Seuli Mukhopadhyay, Prasanta Mukhopadhyay
Q1. When did you come to Halifax and how was Halifax at that time?
Ans: We came to Halifax in 1989. It was good.
Q2. How was the Bengali community at that time?
Ans: We used to get together almost every weekend. I was trying to find the people who built the community. Bengali community was small. It was like a joint family. The first year we came, we were invited to the Sharodia Society by Dr Prabir Bose. Prasanta was the first treasurer. He was very active in InCa as well and sang a lot of songs in community programs. InCa was an Indian paper published by Prasant Kumar. He was called the Hemant Kumar of Halifax. I also volunteered at the Multicultural festival.
Q3. The changes of community you find today from the time you came.
Ans: There are now a lot of Bengali-speaking people who have moved here for work or otherwise. We wish to accommodate all in our community.
However, we are very proud of the young members in the community. You all have become successful.
We are getting older. But you all are always helping us, especially us as we don’t have relatives here. You are like our children and your children are like our grandchildren. We feel at home here. We know you are with us when we are in need. My son Saikat is not alone.
Q4. What are the things of the present day that you wish you had before?
Ans: We find a lot of Indian food and puja samagri nowadays in Halifax easily.
Halifax was good then but if we had some Indian stores, we could have bought Indian things when we wished or we could have bought some idols for Hindu God and Goddesses or some “Puja Samagri”.
Q5. One suggestion you want to give our present-day community people.
Ans: It is nice to see our community is so successful today. Everybody is in a good position. Our advice to the younger generation is that, stay together and help each other so that you can enjoy together.
Stay blessed.