It’s a little crazy that every New Year’s we hope for things to change. I was at a cigarette kiosk the other day picking up a pack of smokes for my father. The guy behind the counter knew me since my cigarette smoking days so I ended up indulging in a conversation.
I asked the guy if things were good. He shrugged. Continuing to go along his routine he smiled and said that it’s just the 9th of the first month of the New Year. I was allowed to think during the brief period of silence that ensued. Unable to comprehend what the hell did the 9th of January signify I gave up. He decided to end the torture and told me that people make resolutions of giving up smoking every year but by the third week of January things get back to normal.
I realized that the done deal of trying and changing…make a serious effort and even if you failed you can be happy that you tried will never leave us. Last year I thought that getting a chance to reset some thing to factory settings is a nice way of telling one’s self that things will return to innocence. But hoping to turn a new leaf every time a new year commences is perhaps only more normal than things getting back to routine, however good or bad.
If last year thing time it were the Satyam Rajus who were forced to get off the tiger that they weren’t meant to ride, this year it’s the Prime Minister who is doing strange things with your money. For those who are not in the loop the grand daddy of Bengal Jyoti Basu is fighting the battle of his life. No it’s Mamta Banerjee who is at it again; Mr. Basu’s health is deteriorating with each word that I type. The Prime Minister not only flew down to Kolkata to ‘call on’ the Big Kahuna of the Indian Communists using the tax payer’s money, he took the Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee along. The PM spent 20 minutes in the hospital and left only when the doctors treating the 95 year old patriarch of Indian politics (sic) assured him that they would act upon the PM’s offer to fly in experts from other parts of the nation to treat Mr. Basu, if the need be. The PM also wished for Mr. Basu’s speedy recovery when he was speaking to the ex-CM’s son.
Is this a joke?
At the cost of coming across as someone who is unmoved by human hardships didn’t the PM having some more pressing matters of the state to attend to instead of flying to Kolkata? Mr. Basu is 95 years old and as far as things go people are bound to face health problems at that age unless you are Dev Anand. I’m sure the PM would have loved to chat up with Mr. Basu and learn a thing or two about politics but Mr. Basu was in coma when the PM dropped in.
I was so surprised by this visit of the PM that it took me some days to get over it. I thought about it for hours and tried to figure out why the PM would do such a thing? I think that the PM, a man of excellent scientific reasoning, loves the idea of time travel. For anyone who has visited Kolkata in the recent past or eons ago loves that the city is stuck in the 1980’s while the politicians of the state called it Kolkata’s ‘character’! The state is in shambles, the industry there is dying, the future of their films depends on Rituporno Ghosh but that still doesn’t make the powers be in Bengal to do some thing for the common man. I am sure that many official decisions would have to wait till ahem…you know what I mean…for people are busy.
PS: I just got to know that play list for the Indian Air Force One include the latest hits of KL Saigal and Kishore Kuamr’s KoiLauta De Mujhe Mere Beete Hue Din. My feeble attempt at translation- Oh how I wish someone got back my glory days…
PPS: If anyone of you is offended by the post and would lovingly sign any letter of apology as soon as you get the same from the 8 people who left a comment on the article mentioned above.
In the parlance of Hindi cinema, 14 years means a long time. When it comes to people, 14 years could just about everything. If you were to talk about technology then 14 years could mean a lot. If you think of cities that you visit after a long time, a decade and a half could mean an entirely new landscape. I stay in a city that barely existed five years ago! So imagine my surprise when I visited Kolkata after 14 years this weekend and found that the only thing that changed was the name. Once it was Calcutta and the only thing that reminds you of that 'past' is the restaurant whose name inspires this post.
When someone says a city has character they mean that many moons later it would age like a person. That is so true for Calcutta. The city adds a few wrinkles and strands of grey but beneath all that remains the same.
Is that a good thing or a bad thing?
For one it's nice as there are very few places left in India that are connected with the past in a sense so unique. The city’s buildings come across like weary stage actors who continue to amble along their lines. The streets, the buildings seem to be responding on cues and putting up a show for visitors. That might not be a bad thing but in Calcutta’s case it seems (to me) like somewhere down the line Calcutta lost the plot. How else do you explain things like people still using 25 and 50 paise! The official parking charges for cars is Rs. 6.25 per hour! They wanted to phase-out taxi's more than 15 years old some 10 years ago. Guess what? Ten years later the taxis are almost 25 years old and still crisscrossing the city.
I was there on a weekend and perhaps that’s why one of the taxi drivers told me it was easy moving around. He complained that the people don't allow the government to do anything. He wasn't complaining about the people. He meant that it was rare that the government wants to do something and whenever such an opportunity arises the people gang up. The chaos on the streets is visible from a concoction of taxis, private vehicles, trams, buses and two wheelers making it a free for all play. Yet it continues to be the city of joy.
So what makes Calcutta so unique?
The people?
The culture?
The government?
What!?
I think it’s a combination of things. I don't mind our obsession with the past and trying too hard to stick to it. I suggest that if you want to do that then accept that and prepare. Restore the streets, buildings and other things that dot your city's landscape; make it look new old! Many Calcutta buildings are beautiful and I'm not talking about the Victoria Memorial. Like Bombay, Calcutta represents the British legacy more than any other place. These cities were largely the creation of colonial might and one look at buildings such as The Bible Society of India, Government College of Art and Craft, YMCA reveals more than a hundred books. Wouldn’t it be prudent to preserve this in a better way than the auto pilot mode it seems to be functioning on?
The way things are Calcutta doesn’t seem to be going anywhere soon. The builders of new India- DLF, MGF and the ilk are threatening to come in but as of now they have been restricted to the outskirts so don’t rush that trip. Thankfully the famous Calcutta traffic jams would keep a check on their entry. 20 years ago you got stuck in traffic jams highlighted by Ambassadors and hand-pulled rickshaws. Today the traffic jams are still there and so are the Ambassadors!
Flooding seems to be the flavor of the month for our cities!
Perhaps like Mumbai, Kolkata's recent rain woes are a shining example of bad civic planning or could it be the trailer for the apparent end of the world as predicted by a Mayan Calender...
While people suggest boats as a means of transport, this reporter suggests a revolution...
If it keep on rainin' the levee gonna break, Everybody saying this is a day only The Lord could make If it keep on rainin' the levee gonna break, Some of these people don't know which road to take -Bob Dylan
