In an age, where one speaks one language with his boss, talks with his fiance in another, and his parents in yet another language, how much relevance does 21st February hold? How much significance does the fight of those hallowed martyrs of Bangladesh several decades back, who laid down their lives for the sake of their love for their mother tongue, still count? 21 st February is widely celebrated all across the globe as the International Mother language day, since UNESCO's declaration in late 50's.
Being a Bengali, it gives me an immense sense of pride that lives were laid down for the cause of my mother tongue. But 21st February is not only about the Bengali language. Its stands for the victory of every language, be it Hindi, be it Gujarati, be it Tamil or be it Tulu. Its about tolerance. A friend of my had once expressed her view that she used to think that mother tongue is the language of the land where a person is born. Thats one interesting perspective, though. So after living in a place for , say, 3 decades , if one says that I still don't know the native language, there's no act of smartness in it.So. if one says , to live in a place , you need to learn the language of that place, one can not be completely ignored. Learning the language of a place you are staying in gives you better understanding of its culture, of its essence and a sense of security.
Barring a chunk , most, dream in their mother tongue and resort to peace of mind in it.
Some years back,I had watched this Bengali movie , which few of my generation has watched. There a character , seeing that the protagonist was speaking only in perfect Bengali, asks him, 'You don't like to speak in English, right?'The protagonist's reply comes as "Actually , since I know both the languages perfectly, I don't feel the urge to mix them up and converse". That essentially justifies the cause of khichdi language that we at times resort to.And since the main aim of a language is communication, getting the message across is what matters. But when a mother says to her son, "Beta bottle ta pick it up kore okhane put it down kore dao", ("Beta,woh bottle wahan se pick it up karke wahan pe put it down kardo" , you wonder , whether its too much?

The other day there was this kind of sarcastic awards function telecast on the tv, organized by a popular radio station. In one section , there was an award ‘city’s shaan’ .

When it came to Kolkata, the options were

1. public bus mein chhed –chhad
2. calendar se bhi zyaada chuttiyan
3. the autowallahs and their notoriety

well, the award went to ‘public bus mein ched-chaad.

But it should have gone to the second option – “calendar se bhi zyaada chuttiyan”

Because that is the exact situation today. And may be tomorrow too.

The communist party of India called for a 12 hour strike in W.B,Kerala and Tripura, in protest of exorbitant rice in fuel price.

And to add 'fuel' to that , the state opposition party called for another 12 bandh on friday. btw, the question is who called first? and the issue being the same, could nt they settle for the same day?

So what follows the ‘bandh ‘ declaration is – news channels calling up a bunch of politicians and economists, people anxiously shopping household stuffs, cars and taxis lining up in petrol pumps to fuel themselves before prices soar up after midnight and universities across the state postponding their ongoing exams…

The morning started with sound of incessant rain instead of the hustles of plying buses.

It rained and rained , the streets wearing a deserted look, in contrast to the usual noise and commotion and high pollution level.

What better way to celebrate Environment day?

My father’s office tour took us to a hydel power station at the border of West Bengal and Jharkhand.
This being my first train journey since watching ‘Jab We Met’ , so..you know…expectations and imaginations were really running high !
But unlike the movie, the train was not at all empty, it was full of a shit people. The women were running around wearing a whole lot of jewellery and men in their shorts and vests!
Man! This is only a one night journey and the train compartment is no way your bedroom !so , please..
The train was another crap character, stopping at every damn station…
Ok, finally after a bad night’s sleep admist cacophony contributed by kids yelling, people fighting over their seats, TTs shouting on the top of their voices, we finally reached the station..
So for the past 3 days , I have been

* Watching village girls and women passing by merrily , clad in clothes of brightest possible colours !

*Visiting the hydel power plant. Its Asia’s largest pumping project, done in collaboration with Japan.
Construction wise, it had an upper dam, lower dam and the usual switch gears,lock gates, turbine chamber, control rooms.
This visit made me realize how vast the difference between theoretical knowledge and practical experience is. I did not have the slightest hint how huge a transformer can be and what complexities it can have in its construction, whose circuit diagram we draw at one go of the pen!
The job in the field and control rooms involve a lot of expertise and tension.

*Visited the ‘Charak mela’…this ‘mela’or fair held in the villages of West Bengal for the last 3 days of the Bengali year, is all about fanatics and faith at its extreme.
People walk barefoot on burning coal,jump bare bodied on sharp iron rods, dangle a child with his body pierced brutally, from the top of a huge stick, hurting oneself in the name of god, and to top it all, on the final night they have 300-400 slaughterings.
The traditional ‘Chau nach’ is probably the only creative aspect of the fair.

*Ram navami was also slated then, when the streets came to standstill with people displaying fights with sticks and swords.

*Our driver took us to a place where bangles of hand made from ‘gala’ . it involved lot of persevearance and creativity. From next time, I go shopping , I’ll try not to bargain for handicraft goods. Their prices are justified.

*Walked the village roads in the mornings,chased herds of goats, took snaps with calves, ate at dhabas of truck wallahs in the afternoon , and counted stars in the evening lying on the terrace of our guest house!

Then , again, there was the inevitable train journey.
This time around, the journey was smooth, if I ignore the fact that the train was running only 4 hours late.i thank the sudoku in my mobile for helping me pass my time in the station.

So back to Calcutta. The taxi breezed fast over the Howrah bridge. There’s some thing in it. Whether it’s the architectural marvel, or the fact that it bridges such a wonderful city….but everytime I see the bridge..it does something to me.....

the weather god did not seem to be very happy in the morning, as the city geared up to celebrate the 1st bandh of the year! with thick fog enveloping the surroundings, the mood was set to spend some more time under the warmth of the quilt( or watever you use)

but as hours past by, sun shone brightly ,state buses n autos started plying at thrice frequency(thus adding to the already noisy life of our house beside the main road),thus sending the message that if you have the will to come out, govt cant show you the way...

this bandh being called by oppositions does not have the option of completely paralysing city life,as most of the transport unions are affiliated to the ruling party of the communists.
but still, people dont want to take a risk..but a lot has improved with the starting of the IT industry in sector 5, calcutta has witnessed a new lease of life in its infamous work culture with the growing IT companies.

If for a minute ,just not think about the plight of those daily wage earners who are robbed of their wages due to the bandh,of those conventions,inaugarations, seminars that were to be held in different parts of the city, of those visits of foreign delegates who had come to survey for investments,of the anxiety n tension of those who have flights and trains to catch.....

then the bandh does come as a welcome--when you have test the next day and you dont know any stuff..when you are not willing to face the monday blues and the bandh comes as an extended weekend, your frend has not invited you to her birthday party and the bandh comes as a curse to her! the wonder of seeing ever busy streets tranformed into no man's land, the stupid joy of playing cricket admist empty streets..

but we cant...and that is why , inspite of supporting the issue of bandh many a times,(ranging from as tragic as the police firing at nandigram and north bengal to issues affecting our daily lives as hike in fuel price ),we cannot fully agree to this form of democratic protest---it harms more than it heals(if at all)....