Kolkata Korner

Year-end musings
By all accounts, 2007 hasn't been a very good year for Bengal. The yearkicked off with the unsavoury incident of clashes between the army and police,in which the city's cops came out as a cowardly, corrupt, high-handed andundisciplined force. Then, there was the clash at Nandigram that escalated intoa full-blown battle between the CPI(M) and opposition forces, claiming manylives, displacing thousands and bringing a bad name to the state. There weremany ugly and unfortunate incidents that pockmarked the year and, if anything,2007 could well be marked out in history as the year when Bengal stumbled andfell while taking faltering steps towards industrialisation and rejuvenation. 

It was also the year that people, especially residents of this city, overcamedecades of fear of the brute power of the state (read: CPI-M) and startedvoicing their opposition to the Marxists openly and loudly. And, of course, 2007would go down in history as the year in which lawlessness increased, as didpollution and incidents of strife. This would also be remembered as the year inwhich, for the first time since Independence, riots broke out on Kolkata'sstreets when Muslims, angry with Taslima Nasreen's presence here, went on therampage and attacked the cops who, cowering in fear, fled from the mobs till thearmy stepped in. Apart from the CPI(M), another organization that stoodthoroughly exposed and badly discredited in 2007 was the state police force. 

But then, as had been made out in this column many a time, the police forcein Bengal is a mere adjunct of the CPI(M). And there's no hope in theforeseeable future that things would change. One can only hope that 2008 wouldnot be worse that 2007. Let's keep our fingers crossed (for our sake, not theCPI-M's).

Gujarat ripples
Narendra Modi's victory in Gujarat had Bongs, who love to flaunt their (pseudo)secular credentials and their (so-called) intellectual superiority, veryagitated and screaming murder (of democracy, that is). Bengali TV channels werefull of lengthy talk shows in which speakers derided Gujarat, the Gujratis andModi. They lamented Modi's victory and the "wrong choice" that peopleof Gujarat made. They all predicted Gujarat's doom. The analyses they put forthwere, of course, full of inanities.

But what would have struck any intelligent viewer was the smugness thatspeakers of all hues displayed at having kept the flag of secularism flying highin Bengal. Never mind the fact that the Sachar committee found Bengal's Muslimsthe worst off in India on all social and economic indicators. Unable to put upwith those pretentious 'intellectuals' who were analyzing the Gujarat electionresults on one such talk show, I phoned in to raise precisely this point. 

The anchor's answer left me dazed: in Bengal, he said, Muslims have neverbeen killed in a pogrom, unlike Gujarat. So it's bad to kill Muslims, but okayto keep them in poverty and deprivation for eternity, no? Such is the hypocrisyof Bengalis. But what eludes me is how a community that has voted for just oneparty for thirty long years can ever lay any claim to intellectual superiority.And before we condemn Gujarat, let's have a look at the impressive rate ofgrowth, GDP, investments and socio-economic progress of that state. Bengal palesin comparison.

Bright spot
I'll amend that secularism part a bit. Kolkatans, or at least a large number ofthem, may have a fairly strong secular streak. And this was in evidence on theBengali TV channels on Christmas eve and on 'Bara Din' (as Christmas is calledin Bengali). The channels ran very attractive programmes on Christmas, completewith carols and very interesting and illuminating chat shows. There was a lot ofgood cheer. I surfed to check out other Indian language channels on December 25,but none had any programmes running on Christmas. 

There was, at last, there was something to genuinely feel proud about as aKolkatan. Bengali TV channels were true to Kolkata's once-famouscosmopolitanism. Unfortunately, that cosmopolitanism is no longer in evidence onthe ground in the city, what with the communities that lent the cosmopolitantouch and made Kolkata an interesting place to live in--the Anglo-Indians, theJews, the Armenians, the Parsis and some other communities--having long leftthis city. There are, no doubt, many other communities who have made Kolkatatheir home, but they can't really match up to the ones that have migrated interms of keeping Kolkata's cosmopolitanism alive and kicking. 

But watching the Bengali TV channels, one really turned nostalgic about thosegood 'ol days of Nahoum's cakes, Flury's pastries, Pam Craine, can-can dancers,the Parsi families flocking to Park Street, the Armenian ball at Great EasternHotel… all those people, spots and events that had made Calcutta so glorious.That Calcutta is no more, having made way to, aptly, Kolkata. The change in thiscity's name marks its transition from a cosmopolitan, smart, beautiful andelegant metropolis into a pretentious, poor, miserable, petty and dirty dump. 

Park Street spoilers
As predicted, Christmas revelries on Park Street degenerated in plainhooliganism by rowdies who flocked to that prime location on 24th and 25thevenings. Women were teased and molested by the hordes of lumpens who took overPark Street. And, as I said, the unprecedented footfalls didn't convert intomore business for the eateries and other commercial establishments that lineKolkata's brightest street. 

The cops also played spoilsport by making the entire stretch of Park Street a'no parking' zone and even preventing people from getting down from theirvehicles. Hence, many who had planned to hop off from their cars near therestaurants of their choice were forced to drive down to nearby areas and hikeit back. And it was here that the problem arose--no one wanted to be accosted bythe rowdies who had captured Park Street. So people drove off to otherrestaurants in other parts of the city for their Christmas dinners. And therestaurateurs of Park Street were left twiddling their thumbs. 

Things would be no different on December 31st night. At this rate, as Ipredicted, restaurants and other establishments on Park Street would remainclosed on Christmas and New Year's eve and would also choose not to decorate theroad (Park Street is much more than a road, by the way) with the bright lightsthat draw the crowds in the first place. The way out is to restrict entry toPark Street, but that would be undemocratic. Hence, we could be witnessing thedecline of Park Street as a prime destination on Christmas and New Year's eve.That would be real sad.

Credibility crisis

Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee finds himself in a real unenviableposition. There appear to be very few takers for his promises, assurances,apologies and regrets. The people of Nandigram just don't believe him when heholds out repeated assurances (as he did earlier this week) that no land wouldbe acquired in that part of the state. Few in Bengal have faith in hisexpressions of regret over the violent incidents in Nandigram. Save for hisMarxist comrades, not many trust him to steer a just, fair and equitable courseand provide good governance. His pronouncements on administrative impartialityand efficiency are always met with deep skepticism. And Buddhadeb has onlyhimself to blame for this. 

Let me cite just one case: speaking at Nandigram a few days ago, he promisedthat the civil administration and the police would act impartially and fairly.Two days later, he shunted a police officer who had dared to arrest a localCPI(M) leader from whom explosives were recovered out of Nandigram, replacinghim with a plaint officer. This came close on the heels of his statement at aparty meeting that the opposition could be defeated at Singur because theadministration and the CPI(M) "worked in sync" there while Nandigramturned out to be a different story because of lack of coordination between hisparty and the local administration there. So much for impartial and fairgovernance and separation of the party and politics from the administration. Isit any wonder then that few today believe Buddhadeb?

Fair mess
The Kolkata book fair will be held at the Park Circus grounds from end-Januarynext year and, already, the traffic cops and Kolkata's citizens are jittery overthe chaos that'll ensue. Hundreds of vehicles parked on the busy roads aroundthe Park Circus grounds will make for unprecedented traffic chaos. Interminabletraffic jams on all the roads leading to and away from the venue are beingpredicted and the chaos will extend to other parts of the city as well. Worse,it won't be for just a day, but for well over a fortnight. And that makes meask: is the event worth all the trouble and inconvenience that lakhs of peoplewould be subjected to? 

It's good that we hold a book fair in this city every year and many arejustifiably proud of the response it evokes (though I feel many visit the fairas a matter of routine or as an outing). I'd tend to agree with the point that abook fair does promote the (fast declining, alas) habit of reading. But shouldthe event, no matter what its benefits, be allowed to cause sufferings andtrauma to huge multitudes of people? After all, the fair is a private affairorganized and held by a profit-making body, and it ought to be treated as justthat. What's deplorable is the attitude of the organizers of the book fair (who,thankfully, have been stopped from mauling the Maidan any more): when askedabout the traffic chaos that'll occur due to the fair, one of the office-bearersof the Booksellers' & Publishers' Guild (the organizers) curtly replied theywere only concerned with books, not cars! A highly irresponsible and insensitiveremark. But why can't the fair be held at some venue away from the city? If allthose who visit the fair every year do so out of love for books, as theorganizers claim, they would definitely not mind driving a few extra miles tothe fair. 

Footnote
This is to the readers: How about writing in with your views on the highsand lows that Kolkata, and Bengal, went through in 2007 and the outlook for2008? That'd surely put us in the right mood for the high-spirited bashes we'reall planning for the 31 st. And here's wishing you all a happy, prosperous andsuccessful New Year. Cheers.