sharmin শারমিন

It’s crazy to land in Lisbon and Bangla to be the first language that you hear in the airport. Your cab driver is a Syleti who migrated a few years ago. You drop off your luggage at a storage unit, and the shopkeeper is a sweet man named Shamim from Comilla. You walk to the local coffee shop, and a man from Noakhali makes you a dalgona coffee.

It’s crazy to think that Muslims arrived in Portugal as early as 700 AD, and ruled for over 400 years, to find no trace of it in the museums and public memory. You can find Muslims in the intricate geometric patterns, the azulejos (ceramic tiles) or the names of areas like Alfama which originates from al-hamma because the Moorish rule of Lisbon introduced them to bathhouses, and Aljube which translates to prison or dungeon. They introduced irrigation systems, new crops like rice and citrus, and the Portuguese brought chilis and words like janala (window) and almari (warddrobe) and veranda (porch) to Bengal.

It’s crazier to think that the Portuguese expelled Muslims and Jews out by the mid-13th century, only for thousands of Bangladeshi laborers and climate refugees to migrate to Portugal to keep the country running.

Snippets from little Bangladesh in Martim Moniz. The streets are bustling with indigenous vegetables like lau (squash), begun (eggplants) and restaurants with posters of Imran Khan next to Shongshod Bhobhon and shops called Amar Shonar Bangla and Bangla Town.