Kolkata Korner

Elusive Winter
We're approaching mid-December and can't even wear light woolens. The mild winter chill, which makes Kolkatans don their 'monkey' caps and shawls, is still eluding us. Only if one ventures to the suburbs of the city, and that too late evening, does one need to roll downone's shirtsleeves and, maybe, don a light cardigan. The culprit, believe it or not, is Pakistan. Or rather, the skies over eastern Pakistan that are overcast, thus blocking the cold winds from Afghanistan blowing across through the North Indian gangetic plains into Bengal. Our met experts tell us that the mercury won't dip till the clouds over Pakistani skies blow away and make way for the cold winds to sweep into India. And conditions being what they are in Pakistan, there are slim chances of the skies clearing up there within the next few days. Which means we may have to sweat it out here for at least a couple of weeks more. Does Mush have a hand in this? Can't answer that, but he's definitely responsible for the adverse (political) conditions in that country. And the skies there are only reflecting the reality on the ground, perhaps. Soit's gonna be a hot Christmas for us here?

Cheer Up!
But hey, state government employees have a lot to cheer about in 2008. It seems that theyneed work only for 179 days, or half the year! This is how--the state government has come out with its list of 23 festival holidays. There are 104 Saturdays and Sundays next year and if a government employee avails the full quota of his or her entitled leave (very few of them don't, actually), it'll be 30 days of earned leave, 14 days' casual leave and10 days' medical leave. That adds to 179 days. In 2001, the Durga Puja vacation was cut down from10 days to just five, disappointing many who had got used to going on long trips out of station.In 2008, Puja vacationers are lucky: the Puja holidays start on October 6 (a Monday) and continuetilll October 10 (a Friday). The next two days--Saturday and Sunday--are holidays since government employees follow a five-day working week here. Monday (Oct 13) is a working day, but October 14 is a holiday for Lakshmi Puja. So most government employees would be taking casual leave on October 13 to enjoy an enviably long holiday starting from October 4 (a Saturday) to October14--an eleven day break. Whatever happened to Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee's 'do it now' slogan?

Fake Contrition
Talking of Buddhadeb, the 'bhadralok' act that he put on in New Delhi the other day was not quite genuine. I'm not being petty and am not a Buddhadeb-baiter, but let's look at what he said. Referring to his infamous "we paid them back in their own coin" statement, Buddhadeb said: "I should not have said that. I was trying to tell them (the media in Calcutta) that our boys were getting desperate and out of desperation, they entered the area". The emphasis is mine, but he used the term "ourboys"--a reference to CPI(M) workers and supporters--again, thus letting it slip that he considers himself a party leader first and then a Chief Minister. And mind you, Buddhadeb didn't, for once, say in Delhi that he was sorry for what happened at Nandigram and that his party was wrong in sending in armed cadres to recapture that place. 

Buddhadeb put on a benign mask in Delhi solely because of all the bad press his party and he himself had received over the past few weeks. And he correctly judged that if he can get back into the national media's good books, things would beOK for him. But soon after he staged his spurious act of contrition in Delhi, his senior comrades in Calcutta were contradicting him. CPI(M) leader Shyamal Chakraborty told reporters here that very same day that had what Buddhadeb spoke in Delhi been the party's opinion, it'd have been voiced at a party forum and not at a press meet. Another senior leader, Benoy Konar, told reporters here immediately after Buddhadeb spoke in Delhi that there was no question of expressing regret. "Our people gave them (the opposition) a fitting reply," Konar said emphatically. If Buddhadeb really meant what he said in Delhi, why couldn't he stop his comrades from speaking in a different voice? Buddhadeb said he shares a good rapport with Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi and exchanges books with him. Why, then, do Buddhadeb's party colleagues continue attacking the Governor?

Back In The City
The mask slipped off when Buddhadeb returned to Calcutta. He bared his fangs once again at an anti-communal meeting held to observe the anniversary of the demolition of Babri Masjid. He spat fire at his critics and watched with a wicked smile on his face as his comrades lambasted all critics of the CPI(M). Buddhadeb wore a wide grin and nodded enthusiastically in agreement when Prakash Karatlambasted the intellectuals who had criticized Buddhadeb and the party over Nandigram and compared the Bengal CM to his Gujarat counterpart. Karat called such critics "enemies of society and the country". Contrast this to what Buddhadeb said in Delhi about the reaction from the intellectuals being "understandable". Look at the two contrasting faces of Buddhadeb and his party. A benign act in Delhi to re-affirm their liberal credentials and displaying their dictatorial and totalitarianvisage--the true face of a communist party actually--in Bengal. Prakash Karat's statement about the CPI(M)'s critics being enemies of society and country is also a bit hard to digest. Does he mean that the CPI(M) is synonymous with India and its society? That's being much too ambitious, Mr Karat, since the CPI(M) has little influence outside the two mid-sized states of Bengal and Kerala and in back-of-beyondTripura.

Tina Factor
Unfortunately, much as we may rave and rant against Buddhadeb and his party, there is actually no alternative to them. The only person who has some standing in Bengal (it's not much anyway) presents a horrific option and one shudders to think what she'll do in the unlikely event of her coming to power. Just watchingnews-clips of her meetings (no sane person would ever think of attending them) is enough to make anyone switch channels in disgust. This lady simply doesn't know what she's saying, is impulsive, lacks maturity, is quick-tempered and has no vision or plans for even a road in her constituency, leave aside Bengal. 

The media has been, and rightly so, very critical of Buddhadeb's statements justifying recapture of Nandigram. But little attention has been paid to what Mamata Banerjee has been saying. At one recent public rally, she clicked her fingers and vowed to exact revenge for the reverses the opposition suffered at Nandigram. She issued open threats to CPI(M) workers and leaders and spoke of eliminating them. She called Buddhadeb names and promised to drive away CPI(M) workers and supporters from Nandigram once again. Hardly things a mature and responsible political leader would say when the need of the hour is peace and building harmony by trying to put the bitterness behind at Nandigram. Yes, Mamata'ssupporters--and they can't be accused of being mature, responsible, educated andbroad-minded--love her posturings and rantings. But others -- most -- don't, and therein lies the reason why this lady will never, ever, get to control our destinies (let's keep our fingers crossed on that one).

Postscript
With such a lot of heat and dust being generated on Bengal's plains, is it any wonder that winter is still eluding us?