Adda – this is a boisterous yet cordial discussion. Anyone hosting first-generation Bangladeshi over a tea and treat in their apartment or house loves this get-together. The topics of conversation: how to stop climate change, inequalities in the US, poverty in Africa, or any other problem you can identify. The solutions that evaded the scholars and scientists in these subject matters are available in Adda. Attendees, primarily novices in the topics, can illustrate solutions to any situation that plagues modern times. By the display of knowledge and wisdom, they inadvertently want to show their existence matter. By sharing emotions with the group, they want to feel the warmth of a community, a belonging. It’s the chatter at Adda’s heart, not the actual doing of things -not least in a derisory sense! The sound of laughter and occasional heated high pitch opinion drift in the air far away from the gathering. Again, to spread the melody of presence, “I am here, we are here.” The back-and-forth comments and questions do not get to the “now we are talking” pinnacle without a cup of tea, which has a look of chai, but the taste is entirely different.
Tea – A small drink connects everyone to the affection of great-grandmothers when the water with clove or cardamom starts to boil. Ancestors noticed that the water must remain at boiling point to extract flavors until the cook sets up the serving cups. A homage to bits of patience. So the pot stays on the fire to infuse the aroma of clove or cardamom well into the body of water long after the sign of vapor arises. Of course, science can yield better outcomes only by applying purified water. But that malnourished the soul from the love of ancestors. The occasion calls to reconnect to the roots, not to find efficiency. When the dry Asam tea leaves touch the boiling pot, they immediately bleed a reddish hue into the water. Rarely the modern tea bags find their way in the process! More waiting follows, this time to extract flavors from the tea leaves. The entire operation is the foundation of any creative process – bitterness from soaking the leaves, bits of patience, etc. – is essential if we are going to make something “taste worthy.” The sermon is that we must endure discomfort with patience; we “can’t hurry, love.”
Communion: Ceremonies carry a symbol. A cup of hot tea can be just that, but it is an umbilical cord to the predecessors in an Adda. It’s the connection to memories. For all, each sip creates a sweetened memory to savor. To stir the remembrances of the land, most attendees left behind without an option. Most – quietly recognize that a few could be absent for various reasons when they meet again. Even if the gathering happens soon. What was there yesterday isn’t there tomorrow. There is no assurance of the next moment, hour, or day. We only pretend there is! And the lukewarm vapor from the cup gently pats on the chicks to remind everyone: we are encountering each other merely for the time being. The Permanent address for all is exactly the same. Our immortality is in mind, in the memories of others.