Calcutta - the City of Joy?

As the day went on, and Calcutta sat through another bandh (after very long, though), I fell back into my thoughts. I have been brought up in Calcutta. I have always considered Calcutta to be my hometown. I love this city and would have happily spent all my life here. Until recently!

Calcutta for me is a city with boundless love for all those who come to her. It has heritage, it’s rustic, has an earthy feeling. It’s laid back, far away from the world’s rat race and yet you don’t feel like you’ve been left behind! Sometimes when you walk down it’s streets in the afternoons of summer, you’ll feel like you’ve landed in one of those R.K.Narayan stories centered on villages. The dusty streets, the scorching sun, only a handful of people around… One thing I’ve always felt is — No one gets lost in this city! They just can’t! Because someone’s always ready to help!

Yet somehow over the past few months, I’ve been feeling detached from the city. People are getting frustrated, mindless quarrels are waiting to happen at every corner, the youth is going away, the industries don’t even think of coming here. Calcutta’s been in the news for all the wrong reasons, of late! And our new CM seems to be making matters worse. Today, she declared another rape case as an attempt to malign the Government. Excuse me? Malign the Government? How exactly? More importantly, why exactly?

All those crib deaths happening in Bengal for the past year have been labeled as the Opposition’s conspiracy! The lady’s comments defy all logic! Basically, the Left didn’t do anything in their 34-year rule and now they are the ones who are doing everything wrong!

Every morning the papers bring news of another murder, theft, sexual assault or suicide!

It’s depressing to see that a city I once found to be so safe is now turning into a dangerous den of criminals!

I can only wish that Job Charnock’s City of Joy regains it’s allure and charisma before it’s too late...