Kolkata Korner

Fuming Over Fumes

A quarter of Kolkata’s kids, said a report in a local newspaper, can’t go to school seven days a month on an average. The reason, as a recent survey by the Institute of Child Health has thrown up, is that they suffer from childhood asthma caused by the alarming rise in air pollution in the city. Since asthma attacks usually occur at night and worsen in the wee hours, these unfortunate children cannot sleep and are, thus, in no state to go to school in the morning. The culprit here is clearly the Bengal government that has been dragging its feet in controlling pollution. Vehicles are the biggest pollutants, but no measures are in place to control emission levels, penalize polluting vehicles, offer alternatives like bio-fuels or even CNG and check adulteration of fuels. For purely selfish political reasons. Taxis, auto-rickshaws and buses are the biggest polluters and most of the owners and drivers of these forms of public transport belong to unions affiliated to the CPI(M). They, thus, constitute a solid vote bank of the Marxists and also render critical help to the party by transporting people (for free, of course) during party programmes and rallies. Hence, they won’t be disturbed and will continue to pollute with gay abandon. So what if so many kids choke gasp their way through childhood while their parents fret and fume? The party’s interest is supreme. But wait, don’t these Marxists also have children who fall victim to asthma? Or does the party claim precedence over their children as well?

Indispensable Basu

CPI(M) patriarch Jyoti Basu is indispensable. This is what the party general secretary Prakash Karat told the nonagenarian leader earlier this week when the latter wanted to be relieved of his membership of the party politburo. The politburo, incidentally, met in Kolkata this week since Basu was not in a position to travel out, suffering as he does from acute bowel syndrome. When Basu expressed this at the meeting, all 15 politburo members refused to allow Basu to retire. "We still need your advice and guidance," they told him. Basu relented. And the party went on to discuss graver matters. But hey, hasn’t this happened all too often in the past? Basu says he wants to step down, his comrades cry out that they’ll be lost without him and Basu stays back. Is there something more to this than meets the eye? After all, another party veteran, Harkishen Singh Surjeet, has been allowed to fade away; so why not Basu? Have a heart, dear commies, allow an old man his due at the twilight of his eventful life.

Not Just Gandhi

Old habits die hard. Basu may be ageing, ailing and desperate to hang up his gloves, but he just can’t let go of a chance to prick his old rival, the Congress. In what would surely get the Congress’ goat, just as the party wasbusy celebrating 100 years of Satyagraha, Basu tore into (incidentally, just a day after he wanted to step down from the CPI-M politburo) the trend of crediting Gandhi, and Gandhi alone, with India’s independence. The yoke of British rule, said Basu, was thrown off not just by Gandhi’s non-violence, but by violent uprisings by many, including Subhas Chandra Bose’s INA. India’s longest-serving Chief Minister also accused the Congress of tampering with history and appropriating all credit for India attaining independence. The freedom struggle proceeded simultaneously along two paths—violence as well as non-violence. Given his capacity to launch such offensives (even at holy cows like Gandhi), its little wonder that Basu’s comrades are loath to let him retire.

An Unusual Merger

Now, this may make perfect business sense, but it’s definitely not the Durga Pujas; or, at least, not what Pujas were all about. I wrote last week about the irreverent practices that have made the Durga Pujas a little more than a social event. A few days ago, a newspaper report about ‘merger’ of two community pujas in a South Kolkata suburb made for appalling reading. Two well-known community pujas at Behala (well-known because they are highly ostentatious and bag many ‘awards’ every year) have decided to merge in order to attain synergy. The organizers of the two pujas have put forth this rationale for their decision: the ‘merged’ Puja this year will have a bigger budget (that of both the earlier pujas), will thus be a greater crowd-puller and will, ultimately, bag many more awards than rival pujas! Whatnext? Puja committees applying for ISO certification?

Blasphemy! Sacrilege!

Talking about the Pujas, one in North Kolkata has raised the hackles of some Marxists of Bengal. The organizers of a community puja at Ram Mohun Roy Road have decided to hold a public exhibition of photographs of former CPI(M) state secretary Anil Biswas. Biswas, they contend, was a "great leader, political researcher and educationist" and played a "crucial role" in Bengal’s resurgence. Putting up huge (six feet by four feet) portraits of Biswas, including some very rare and never-seen-by-public ones on both sides of the approach to the pandal, would be a fitting homage to the leader, they feel. But Biswas’ widow, Gita (a party member herself), is aghast. Anil (like a true Marxist)  was an atheist and never had anything to do with Durga Pujas, she said. So holding an exhibition of his photographs as part of Durga Puja festivities would be blasphemous (to Marx, of course). If only she knew the puja’s organizers plan to put up panels depicting scenes from the Mahabharata beside the photographs of her late husband!

But Then...

Not all Marxists, however, are atheists. In fact, quite a few CPI(M) leaders are believed to be ‘closet’ believers who pray to the almighty (not Marx) regularly and even participate in very private religious ceremonies. But they have, so far, avoided visiting a temple or offering a puja publicly. The irrepressible Subhas Chakraborty (transport minister and a critic of the CM) created history on Thursday by visiting the famous Tarapith temple in Birbhum district. He spent nearly half an hour inside the temple, offering pujas and a donation of Rs 501. While departing, he chanted Jai Maa Tara (the deity is a form of Devi or Shakti) and, when asked about his visit by scribes, said he found nothing wrong in worshipping a goddess who is similarly worshipped by millions across the country and the world. So, can Marx and (Vedic) mantras make a harmonious mix?

Crass Neglect

Very few Kolkatans (or residents of Bengal, for that matter) knew that one of India’s foremost sculptors, Sankho Chaudhuri, passed away in Delhi late last month. Fewer still bothered to pay homage to this genius or remember him. That doesn’t, of course, take away from Chaudhuri’s greatness. Not one bit. But it goes a long way to show how bankrupt Bengalis have become—we don’t even have the decency to honour one of Bengal’s most illustrious sons. As Ashok Mitra (noted economist, former finance minister of Bengal) just wrote in his column, "for Kolkata’s supposedly super-sophisticated cultural circles…only events and happenings within the precincts of Presidency College and Rabindra Sadan matter; everything else is dispensable". Mitra rightly ascribes this callousness among Bengalis to the cultural degeneration we’re witnessing. An example he succinctly cites is worthy of repetition: a few years ago, the body of Kanika Bandopadhyay (one of the foremost exponents of Tagore’s songs or Rabindrasangeet) who passed away in Kolkata was being taken to Santiniketan. The hearse couldn’t make it out of the city for a few hours since delirious youngsters had crowded the roads to catch a glimpse of an upcoming Bollywood actor who was visiting Kolkata. Need I say more on the sad plight of so-called cultured Bengalis?

‘Tail’ Piece

But let me end on a different note. The Calcutta High Court will soon take upthe grave case of a CISF constable whose salary has been reduced and increments frozen due to the indiscretions of a dog under his command at the Durgapur Steel Plant. Sunil Kumar, the constable, had been entrusted with Masta, a female labrador trained as a sniffer, and his duties included taking the canine out on a ‘free run’. One fine November day in 2004, Kumar unleashed Masta and when she didn’t return after 30 minutes, he went out to investigate, only to find Masta in a ‘compromising position’ with a street dog. Two months later, Masta gave birth to ten healthy pups. And the month after that, Kumar’s bosses asked him why he failed to prevent Masta from mating with a canine of a lesser pedigree. Sexual urges among animals, Kumar replied, were irresistible and when overcome by such urge, even a trained animal would not listen to his or her master/handler. But the CISF bosses weren’t impressed and decided to punish Kumar. It now remains to be seen how the ‘learned’ judges of the Calcutta High Court view the matter. Incidentally, the CISF made a cool Rs 23,050 by selling Masta’s ten children!