The Bengali film⁴³

The man said, “Yes, we have one.” I could tell that he came from South India.

I asked, ‘What is the name?”

He said, “Pohari.”

I said, “There is no such word in Bengali.”

He said, “Yes!”

I said, “I am Bengali.”

He insisted, “There is that word.”

So Baoul and I looked for Pohari. Finally Baoul found one called Prahari. ‘Prahari’ means ‘guard.’

I said to the man, “This is not your mother tongue, so it is easy to make a mistake.”

He said, “I asked a Bengali about it.”

I said, “I am sure he said ‘Prahari,’ but perhaps he did not pronounce it carefully.”

Then he was counting things in Tamil. I was amused, and I also started counting in that language. He looked at me, surprised. Then I told him that I had stayed in South India for 20 years.