KOLKATA: In less than half an hour, at least six youngsters walk up to Shamim Osman, each of them congratulating him for coining the slogan 'Khela Hobe'. The MP from Bangladesh's Narayanganj is a familiar face, and his admirers want a photo with him. All this would not be surprising in Dhaka. The interesting bit is that this is in Kolkata, where Osman has come for a medical consultation.
Everywhere Osman goes- be it the hotel lobby with son Ayon and daughter Angona, or around New Market with wife Salma, who has recorded an album - the warmth this city has for him - he calls Kolkata his "oxygen" - is palpable. It prompts him to wistfully hope for a day when one wouldn't need a visa to cross the Indo-Bangladesh border. "Everywhere I go when I am in Kolkata, someone or the other is talking nostalgically about their roots in Bangladesh. I can feel how keen they are about easily visiting their roots. I feel similarly about India. It's time we advocated a system like the Schengen visa," he says.
