The Bengali-speaking American⁴¹

As I ran past my 700-metre mark, I saw a middle-aged man riding a bicycle. He had his helmet on. He stopped cycling and came up to me and said, in Bengali, “Keman ache?” which means, “How are you?”

I said, “Bhalo, bhalo.” I thought that perhaps he knew only one phrase, so I added in English, “Good morning!”

Then, still in Bengali, he said, “Suprabhat,” which means good morning in Bengali. He looked like an American. How did he know Bengali?

Then I smiled and went away. This happened on 150th Street and 84th Drive. He lives there. He spoke to me in pure Bengali and I had to tell him good morning in English!

From:Sri Chinmoy,Run and become, become and run, part 20, Agni Press, 2004
Sourced from https://srichinmoylibrary.com/rb_20