetis and has commonality with the dialect of the immediate neighbouring state of a foreign country but so is the case with Chittagonians (w.r.t Rohingyas).
Are Chittagonians not Bengalis now?

Yet another @Riyad special to bring BD to disrepute. He probably keeps forgetting his brain in the washing machine as it needs a regular wash/rinse/spin.

 

[Joe Shearer]

So Sylhetis not Bangalis??????????? News for me !!!!!!!!!!
What is the story here can you please explain . @Atlas , @Nilgiri , @Al-Ansar

False alarm.

Very amusing thread, though.

 

[Riyad]

Brother, Sylhetis are Bengalis. They don't "struggle" to mingle with their own kind from other parts of the country.

Yes they do have a strong dialect which is difficult to understand for non-Sylhetis and has commonality with the dialect of the immediate neighbouring state of a foreign country but so is the case with Chittagonians (w.r.t Rohingyas).
Are Chittagonians not Bengalis now?

Yet another @Riyad special to bring BD to disrepute. He probably keeps forgetting his brain in the washing machine as it needs a regular wash/rinse/spin.

No. Bro. Its a fact that Sylhetis and Bengalis are two distinct community.

A renowned Sylheti writer Zia Haider Rahman wrote the same in the Guardian Website.


https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2007/may/02/yesterdaysawthepublication

To put things in historical perspective, until partition in 1947, Sylhetis were part of Assam in north-eastern British India, as it then was. From 1947 they were only a small part of East Pakistan, the downtrodden half of the improbable nation of two halves separated by Nehru's India. Then in 1971, East Pakistan, whose overwhelming majority were ethnically Bengali and as far removed from Urdu-speaking Pakistanis as is possible within the subcontinent, seceded to form Bangladesh.

Sylhetis have always been regarded with some disdain by the rest of Bangladesh as "the backward segment" of that nation, as I was told in Bangladesh a few years ago. In fact, the people of Sylhet province, a part of the British Indian state of Assam until 1947, voted under a controversial plebiscite to become part of Pakistan at partition, not because of nationalist pro-Bengali feeling (they were not Bengali) but for rather ugly religious sectarian reasons among others.

Sylhetis aren't even ethnically Bengali and are not regarded as culturally of a piece with the rest of Bangladesh in the imagination of some Bangladeshis, who appear to regard Sylhetis as material for crass jokes. Young British Sylhetis themselves do not appear to have very much of a nuanced take on their own history: it comes as something of a surprise to many young Sylhetis to learn that the Sylheti language has its own script, though little is written in this language today.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2007/may/02/yesterdaysawthepublication

 

[Homo Sapiens]

Sylhet was given from Assam during Partition, right? I don't think it was part of Bengal province pre 1947.

Since the ancient times to up to 1874 AD, Sylhet was part of Bengal. In 1874, when Assam was separated from Bengal, Bengali majority Sylhet and Goalpara district were made part of Assam. The British logic was to make Assam a viable state with enough revenue generation. So, 1874-1947, it was part of Assam. But there was always a movement in Sylhet to reunify with Bengal in that time period. Assamese nationalists also wanted to get rid of Sylhet to achieve a state with clear Assamese majority. That's why, Assamese were not unhappy when Sylhet decided to join East Bengal through referendum in 1947.

 

[Homo Sapiens]

So Sylhetis not Bangalis??????????? News for me !!!!!!!!!!
What is the story here can you please explain . @Atlas , @Nilgiri , @Al-Ansar

Wow so all the Sylhetis here aren't ethnic Bengalis but a different group entirely?

Sylhetis are Bengali. Full stop. Their dialect spoken is actually less divergent from Standard Bengali language than Chittagong or Noakhali dialect. This 'Sylhetis are separate from Bengali' bullshit is present only among some quarter of British Bangladeshi community(95 percent Sylheti). 30-40 years ago they migrated from rural Sylhet to UK, many still held peasant mentality, can speak only Sylheti dialect. So, they have developed a sense of nationhood separate from the migrants of other part of Bangladesh. Clearly 95 percent majority thing helped to solidify this 'distinctiveness'.

But this is not the case within Bangladesh. Sylhetis are just like any other Bengali population. Sylhet is a region somewhat less literate and more conservative than other part of Bangladesh. But with rising education and mobility they are breaking social barrier more often now. On the other hand, some Sylhetis in UK developed a separate ethnicity feeling due to their lack of exposure with Bangladeshi people from other parts.

 

[CHACHA"G"]

Thanks for clearing it out...…………………….

 

[bluesky]

Sylhetis aren't even ethnically Bengali

Would you mind telling us what is an ethnical Bengali, what is an ethnically Sylheti and also what is an ethnically Assamese? So, tell us what is what and what is not what.

 

[Michael Corleone]

I dont think it has much to do with mixing with each other, it's more to do with the differences such as cooking style and general outlook on the world & life.. Many Sylhetis are also interrelated, my maternal side is from a place called Shaharpara https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaharpara. We still practice marrying in the family, which there is a lack of Dhakaya communities. We feel confused and puzzled when we see you guys cook lol..

Infact I could go to the North of England or South and fine relatives whom I was not aware was of any relation... It's that simple.

inbreeding... not a good idea....
idk much about the way sylhetis and dhaka people's cooking methods... i have learnt that apart from my mom and my grandma... every bengali's cooked food that i have ever eaten.... sylhetis, comilla, noakhali, barishallahs... are what i consider meh to outright horrendous.
north indians however have great cooking skills.... judging from my colleagues

 

[Neptune_]

Rubbish thread. Nobody regards sylhetis with disdain or whatever. They aren't even ethnically different. Op is just making things up.