Note from Albany

Amra Kojon was an idea, then became reality! Thanks to Taposhda and many others for bringing everyone together. This past weekend, more people joined the group and it feels like we are getting better and stronger. What seemed impossible is starting to feel easy to do if we can all stick together. The best thing about Amra Kojon is that there are so many of us from all over, and everyone has something to bring to the group! The talents are incredible. We were all mesmorized by Modhumita's songs. We appreciate each other and can learn from each other, the group is unique because its deciplined but at the same time a lot of fun and the most informal group in terms of food, staying togehter, cooking and cleaning together. A big thanks to Naina for cooking such big meals this weekend, there were countless number of people who always show up at AK house and feels welcome instantly. Its where we meet friends and find out about each other's common friends from Dhaka (Nadia and Me:), this is probably the only place where a non-bengali wakes up in the morning and takes charge of the whole kitchen and cleans it up after there were 70+ people who ate the night before. Thanks to Liana. Thanks to Atiq for driving 5 people from RI to Boston when the sun was rising at 6 AM and dropping each of them to their homes and getting home at 7:30 AM. This is all crazy, but thats who we are and we just love it!!

-Shaila Zaman Dina
on behalf of Amra Kojon