Why is it that Kolkatans have to pay for all the acts of omission andcommission committed in any other part of not only Bengal, but the country andeven the world at large? Couldn't the Nandigram killings, condemnable as theincident was and filled with 'cold horror' (to borrow Governor GopalkrishnaGandhi's phrase) as we all were, have been observed in a less-intrusive manner?Seminars, silent demonstrations, exhibitions detailing the Nandigram horrors andmore could have been held and would have, I'm sure, done more in focusingattention not only on the March 14 incident at Nandigram, but also on thecontinuing violence and repression there by CPI(M) cadres. Holding an art camp,for instance, with participation from top artists who would have turned outcanvases on the Nandigram killings would have had a greater impact, I say, thana noisy and disruptive procession passing down Chowringee.
Airport Mess
Talking about Kolkata having to pay for incidents in faraway places, the recentstrike by Airports Authority of India (AAI) employees at airports all across thecountry to protest the imminent closure of the Bangalore and Hyderabad airportsleft the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International airport here theworst-affected among all airports in the country. Thanks to the high level ofunionization among employees here, the airport turned into a huge, stinkinggarbage dump in a matter of just a day. I've been told by people flying in fromacross the country that the airports there were hardly affected. I flew out ofGuwahati and none could tell, by the look of the airport, that the AAI employeeswere on strike there. Only at Kolkata did air passengers find stinking toilets,messy lobbies, absence of luggage trolleys and lack of other amenities as wellas belligerent, slogan-shouting and militant AAI employees taking outprocessions periodically.