May I Give You This Gift?

I stopped at that same store again. Same counter, same (strangely comforting) dim fluorescent everything. The man who passed my little handwritten card to its intended receiver the other day was working.

We're close acquaintances, in the small way you get close to someone whose register you keep stepping into several times a week. He is a really, really rad dude. And he's got like this sort of black outfit vibe that is honestly super cool.

I had found out through him, in some earlier conversation which I am not going to speak to here, that he is from Bangladesh. So I looked it up to be perhaps a tad less ignorant. 

I learned that the language they normally speak is Bengali (someone please correct me if I have any of this wrong. Contact info is at the top. I will read it). 

I had an extra black bracelet with me in my pocket, the way I sometimes do. Call me the Trinket Whisperer I guess. 🤷‍♂️

So I looked up how to say may I give you this gift in Bengali before I went in. I wanted the phrase on paper, well, on my phone. I read it a bunch out-loud, and held the English notes in my head so I would hopefully at least be in the right ballpark. 

I walked up to the counter and asked him:

আমি কি আপনাকে এই উপহারটি দিতে পারি?

Ami ki aapnake ei upohartti ditay paari?

* Ami: "Ah-mee"

* ki: "kee"

* aapnake: "ahp-nah-kay"

* ei: "ay" (like the letter 'A')

* upohartti: "oo-poh-har-tee"

* dite: "dee-tay"

* pari: "pah-ree"

May I give you this gift?

I hoped I had at least said it correctly enough to be somewhat understandable.

His face lit up.

I handed him the bracelet.

(that was really fun at least for me you know, kind of selfishly to be fair)

I asked him if I completely butchered it, or if it actually made any sense. He smiled and told me no, he understood. He understood exactly. 

Whew. 

He put it on and looked super fly with his vibe. It's much better looking on him anyway!

I thanked him and walked back out to the car.

I thought how nice it feels to be able to learn from him during every visit.

What a gift.

আমি কি আপনাকে এই উপহারটি দিতে পারি?

Ami ki aapnake ei upohartti ditay paari?

May I give you this gift?

That phrase is in my mouth and mind now. It wasn't yesterday.

Thank you friend. 

Thank you for accepting it and teaching me something new.

--Drew 🇧🇩🤝🪷