Calcutta Corner

The Unholy Nexus

According to the opposition parties in West Bengal, each time there is an increase in CBI-activity in the state as far as the chit fund scam is concerned, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee rushes off to Delhi to meet Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi possibly to discuss a quid pro quo type of situation. 

Last year, as the central investigative agency which is probing the scam (in which hundreds and thousands of poor people were duped out of their small savings by fraudulent companies, many of whom are alleged to have links with top leaders of the ruling party in the state) interrogated and sent to jail one top leader after another and it seemed that the it would even summon the CM herself for questioning, she flew down to Delhi and had a private meeting with Modi. Modi, whose only need for Didi is to get her support to push through important bills in the upper house where his government falls short of a majority has been accused by Mamata's Trinamool of using the CBI to get after her. Even the opposition claims that the CBI's crackdown on Mamata's ministers, MPs and MLAs is an arm-twisting tactic by Modi to get the support he needs in exchange for leaving her alone. They call it an "unholy nexus". 

Whatever the case maybe, interestingly after the last meeting, suddenly the CBI did go all quiet. This month another set of interrogations involving top TMC leaders, including the influential general secretary Sankudeb Panda, has got the party into a tizzy. Didi rushed off to Delhi again and met Modi this week. Opposition parties are saying, "We told you so."

Abhimaani Madan

Bengalis are known to be emotional. Perhaps no other community in the country has used, abused, and misused the term 'abhimaan' (which has been unsuccessfully translated into English many times but the simple 'hurt' seems to come closest to the nuanced meaning) as much as it has by Bengalis. 

While in other parts of the country it generally applies to lovers, in Bengal it has been used to describe hurt between all unlikely people and relationships ranging from those between students and teachers, bosses and subordinates and even pets and their masters. Even the dubious relationship between a thief and the subject of his thievery has been inculcated with an element of 'abhimaan' with the ancient Bengali adage making a specific reference to it thus: "chorer opor abhimaan korey matitey bhaat khachhey." (some one who is so hurt by the thief having stolen all his utensils that he eats off the floor.). 

But this time the Calcutta media has perhaps gone a step further when it described former Bengal transport minister Madan Mitra's reaction to a comment by his one-time mentor, Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee as "abhimaan". A few days ago Mamata while addressing a rally said, "If someone from the party steals money, it doesn't make the whole party a thief. That individual is a thief." While she didn't name him specifically, it has been largely speculated that she was referring to Madan, who is an accused in the chit fund scam and has been in jail for nearly a year. When on his way to court reporters asked him to react to Didi's comments. He was silent for a moment and then shot back saying, "Theek ee to boleychen." (What she said is right.). Since then a section of the media has termed him, "Abhimaani Madan". But since it is he who has been accused of being a "chor" the ancient Bengali adage takes on a whole new different meaning.

I spy ISI

Three ISI spies were captured from Calcutta. One of them had an interesting modus operandi. According to the Calcutta Police's Special Task Force, which made the arrest, 51-year-old Irshad Ansari, a contract labourer at Calcutta's Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers Ltd had this nasty habit of going through the company dust bin at the end of the day. While his colleagues would be too happy to call it a day and go home to their respective families, he would stay back to rummage through the garbage can. But then what family? According to the police, his family was right there helping him out. His son, 23-year-old Asfaq Ansari and a relative Mohammad Jahangir were also arrested. The trio would empty out the contents — mostly torn up pieces of documents and carry it back with them. They would then piece together the pieces like a jigsaw puzzle, take photos of them on their cell phone cameras and whatsapp it to ISI personnel in Pakistan. What good would that do the ISI you may ask. Well, the shipping company for which the trio was working manufactures navy vessels including warships and submarines and the documents, police say, revealed detailed drawings among other information.

Judging a book by its cover

A book of Bengali short stories for children by the writer Prachet Gupta has become a bestseller. With a riveting title like Chhadey Ke Haatey?” (Who walks on the terrace?) it's a book you can safely judge by its cover. But disappointingly out of the 12 stories only three or four are ghost or scary stories — in spite of the title — and that reflects a lack of thematic congruousness. That said, most of the stories are refreshingly readable even for adults.

Lines from a hit Bengali song:

"Jotoi daako amay bokaa bholaa… jaani ami tomar coca cola" (call me an idiot as much as you like…but I know I am your coca cola").