Being in Kolkata would mean getting used to rallies...be it political, apolitical, for Rizwanur, for Taslima, or against Taslima, artisic freedom,by intellectuals or non-intellectuals, for Nandigram, for singur, against Nano, against a flyover, for water...just about anything and everything...
But, what happened yesterday was the mother of all rallies.
We had a hunch we would have a few traffic jams, but since we had to buy the 'all-so-impt' tickets for a play which was supposed to be real good, we thought we should be booking it in advance. We left our home in our car,just reached the main gate of our campus, only to see a sea of people walking with red flags and bus loads of people just about everywhere. Returning back definitely crossed our minds, but we decided against it and felt it would clear in a few minutes since we sighted a few policeman trying to help our car pass through the chaos. But, little did we know that that would be the last glimpse of a cop.
We managed a few feet, and then we were caught amidst haphazardly driven vans and buses. Thats when we decided we should indeed get back to our home...but it was too late. We were stuck. A few 100 metres away was another gate to our campus, so we thought we should be heading towards it and go home. But in vain, the few 100 metres looked like a mammoth task to tread...Not a single policeman in sight...no one to clear the chaotic traffic, no one to ask the buses to move which were parked along the road...and we had to just silently watch as the people were walking around with flags like there was no tomorrow. And all this in Kolkata's best 'Red Road'.
The taxis had a field day with their great manouvering,squeezing their yellow ambassadors into teeny weeny gaps between the vehicles, and each time they did, simply left us praying that nothing happens to our car.
The few hundred metres I was mentioning took us 'just' 2hrs to cover, and the very glimpse of our gate made us feel as if we had achieved something.
But this definitely made us wonder what would have happened to those who were very sick and needed immediate help, what about the ambulances that were stuck in the traffic...I'm talking about being stranded for 2 hrs to cover a distance of a couple of 100metres. Pathetic.
And, yeah, the rally was organised by the ruling party in the Maidan, with the CM being part of it, with a few lakhs attending from all over West Bengal,using buses meant for public transport for their own purposes, bringing the whole city to a grinding halt...
If the rulers of the state can be so indifferent to the common man's woes, who should we be complaining to?
2 comments:
Gosh!
Kolkata is a very sad city. Just run away as early as possible! The Bongs themselves spread all across India except Kolkata. I just hope they don't bring the rest of the country to a similar state
Hehehe...atleast I have the chance in the coming few months to shift to a new city/town, but what about those who have to suffer this frequently?
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