Some Vintage photos from my family album would tell the migration of a family from Dhaka, Bangladesh to Portland, America.  In the process though, the kids in my family grew up, got married, and raised their own family.  My sister Jolly Rahman gave the following photos to me when I visited Portland, Oregon, in August 2002.  These photos have significance as far as my family history is concerned.  Some of these photos were missing from our family album; thus, those photos were neglected and damaged.  As I reproduce these photos in this article, please offer me your benefit of doubt over the issue of 'self publicity.'  The intent of this article is very clear.  I'm narrating the story of my mother who grew up in a sleepy little town in eastern edge of Bengal where she reared her kids.  Now she lives in the western edge of America amidst his grown up kids and young grandkids.  How was this possible?  For some thoughts on this, please peruse these photos and the write-ups that accompany each of these images.
 

The story of my mother's life starts in late 1930s.  However, there is no photo to document it.  This photo above was taken in circa 1951 while my family had visited Chittagong to see his aunt (Masu Khala) who lived in Madar Bari area of Chittagong town.  From the left are: A young Masu Khala, Faisal (my second brother), Momtu (my mother’s nickname), myself with my head down, Kaiser (my eldest brother), and Monzur Ullah (my father).

Other important information associated with this photo: My family had moved to Tejgaon, Dhaka, from Sylhet months before this photo was taken.  Masu Khala's husband Mr. Nazmul Hoque was working for Burma Oil Company (BOC) when its office was located at Double Mooring, Chittagong.  He rented this small place at Madar Bari in Chittagong.  That is the house shown in the background in the above photo.  My father, Monzur Ullah, was about 44 years of age.  He was already balding and his hair was completely gray by then.  My mother, Momtazunnessa Begum, was about 25 years of age.  She already had three sons by then.  Kaiser was 8 years old, Faisal was 6 years old, and Jaffor was four and a half years of age.  They were all wearing stripped shirts, which was very fashionable in those days.  Also, notice that they all were wearing sandal shoes with buckles.  In Bangla, those shoes were erroneously called "Bockles Shoes."  My aunt, Almasunnessa Begum, also nicknamed Masu Khala was only about 20 years old.  She didn't have any kids at the time.  She was wearing some fine gold jewelry.  My mother's gold Jhumka that she was wearing as shown in the above photo used to be her favorite.  My mother is now about 76 years old and she now lives in Portland, Oregon.  She has become a rather frail-looking woman but her mind is quite fresh and her memory is remarkably fresh.
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The second photo is:
 

This photo was taken in Tejkunipara, Tejgaon, Dhaka, in 1968.  From left are: Jaffor, Nommi, Shammi, Rozy, Jolly, Litton, and Rubina (Koli).  My cousins were visiting us from Chittagong.  They (Nommi - 9 years, Shammi 11 years, Litton - 7 years) posed for the photo along with my three sisters (Rozy - 14 years, Jolly - 16 years, and Koli - 7 years).  I was 20 then years old and was a graduate student at Dhaka's Atomic Energy Center.  Few months before taking this photo, my father, Monzur Ullah, had passed away.  However, the family had endured the hardship lightly because of the financial assistance from Kaiser who then lived in England.  A year later in 1969, I came to America to pursue my doctoral degree in Molecular Biology.  My two teenage sisters, Jolly and Rozy, were very fashionable in those days.  Our oldest brother, Kaiser, used to send various items for his fashion-conscious sisters.

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The third photos is the following:
 

This photo was taken in March 1973 when my second brother, Hedayet (Faisal) was getting married in Sylhet town.  This photo was badly damaged due to benign neglect.  My sister, Jolly, who was wedded a year ago in 1972 is shown in the center of the photo.  Others were my cousins.  Some of them who were married then wore some elaborate costume and jewelry

I was a graduate student in Cincinnati, Ohio when my second brother, Hedayet Ullah (Faisal) was about to be wedded.  I brought my favorite Nikon F camera with some color film rolls to take the wedding photos.  My sisters and cousins wore some elaborate costumes (Benarasi silk saris) to attend the wedding.  It is a pity that this photo was badly damaged.  Even then, it shows that the young ladies were appropriately dressed and jeweled for the occasion.

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The fourth photo is the following:
 

The photo was taken in April 1973 at Kaptai, Chittagong.  From left are: Susan, Masu Khala, our mother, Rozy, a newly married Gulzar, Shanu, Dina (seated), Salma, Koli, Shams (Khushnu), Bhuttu, Parvez, Nipar, Moni-Apa, and little Luna.

After my brother's wedding that took place in Sylhet, we went to Chittagong City for fun time.  We went to Kaptai Lake for boating and picnic.  We had with us my aunt's family and two of my cousins from another uncle’s family.  They are Dina (17 years old), and Shanu (12 years old).  My second sister, Moni Apa, had her kids in the photo.  They are Bhutto (8-years old), Parvez (12-years old), and Luna (4-years old).  A lot happened since this photo was taken.

My eldest Bhavi, Susan Ullah now lives in Portsmouth, England.  Masu Khala had built a house in Agrabad area of Chittagong City.  My mother now lives in Portland, Oregon.  Among my siblings, Rozy is now working as a supervisor for a hospitality company in Portland.  Gulzar Bhavi also lives in Portland and works for the same company where Rozy works.  My youngest brother Shams (Khushnu) works for a high-tech company in Portland and so does my youngest sister Rubina (Koli).  My cousin Dina is now an executive for Gulf Air in Dhaka.  Dina's sister, Shanu now lives in Laramie, Montana, with her husband who is a professor in Engineering.  My aunt's son, Sohelul Hoque, Nipar, lives in Chittagong where he serves as a senior executive for an oil company.  My second sister Moni is no longer alive.  Her second son, Bhutto, had passed away in early 2002.  Her daughter, Luna, is now a grown up woman who lives in Denver, Colorado.  She has three wonderful daughters growing up in Denver.  Luna’s eldest brother, Parvez, now lives in Chittagong.  He is a middle-aged man now.

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The final photo is the following:
 

This photo was taken in April 1973 in Tejkunipara, Tejgaon, Dhaka.  From left are: sitting: Aziz (Jolly's husband), Jolly, Rozy, Gulzar (Faisal's new wife), Faisal, Susan (Kaiser's wife), and Kaiser.  Standing is from left: Shams (Khushnu), Rubina (Koli), and Jaffor.

We just returned from Chittagong after having a few days of fun and frolic.  The above photo was taken in Tejkunipara in our house where we lived since 1950.  My sister Jolly was then already married.  She was attending the DU studying honors in Physics.  Her husband, Aziz, was employed in an industry in Tejgaon Industrial Area.  My eldest brother, Kaiser, was already married.  He brought his wife, Susan, to Bangladesh for the wedding of my second brother.  My two other siblings, Shams (Khusnu) and Rubina (Koli) were teenagers in those days.  I was a longhaired graduate student in America.  My eldest brother, Kaiser, also sported a long hair.  In those days, it was fashionable to keep longhair and wear bell-bottom trousers, which most of us did any way.  Where are all these folks now?  Jolly came to America in August 1976 to attend graduate school.  Her husband, Aziz, then came two years later.  Rozy immigrated to America in 1991 with her husband and two sons.  My brother Hedayet (Faisal) had immigrated to America in early 1993 with his family members.  He had a mishap in 1995 during an open-heart surgery.  He is partially disabled now and leading a retired life in Portland, Oregon.  My two other siblings Shams and Rubina who immigrated to America in March 1993 were already grown up by the time they came to America.  Both are now raising their respective families.  They also work for a high-tech company in Beaverton, Oregon.  My sister Jolly had worked all her life for high-tech industries after receiving her doctorate degree in solid-state physics.  Her husband, Aziz, now operates a successful retail business in Portland, Oregon.  My eldest brother, Kaiser, and his spouse, Susan, live in Portsmouth, England.  Susan used to be an interior decorator and my brother worked all through his life in catering industry.  My mother, Momtazunnessa Ullah, lives with her second son, Hedayet, and his family in Aloha, Oregon.  She lives in a house where one would find many fruit trees such as Asian pear, apple, cherry, plum, and Japanese persimmon in the backyard.  While I was visiting her in August 2002, I saw Asian pear, persimmon, apple, and plum trees laden with fruits.  My mother leads an active life taking care of her fruit trees and her grand children.  Her life started in Sylhet town during later part of the British Raj.  She had spent her times in Shillong, Assam, and then in Dhaka, Bangladesh.  The golden years of her life are now being spent in west coast of America in a very picturesque setting.  My guess is she is enjoying her days here in Oregon where most of her grown up sons and daughters are making theirs ends meet.

Well, through some old photographs, here I tried to portray the journey of a solitary Bangalee family from Sylhet.  In about fifty years or so, most of the offspring of this family would forget their family’s past history.  It is interesting to note that the family that both Monzur Ullah and Momtazunnessa had started in Shillong in the late 1930s -- when Second World War was raging all over the world -- had grown considerably and now the family members have all migrated to the West.  The quest for good life among the family members is still continuing.  I hope this little story of my nuclear family may evoke interest in others to write theirs to enrich our mind.
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A.H. Jaffor Ullah writes from New Orleans.  His e-mail address is - [email protected]

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