Calcutta Corner

Alive & Kickin'
In Bengal, Maoism did not die with Kishenji. It is still alive and kicking. The Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee herself pointed that out when she visited Jungle Mahal in West Bengal’s West Midnapore district this week. Addressing a large gathering of locals in Belpahari which along with Lalgarh was considered to be one of Jungle Mahal’s most “Maoist-affected” in the not-so-distant past, she urged those “who had come under the influence of the rebel outfit” to give up arms and join the mainstream. This open admission of the presence of Maoists in Jungle  Mahal is interesting at two levels. First, Banerjee’s handling of the “Maoist problem” in Bengal has been considered to be one of her success stories so far. The killing of Kishenji, head of the Maoists’ Bengal command, and the arrest of top leaders like Telegu Dipak and more recently Bikram, has seen a lull in Maoist activity in the area. At a time when she has come under criticism of underachievement on several counts— the most prominent of which is her government’s failure to procure a ‘bailout package’ from the centre in the one year that it has been in power in spite of being the UPA government’s largest ally, followed closely by the failure to woo industrial investment because of a hands-off land-acquisition policy — she could very well have played up her success in this area instead of pointing out that the problem is far from solved. In that sense the admission reveals Mamata’s genuine commitment to solving the problems of Jungle Mahal.

Honour Restored
Pinki Pramanik, who had won gold for India in women’s athletics in international sports, but last month accused by a woman of gender fraud and rape, had lost her job in the railways after the allegations. Getting sacked was like adding insult to injury for Pinki, who went through the worst kind of harassment post her arrest, with male police manhandling her and treating her like a male prisoner even though she had not been proven guilty. Pinki was also subjected to a gender determination test against her wishes in custody. Fortunately, these tests revealed that she was ‘incapable of committing rape’ and released from prison. This week she got her job back and will be seen once again at Calcutta’s Sealdah station wearing her uniform as a ticket inspector.  While the allegations had been publicly proven false, the railways formally revoked its dismissal order against Pinki and reinstituted her after she submitted a copy of the court’s bail order.  Speaking to Outlook, Pinki said that she felt part of her honour has been restored though the humiliation of what she went through will leave psychological scars for a long time to come.

Emulating the Lord
On the occasion of Janmashtami, Lord Krishna’s birthday, some devotees of a temple in the suburban district of Barasat allegedly tried to steal coconuts which were meant to be offered to the deity duo of Radha-Krisha.  The news would have gone unnoticed, even though the whole idea of stealing somehow doesn’t quite gel with the concept of worship, but for the fact that the incident triggered a violent police-devotee clash in front of the temple which saw four pilgrims and three policemen injured and admitted to hospital. What happened was that around 6:30 in the evening some devious devotees took a slight detour from their course and instead of entering the temple, they went straight for the storeroom in the back, where the coconuts to serve the deities were being stored.  This did not go down well with the other more disciplined devotees, who caught them in the act. A quarrel broke out. The police were called in. Now, the police tried to settle the dispute by  lathicharging the devotees, allegedly indiscriminately. Soon the devotees united against the police and chaos ensued with police and an unruly mob going at each other. Police vehicles were set on fire. Ambulances and fire trucks arrived on the spot.  Finally, a large contingent of police, led by the Barsat additional SP took control and the mob slowly dispersed.

Dengue Attack
If you’re planning a visit to Calcutta, make sure you are carrying a mosquito net and lots of mosquito repellent cream because Dengue is back. Who? You might ask. Well, for the uninitiated, Dengue is a fever, which like Malaria is injected into our bloodstream by those fly-by-day and night creatures called mosquitoes.  A viral disease it is transmitted by the Aedes Aegypti brand of mosquito, which in layman’s language is the mosquito that bites you during the day. At night, these diurnal creatures go back to their marshy homelands, which are often the moist corners of your house, like the base of a flowerpot or the dark side of the kitchen sink, making way for the nocturnal Malaria brigade to spread their wings. (Yes, in Calcutta, mosquitoes work in shifts, operating 24X7). This week a Dengue-alert has been issued by the civic authorities after an alarming rise in the number of cases was reported from hospitals around the city. The symptoms of Dengue are high fever, severe headache, muscle and joint pain, loss of appetite, nausea and breaking out in rashes. According to doctors this is the worst outbreak of Dengue since 2005.

Hum Kissi Se Kom Nahi

After Mary Kom won the bronze for India, a Bengali SMS circulating amongst friends gave the lowdown on what could be done to grab gold next time: “Naam ta change korey Mary Beshi  korey deek, nirghat gold niey phirbe.” (Next time change her name from Mary Kom to Mary Beshi — Kom means less and Beshi more, in Bengali )