The governor of West Bengal, CV Anand Bose, performed "Hatey Khari," a ritual of teaching the Bengali alphabet to children, on the occasion of Saraswathi Pooja on Thursday, in the presence of Chief Minister Mamta Banerjee and other dignitaries. Since the governor's mother tongue is Malayalam, he learned to write Bengali alphabets from three children.
Governor Bose was taught to write the first letter of the Bengali alphabet on a blackboard by nine-year-old Diyangshi Roy, a student of class 3 from a convent school in Chandannagar.
Then, Ranjana Biswas and Subhajit Dhar, two class 4 students at Raj Bhavan free primary school, taught the governor the meaning of two Bengali words, "Maa" (mother) and "Bhumi" (earth).
As gurudakshina, Governor Bose presented each of these students with a bag full of drawing books and one silver coin.
Girl Teaches Governor To Write In Bengali
Soon after becoming the governor of West Bengal in November 2022, Bose expressed his interest in learning Bengali to pen a book. The retired Kerala cadre IAS officer of the 1977 batch has a number of books to his credit.
"Ami Bangla sikhbo, Bangla khub sundor bhasha, ami Bangla ke bhalobashi. Banglar Manush ke ami bhalobashi. Jai Bangla. (I'll learn Bengali. It's a nice language; I love Bengal and its people. Hail Bengal," said Governor Bose after the "Hatey Khari" event.
The governor also announced that he would give one month’s salary to academically outstanding students in the state.
Chief Minister Mamta Banerjee congratulated Governor Bose for taking the initiative to learn Bengali. She spoke to the audience first in Malayalam and then in Bengali, her mother tongue. "I wish him all the best for the endeavour. It's a proud moment for us," she said.
To learn the alphabet, CM Banerjee gave the governor "Bornoporichay," a Bengali primer written by the 19th-century social reformer Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar.
CM Banerjee stated that Bengali-speaking people have unlimited opportunities around the world and that Mahatma Gandhi ji began learning Bengali in the 1940s, and that former state governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi also learned the language. "Even today, when we converse, Gopal Krishna Gandhi speaks in Bengali," said the CM.
Suggested Reading: Quick Reads: 9-Year-Old Girl Teaches Governor Bengali And More
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