It is a well known fact that there were many alternative plans for how the postcolonial republic(s) are going to be organized. Some of them involved letting Bengal remain undivided. The loss of that possibility and the ensuing havoc has touched the life of every Bengali since.

Until 1971, East Bengal was the largest province of Pakistan and Bengalis were the majority population. Even today (and for the past many centuries) Bengalis have been a Muslim majority community.

What it means to be Bengali in the world today is hinged to a large extent on what it means to be a Bengali Muslim. Bengaliness and Muslimness are inseparable. Muslim Bengalis fought a liberation war and survived a genocide for the right to nurture our language.

And here we are today, having to deal with the reality of Sanghification of West Bengal, Dilip Ghosh, and the utterly depraved idea that somehow being labelled "Bangladeshi" is an insult.

On days like today I can't help but think about what it would have been like to live in an be Bengali in an undivided Bengal.