Bangladesh had one of the earliest urban civilizations

[mithun.chakroborty]

anyway any excavations of ruins being done yet at the site Lets direct the discussion to the original topic

[manbil777]

Originally Posted by TIslam

The question however, remains, that does it really matter? Of what consequence? I felt the discussion was headed towards a projection of race superiority.

You know -- for the last (God knows how many) years I've been hearing about this so called connection between some ethnic groups having a bigger share of having Northern European genes (which is doubtful anyhow) which supposedly makes these groups more intelligent than the rest of us in the subcontinent. I think some people in Punjab inherited these ideas from some daft Iranians who started thinking of themselves as Northern European. These are some of my observations just to clarify things once and for all.

1) Such pseudo-science theories are pushed by people who have to de-nigrate others (unlike them in say skin color or habits) so they can feel good about themselves. This indicates a narrow-minded insecure mindset and is also laughable because Northern European ancestry does not give you any automatic membership in a privileged position in society or assured success as an ethnic group. Discpline and hard work does. The time for that forced ancestry bulls**t has come and gone.

2) Having Northern European ancestry is not a prerequisite for an ordered, disciplined and prosperous society. Inclusiveness is what makes a society in a state prosper. Witness Asian countries like Singapore or even Malaysia. Although the differing ethnic groups have their differences (and none of them are pseudo Northern European) -- the fact that any ethnic group can get a fair shake in those countries when they work hard is what made those societies prosper. I don't even have to mention the US -- where you don't even have to be a 'pseudo Northern European' (or a real one) to be successful in life.

3) Some of the most talented and reasonable people I have met in my life do not have any pseudo Northern European Kalash, Hazara or Punjabi ancestry. Some of them were totally of South Indian background (like Ramanujan) without any trace of Northern European genes. The lifestyles of the Kalash and Hazaras are terminally primitive (like most Adivasis or hill people in the rest of Indian subcontinent). Their pseudo Northern European ancestry did not help them much there. I think even reasonable Punjabi people (the educated ones I mean) would laugh at this theory because Punjab's capital Lahore does not have much to show as overwhelmingly superior compared to say Chennai or Dhaka (where there is say -- a dearth of the so called Northern Europeans).

IMO This kind of racial superiority theory is subscribed to mainly by,

a) By people who don't travel much, or

b) the uneducated (pseudo-educated), or

c) by thirteen year olds

I would suggest to the OP who tried to foster these theories to stop immediately unless he wants to make himself look like an ass in front of people in an International forum. Keeping this bulls**t confined to Punjab itself is IMO a good idea.

[King Nothing]

Originally Posted by TIslam

The question however, remains, that does it really matter? Of what consequence? I felt the discussion was headed towards a projection of race superiority.

Well at the end of the day we all came from Apes in Africa. From there we went to various places and became several races.

Too bad all the neanderthals died tho

[King Nothing]

Originally Posted by manbil777

I would suggest to the OP who tried to foster these theories to stop immediately unless he wants to make himself look like an ass in front of people in an International forum. Keeping this bulls**t confined to Punjab itself is IMO a good idea.

The OP - Sayem hasnt posted in this thread in a while.

[King Nothing]

Originally Posted by tislam84

Well, in my case, I can say that my Mom's side is from Iraq/Afghanistan and my Dad's side is from North India. But their families migrated to present-day Bangladesh a long time ago (hundreds of years ago).

How did u find that out. I for the life of me cannot trace my ancestry to anywhere beyond my desher bari. Maybe I need to do a DNA test?

[dopekhor]

Originally Posted by King Nothing

How did u find that out. I for the life of me cannot trace my ancestry to anywhere beyond my desher bari. Maybe I need to do a DNA test?

yeah the genographic project from national geographic, spend $100

[tislam84]

Originally Posted by King Nothing

How did u find that out. I for the life of me cannot trace my ancestry to anywhere beyond my desher bari. Maybe I need to do a DNA test?

Well, my Mom's side of the family's history is pretty well-recorded. They arrived in Bangladesh during the time of Rani Bhobani of Natore, and for some reason, the 'Rani' gave my mom's ancestor a huge tract of land, where they settled.

My Dad's side of the story is through word-of-mouth.

[beer51]

What made them come in the first place? do you know.

[tislam84]

My mom's side claim that their ancestor was a 'pir' of sorts, but I think it was more of an economic reason. I am not sure about the reason for my Dad's ancestors, but it was also probably for economic/safety reasons.

[beer51]

Thanks. The reason why i asked is because about ~150yrs+ years ago Bengal was a prosperous region.

[dopekhor]

Originally Posted by beer51

Thanks. The reason why i asked is because about ~150yrs+ years ago Bengal was a prosperous region.

no say? i heard stores of bengal being salvaged by many great famines..

[TIslam]

Originally Posted by dopekhor

no say? i heard stores of bengal being salvaged by many great famines..

Do you mean savaged?

[manbil777]

Interesting story here which says that the looting of Bengal itself started the Western industrial revolution. Sort of reductive and simplistic but partially true...

[beer51]

Very interesting article thanks for sharing it.

[King Nothing]

Originally Posted by beer51

Thanks. The reason why i asked is because about ~150yrs+ years ago Bengal was a prosperous region.

More like 250+ years ago. Before the British came.

no say? i heard stores of bengal being salvaged by many great famines..

That was during colonial times

[tislam84]

That's true. It is said that the famine of 1770 killed an estimated 10 million people, due to the policies of East India Company.