"E re bus driver! Michil aasche.. Gaadi ta Jore kore daudao na hole din bhar ekhane amra morbo".
Roughly translated into, "O mighty bus driver, Please drive fast. A Michil (procession) is coming. If we get caught we have to rot here whole day".
Whoever said that negativity clings was absolutely correct. Here I salute those who believe in the positives and continue to strive to attain their dream despite all the odds, without the surroundings letting them affect in any manner. Past one month has been tough. Tough in the sense, I never felt so helpless and frustrated at the happenings. And when you are not doing something which reduces the helplessness, it just adds fuel to the fire.
Whatever I may say or do, I always had a soft corner for Bengal and still believe it's the best place on earth. But the recent spate of happenings has just left me unhappy. And the innumerable hoardings of our very own Mamta Baneerjee, which surprisingly found its way all through Calcutta post Nano, just leaves me mouthing obscenities. It's strange how she has managed to gather so much fund and colour the whole of Calcutta after that ‘oh so famous incident'. In the last 22 days that I have been here I have seen 9 Michils (processions), 1 state wide Bandh, 2 National holidays, 3 Sundays (full day off for babus and the likes) and 3 Saturdays (half day off for some Government babus, which undoubtedly gets transferred for full day, and half day off for others).
Now my tryst with Michils:
I remember my school days in Bengal. Whenever a huge Michil was scheduled to take place ‘The Telegraph' would write pages about it. Why is it useful or useless, which places to avoid, which routes to take....... and stuffs like that. With time these Michils became so common that the newspapers baron thought that if they continue to publish news like that there would be no space to print the other relevant news and so it stopped. And so I think the progress of Bengal. Out of the 9 michils I was caught in 7. Now what do I mean by caught? Ever imagined yourself stranded somewhere in the middle of sea? The feeling is something like that. Nowhere to run.. Nowhere to walk.. Just keep sitting or worse standing where you are and watch the endless list of people cross the road behind their so called leader. Sometimes it takes as much as 2 hours to get your car to cross a stretch of 1 kilometer. This is Michil. And their effect? Well I sometimes fail to even know the reason why and what those people are doing. But some of the reasons were:
• Making the para teachers permanent and increase their salary. After endless search I got this piece of information from a teacher which was in a Bengali newspaper. "I know our act caused inconvenience to many people of Kolkata. But this was necessary to let our voices be heard". I felt like cutting his throat so that he does not even dream of letting his voice heard ever again.
• Reducing the price of Petrol and reducing the fare of buses... Heights... Someone please tell them Calcutta has one of the cheapest transport facilities... By the way as this Michil was not as successful as they had planned so they called a state wide bandh in which they threatened that not even the IT companies' buses will be allowed to run.
• Today there was a Michil in Esplanade, the heart of Kolkata. I asked a person who was standing there and listening to someone shout at the top of his voice, "yeh Kya ho raha hai". He smiled and replied, "Pata nahi bhaiya. Kuch der me nasta milega. Isliye main khada hoon".
• One procession said, "Say No to Terrorism".
I was so disgusted by all this that I would not be surprised if tomorrow I am stuck in a Michil which says, "Say No to michils"...... It's such a wonderful place but sadly now it's being fed to dogs and bitches. And all I can do is stand and watch and watch till the line of procession gets over and everyone returns back to work as if nothing happened.
But still I am in love with this place because of the sheer attitude of its people... Because of the simple Nature to take everything positively that comes their way. Times are bad but everyone is sure that one day all this politics will come to an end and everyone will get his due. People have got tired of complaining. Solutions are being worked upon even though many have given hope for this city's revival, the young stalwarts have hope in their stride and they are working towards the betterment of this city. I am not just speaking out of the blue. I have seen it and am seeing it. Follies have been realised and maybe this statement is apt for the situation- "We have hit rock bottom. Now the only way is up".... Despite everything I still love this place and long to get back here every vacations :)
Comments
Next Day's Telegraph
The heart of the city was clogged for four hours on Tuesday, but no one really cared.
No one apart from the hundreds of hapless commuters caught between belligerent protesters determined to create maximum traffic chaos and a paralysed police force doing precious little to unclog the arteries.
On Wednesday it happened to be a protest meeting by around 5,000 Jamiat-e Ulema Hind supporters, but on other days it hardly takes a handful at Metro channel - opposite Metro cinema - to hold the city to ransom.
All because the law that debars a thoroughfare from being used as a protest platform is not enforced.
Why? Because no one in this city really cares.
The rulebook allows Lalbazar to sanction rallies near Shahid Minar, that too after the organisers have obtained a no-objection certificate from the army which is the custodian of the Maidan area.
But 20-24 meetings are allowed to be held every month in Metro channel, ensuring maximum effect with minimum effort for protesters seeking to disrupt traffic and grab attention.
From 10.30am on Wednesday, supporters of the Jamiat-e Ulema Hind started descending on Metro channel from the city and the districts.
Their agenda? Protest the policies of Israel and punish the Calcutta commuter.
The cops at Esplanade caught napping by the "unexpected turnout" were outnumbered and outwitted by the protesters who soon overran both flanks in front of Metro cinema and paralysed traffic at the vital intersection.
"We had no clue so many people would come for the rally. We had no option but to barricade several approach roads, causing traffic snarls on Chowringhee, Red Road, SN Banerjee Road, Lenin Sarani and Central Avenue," admitted an officer on duty.
With nothing official about holding a meeting in Metro channel - after all, no official permission can be given - an organisation normally checks with the office of the deputy commissioner of police (headquarters) whether the venue is free on a given day. Then, details of the meeting are sent to the police headquarters, which in turn is forwarded to the Special Branch of the city police where a rough estimate of the turnout is calculated. Based on that, police arrangements are made and traffic diversions planned.
A senior police officer blamed Wednesday's traffic chaos on the protesters holding a sit-in-demonstration on both flanks on Chowringhee.
But why clog Metro channel? Why not, countered Siddiqullah Chowdhury of the Jamiat-e Ulema Hind. "If Biman Bose and Mamata Banerjee can hold rallies here why can't we?"
Which brings us back to the basics - why don't the police take action against Metro channel marauders?
"We can take legal action against those obstructing a thoroughfare but we don't because even the ruling party is guilty," an officer admitted.
After all, no one in this city really cares.
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090129/jsp/calcutta/story_10452747.jsp
The michil description reminds me of an incident. I got caught in a similar situation once. Not a michil, but some program organised by Kumaraswamy. The whole of BEL road and Yeshwanthpur road was blocked and it is the only way for me to get back home. Believe it or not, I was stuck there for nearly 4 hours (without my cell phone to add to the anxiety of my family) to travel a distance which usually takes me 10 minutes.
And about the people taking it positively, i would rather put it like, people have got used to it and have stopped worrying about them. Like what is mentioned of the newspaper Telegraph. I mean 9 michils in less than a month will drive anyone trying to follow them up crazy.
Lastly, about working out the solution, thats what we've been hearing as long as i can remember. I do agree there have been great progress all around, but still we manage to hit newer depths of rock bottom.