Monday | 7 October 2024 | Reg No- 06
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In My View

Some amazing stories of American hospitality

Published : Friday, 28 October, 2022 at 12:00 AM  Count : 481
Syed Badiuzzaman
�By and large, Americans are friendly, polite and considerate people. They stand up for what is right and never hesitate to go even out of their way to help others."  That was a general opinion of all 12 journalists from 12 different countries of the world at the end of a journalism fellowship program sponsored by a Washington-based U.S. organization back in 1988.

As the fellowship which provided an excellent opportunity to these journalists - myself included -- to work at various American newspapers for six months came to a close, they returned to New York for participating in a post-mortem meeting. At that meeting, the journalists shared their personal experiences with fellowship officials who asked them a variety of questions and listened to their answers with complete attention.

Their questions were about what went right, what went wrong as well as how the fellowship could be further improved. The most fascinating question came at the end of that final meeting of the fellowship. "How did you all find the Americans during your six-month stay in this country?" In response to this question, All 12 foreign journalists praised American people describing them as "friendly, polite, helpful, courteous" and with a lot of other good adjectives.

As for myself, I experienced their cordiality while I was still in my home country Bangladesh. I had applied for US visa with the State Department's pink form mailed to me in advance by the host of our program. When I went to the American embassy in Dhaka to pick up my passport, US Information Officer Jesse Bailey took me to his office where he personally handed me my passport with a sticker of an American visa affixed to it.

The young and friendly officer expressed his happiness at my selection as the first fellow from Bangladesh for the new Alfred Friendly Press Fellowship started just about a couple of years ago. We had a nice and cordial chat over coffee. After our unexpected meeting, Jesse Bailey wished me good luck. Before I left his office, he asked me to wait and then said: "Syed, you are going to Massachusetts. I have a big contact there. He is a state senator. Meet him when you get to Boston." Then he handed me a business card and a blank sheet of letterhead of Sen. Paul Harold of Massachusetts.

After arriving in Washington, we stayed at Carlyle Suites Hotel. In the first couple of weeks, we attended a series of orientation seminars and get-to-know meetings in the nation's capital. While I was taking a nap one afternoon at the weekend at our hotel, I unexpectedly received a call from the hotel receptionist who told me that someone was waiting in the downstairs lobby to see me. As I came down in my casual outfit, I saw Jesse Bailey, the US Information Officer of the American embassy in Bangladesh, sitting there for me.

It was a pleasant surprise! I was really so happy to see him there. "We just met at the American embassy in Dhaka about a week ago. How come you are here in Washington?" I asked Jesse Bailey. "Syed, I am not in Dhaka anymore. I have been transferred from Bangladesh. I was passing through Washington to report to my new duty station in Africa. I still have several hours before I fly out of here. So, I decided to meet you," he told me like a long-known trusted friend.

Jesse Bailey's sudden appearance in my hotel lobby in Washington was really a great surprise to me. "How did you know that we are staying at Carlyle Suites Hotel?" I asked him out of sheer curiosity. "I contacted your fellowship and they told me that right now you are staying here," he replied, adding: "Then I thought why don't I meet you at Carlyle Suites for a chat since I still have several hours before my flight tonight." Next, Jesse Bailey said: "Syed, let's go for a quick drink somewhere nearby." "Sure," I replied saying "let me come back from my room."

Then we walked to a Washington bar, not far from the Carlyle Suites Hotel, sat on its outdoor patio and ordered for our drinks. As we sipped our chilled beer in the gentle summer breeze of Washington, Jesse Bailey recalled his days in Dhaka and association with some "nice people." "I really had a good time in Bangladesh, Syed. I also came across some really nice people in Dhaka. I don't know what will be my experience in Africa. But I don't mind going anywhere in the world. After all, it's my job and I love it," he said. About an hour later, we said our goodbyes and parted ways.    

After a few weeks into my fellowship at the Patriot Ledger newspaper in Quincy on the outskirts of Boston, where I was sent for an on-the-job experience, Ledger's associate editor and my supervisor Bernie Caughey alerted me around noon time one day that Senator Paul Harold of Massachusetts was on his way to pick me up from the downstairs coffee shop in about 10 minutes. As I walked into the coffee shop, Sen. Harold who was already standing at the door greeted me in such a way as if he already knew me.

"Welcome to Massachusetts, Syed! I just arrived here. Jesse Bailey called and told me everything about you. You are a senior journalist at the New Nation newspaper of Bangladesh. You will be working here at the Ledger for six months under the Alfred Friendly Press Fellowship. Let's grab our coffee. I will take you to a meeting of the local selectmen at a suburban restaurant which is not very far from here. I have a working lunch with them today and you can also join us and have an experience about how political activities are conducted at the local level in Massachusetts."  

With a large coffee in hand, Sen. Paul Harold got into his black SUV along with me and drove himself to the venue of his meeting with the selectmen. While driving through Quincy, Sen. Harold, a staunch Democrat, talked about his political life, future of Democratic Party as well as local politics in America. He said he had a close connection with Gary Hurt, the front-runner for the 1988 Democratic presidential nomination. "If Hurt would be American president, then I would probably be the US ambassador to Bangladesh," he told me smilingly.

Another day, Sen. Harold took me to a lunch party at the Kiwanis Club of Quincy, Massachusetts. The club is a part of Kiwanis International, a global organization of volunteers dedicated to changing the world, one community and one child at a time. It invites a guest speaker to each of their lunch parties attended by several hundred people. And that day it was my turn to speak on the "Achievements and Challenges of Bangladesh."

Toward the end of the fellowship, I had another pleasant surprise! At this stage, some of the foreign journalists were joined by their families and so was I. On a Friday afternoon, I was informed again by my supervisor Bernie Caughey at the Patriot Ledger that James Rousmaniere, the executive editor of the Keene Sentinel newspaper of New Hampshire would arrive in Quincy shortly to take me and my family for a weekend getaway to the neighboring state. I remember it was heavily raining that afternoon and James Rousmaniere picked me up from the Patriot Ledger newspaper office and my wife and then our toddler son from the place where we were living at that time and then drove us to the City of Keene in New Hampshire cruising some 160 kilometers from Quincy, Massachusetts.

We stayed quite comfortably at a local hotel at the center of the city under an arrangement made by the Keene Sentinel newspaper. Next day, Jim Rousmaniere, a graduate from Harvard University, who visited Bangladesh a few years ago to conduct a research on Bangladesh's newspaper industry under a Harvard University grant, took us to the Keene Sentinel newspaper office and other places of interest in the city that hosted the state's annual pumpkin festival from 1991 to 2014. Then we had lunch together at a popular restaurant located in the heart of the City of Keene.

In the evening, we attended a dinner party at the residence of Jim Rousmaniere which was also joined by some of his journalist and other friends. As we stepped into his living room (also called drawing room in some countries), we noticed two life-size colored posters -- one of then Bangladeshi popular movie star Rozina and the other one of a Bangladeshi rickshaw puller on the wall. Two huge pictures of two very known Bangladeshis gave me an instant feeling as if I was standing on the sidewalk of a Dhaka street or right in front of a movie theatre in Bangladesh.

Out of curiosity, I asked Jim Rousmaniere what prompted him to choose the poster of film star Rozina among so many other beautiful movie actresses of Bangladesh. "I like her." His answer was short and straightforward. I just smiled thinking Rozina would never know that the editor who later became president of an American newspaper liked her so much so he brought her poster all the way from Bangladesh and hung it on the wall of his living room in America. These are some of the amazing stories of the hospitality of some of my American friends. I haven't forgotten them, nor will I ever for sure.
The writer is a Toronto-based
journalist who also writes for the Toronto Sun as a guest columnist







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