 I travelled to Kolkata
this winter from Jan 16th to feb 15th 2009 and came back with many many
good memories. The nostalgia of being back to India after 7 long years
was itself an experience. I was very happy to meet my parents , a few
old friends , was very happy to see all the changes that have come to
Kolkata but was also saddened by a lot of things as well.
As I landed at Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport , I failed to understand as to how this can be even termed as an international airport . As the plane landed I thougth "have we landed in a dark open field " because all around the airport it was pitch dark !! also the infrastructure at the airport is so run down and broken that I wonder now why airlines are slowly withdrawing their services to Kolkata. Throughout the waiting area I was bit by mosquitoes with stray cats running around , the visitors gallery was filthy with cigarrete butts and coffee glasses strewn all around !!
Anyway I get out of the airport , get into my car and was really happy to see how many flyovers and roads have been developed and I reached my house at Tollygunge in about 35 minutes that was one dream commute and I thought wow Kolkata has changed for the good finally !! but my parents cautioned me as "Babi dont feel so happy you will see the reality during the day time " , so I just kept quiet , I was just happy to see my parents and my sister.
The next morning I went out to visit my Mashi in North Kolkata and woh what do I see . BMW's , Mercedes, Toyota's , Honda's , Suzuki's along with the the good old Ambassadors or Amby's which we all fondly call fighting for an inch of space on the metro's roads , I thought to myself is this what we call growth and development ?People are driving all sorts of cars , they have higher income and buying power and truly the standard of living has improved but I differ , this cannot be called as growth , growth happens when the country grows as a whole , personal growth does not matter , I have seen beautiful malls like South City , City Center , Mani Square and shopped at Spencer's and Big Bazar and yes its true it felt good , very good and again I was happy with the changes but as soon as I came out of the air-conditioned wonders reality strikes again , no traffic sense , cars honking all around , people fighting for space.
What Kolkata needs today is the political will to change the city , and that will start when the people realise how these communists have raped and ruined the city for the last 30 years. Kolkata is a city of intellectuals , but today I question that as I know that even students at the Presidency College have elected these commies in the student body elections , are people sleeping or they just dont want to wake up from their slumber? today Kolkata is nothing but a big garbage bin with garbage rotting everywhere in the city right from the point you enter the city at Howrah and still people do not want a change ?
The city also has to put its foot down on the number of people from Bihar and UP are entering the city , and the communists want them because they form the voter base , anywhere I went I heard hindi and bhojpuri instead of Bangla , Bengal should take a stand and learn from Raj Thackeray.
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