The city of Kolkata truly is rediscovering its title as the City of Joy-there is a sense of resurgence everywhere that is visible and encouraging
Every trip back to East India makes me wonder why I left it in the late seventies to study and work in other parts of the country and the world. The city of Kolkata truly is rediscovering its title as the City of Joy with spanking new infrastructure and a new sense of discipline and confidence pervading all communities and the city. Its no longer small parts of the city dominated by the Bengali “bhadralok” and the Tamilian settlers in South Kolkata or the Marwari millionaires densely populating the “Burra Bazaar’ lanes in the North. From Behala to New Town there is a sense of resurgence everywhere that is visible and encouraging.
A Social Venture Partners meeting in the heart of the city, a friend’s daughter’s wedding on the outskirts and some fabulous Bengali meals ending with “Mishti Doi and Notungud Sondesh” over a weekend had lulled me into a sense of comfort that all was truly well in the city of my early childhood but then eight of us (four engineering classmates with spouses) decided to take a five hour bus and boat ride to the Sunderban Tiger Reserve, in search of the Royal Bengal Tiger and more important to get some camaraderie and downtime in what is truly one of the last unspoilt parts of our fabulous country. The extremely hospitable Waxpol resort built by my old friends, Rekha and Pravir Garg, is a place I would highly recommend and the sylvan mangroves through which boats meander and the salubrious climate and landscape can truly transport one to a new world.
The one disturbing element was the livelihood levels in this part of our country which is so much below the life that many of us lead in big cities like Pune, Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru. The boatman, tourist guide and help at the resort were delighted with gratuities in two digits and a group of Adivasi singers and dancers bussed in from two hours performed their hearts out in the evening and were delighted when we gave them a fairly decent sum of money from our side. A thought did strike me that while our Million Jobs Mission at Social Venture Partners India aims to get the urban poor to salary levels in the ten thousand per month range, hundreds of millions of people in the rural and remote parts of our country would be happy to get a steady income which is a fraction of this number. Equity surely has different shades of meaning in India as indeed it has in every part of the world!
As we move into an election spring and summer and the battle of the ballot assumes overwhelming proportions all over the country, the vote banks of the political parties will need to be placated anew and we can expect the usual rush of promised freebies of the subsidy or direct transfer variety. There is no doubt that the secret to who will form the next Government continues to lie in the heartlands of the country and not in the tweeting and blogging intelligentsia to which many of us belong, who have a large share of voice but probably very little relevance in the choice of the next set of leaders. Travelling around the country makes me feel there is no sense of certainty which way the votes will swing, which is clearly both a challenge and an opportunity for the political strategists on all sides of the spectrum.
It’s not just the tribals or the local folk in Bengal but truly all settlers of the city who show genuine warmth and friendship-a disappearing quality in many parts of the country
Who comes to power in Delhi may be uncertain but one leader who is sure to rule the roost for many more years (should we say decades) is the Real Bengal Tiger, Mamta Banerjee. On the ride from Kolkata to the point where we alighted our boat to the Sunderbans, there was not a post or poster which did not carry a picture of the lady and often either the local TMC politician or her chosen heir Abhishek. A complete absence of any other political face from the entire landscape seemed to point to a veritable monopoly of mindshare and eyeball and decibel share that Didi now enjoys. A remarkable tale of leadership and while this writer has no axe to grind in Bengal, my two meetings with Didi over the past few years and the remarkable changes in Kolkata and its surrounds show that here is one tale of political success that shows no sign of wear and tear. At least not as yet
Finally, a few thoughts on the people of the East. It’s not just the tribals or the local folk in Bengal but truly all settlers of the city who show genuine warmth and friendship-a disappearing quality in many parts of the country. People take you into their homes and hearts and are always willing to go the extra mile in their desire to make you feel welcome. Here is a big shout out to my friends in the city of Kolkata-may your tribe of people with big hearts and genuine affection continue to thrive. We need that in India!
Ganesh Natarajan
