What is it about a city that makes it attractive -- it's culture, its people, it architecture;or is it its history? When i think of Kolkata, i think of all these factors which combine to create it's unique colour; just like a Mumbai or Delhi.
But what set Kolkata apart from many other cities that we know of, was the warmth of its people. Amidst the pollution, the hour-long power cuts, bandhs and scourge of poverty; it still symbolised in many ways the 'city of joy'. Today, standing on the nascent steps of a brand new decade, I can see the city literally going down the depths of ignominy. Bandhs and power cuts still loom large;a few swanky malls have replaced the evident shanty areas maybe, and sparkling new office buildings and gated communites dot Sector V and Rajarhat -- yet the 'warmth' that defined Kolkata seems to have evaporated.
What aches the Kolkata of today then, i wonder -- frustration, inertia or is it restlessness -- traits that i see seeping into the lives of people around me. They say an idle mind is a devil's workshop -- has idleness therefore left a gaping void somewhere -- so deep that young and bright young men have to waste their lives making lewd remarks on women; or if need be harass them as and how they wish to; often drunk on alcohol, blinded by lust, and intoxicated on political power. Young men breaking into fights in the middle of rush-hour traffic on petty issues and snarling traffic; or hurling abuses and flaunting their 'political affiliations' to teach the other a lesson....i rue, ' this is not the kolkata i grew up in' -- this seems like some unknown land where people are going down an abyss; and they know not what lies ahead!
If recent statistics are to be believed West Bengal is today (after Madhya Pradesh), the second most unsafe state for women in India! Here crime is breeding instead of industry. If there is an occupation for the thousands who remain unemployed, is to join the lower rungs of some political party; and then go about showing their machismo on those without power; and in some cases brashly flout all rules to take on those in uniform as well.
it was probably all over for the state post the 1950s, when fed on glories of the past, the society gradually stopped looking ahead. This was the time when the state lost its victorious men and women - visionaries, thinkers, litterateurs, educationsists, businessmen, statesmen - the renaissance men and women, who gave Bengal its global identity. That identity got erased in a span of some decades - we lost the best of everything that we had. We did not have any more visionaries to lead us, and we lost what was once our pride. We are now a people who live and build our dreams on remnants of the past; for we have stopped reinventing ourselves. Look at our neighbours and you'll realise how far behind we have been left....yet a Bihar has risen again! Bengal too will hopefully regain its lost ground.
But what set Kolkata apart from many other cities that we know of, was the warmth of its people. Amidst the pollution, the hour-long power cuts, bandhs and scourge of poverty; it still symbolised in many ways the 'city of joy'. Today, standing on the nascent steps of a brand new decade, I can see the city literally going down the depths of ignominy. Bandhs and power cuts still loom large;a few swanky malls have replaced the evident shanty areas maybe, and sparkling new office buildings and gated communites dot Sector V and Rajarhat -- yet the 'warmth' that defined Kolkata seems to have evaporated.
What aches the Kolkata of today then, i wonder -- frustration, inertia or is it restlessness -- traits that i see seeping into the lives of people around me. They say an idle mind is a devil's workshop -- has idleness therefore left a gaping void somewhere -- so deep that young and bright young men have to waste their lives making lewd remarks on women; or if need be harass them as and how they wish to; often drunk on alcohol, blinded by lust, and intoxicated on political power. Young men breaking into fights in the middle of rush-hour traffic on petty issues and snarling traffic; or hurling abuses and flaunting their 'political affiliations' to teach the other a lesson....i rue, ' this is not the kolkata i grew up in' -- this seems like some unknown land where people are going down an abyss; and they know not what lies ahead!
If recent statistics are to be believed West Bengal is today (after Madhya Pradesh), the second most unsafe state for women in India! Here crime is breeding instead of industry. If there is an occupation for the thousands who remain unemployed, is to join the lower rungs of some political party; and then go about showing their machismo on those without power; and in some cases brashly flout all rules to take on those in uniform as well.
it was probably all over for the state post the 1950s, when fed on glories of the past, the society gradually stopped looking ahead. This was the time when the state lost its victorious men and women - visionaries, thinkers, litterateurs, educationsists, businessmen, statesmen - the renaissance men and women, who gave Bengal its global identity. That identity got erased in a span of some decades - we lost the best of everything that we had. We did not have any more visionaries to lead us, and we lost what was once our pride. We are now a people who live and build our dreams on remnants of the past; for we have stopped reinventing ourselves. Look at our neighbours and you'll realise how far behind we have been left....yet a Bihar has risen again! Bengal too will hopefully regain its lost ground.
