December 1, 2006

Mamata's potato Satyagraha & a lesson in Civics

If Gandhiji could rise from the dead,
He’d surely club Trinamool on the head
For the way its members vented
Satyagraha – (it’s unprecedented!)
Would have surely made the Mahatma see red!


"And to think, I felt Civics was a bore,"
(A perky school kid told me at the door)
"But as the elders bitched,
My vocabulary was enriched;
The whole thing was fun – can we have more?"


Well, so much for Mamata Banerjee's claim of adopting Gandhian principles. The outcome of her non-violent protest against the West Bengal government (for giving farmland to the Tata Group for their new proposed car manufacturing unit in Singur), can be seen here. The House is also open for public viewing over the weekend. Drop in if you care and you may be lucky to find some wholesome eggs and chicken legs lying around, which you can then request the canteen to cook for you at a subsidised rate.

Imagine what fun those school kids would have had, who had come to take a lesson in Civics by observing our honorable leaders. I can almost see them making up their minds that they would like to be elected leaders of West Bengal. After all which other job gives you the pleasure of ransacking your workplace?

Anyway, that's all for today. Let me now sit back and enjoy the bandh. It feels nice when the city is behaving normally. Was beginning to get worried that this year we have had too few strikes and bandhs!


5 comments:

  1. Anonymous2:22 AM

    On a related but slightly serious note (so off from the spirit of your blog):

    The immaturity of the bengal political spectrum regardless of their color is precisely one of the major reasons I am hesitant to return to Kolkata. But I am sure your day went well, like the usual bandh days--getting up late, lazish, and reading the pujabarshikis etc etc :-)

    Mamata is a force backward, and the ruling government is not exactly forward looking either -- too bad the entire state is held hostage.

    ReplyDelete
  2. na na no need to be hesitant, all said and done, good ol' Kolkata is the place to be :-)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous9:51 PM

    I am with you on the good ol' part of Kolkata--there's another bandh coming up called by the left - ;) another 24 happy hours :-) have fun!

    But yes, sometimes it hurts--only slightly so-- just days ago someone in anandabazar quoted from Sreejat in his write up--uronto shob joker - so I do miss a few little things.

    Sreejat is clearly the best thing happened after Joy.

    ReplyDelete
  4. how about interchanging lines 1 & 2 and losing the brackets?

    Brackets are fun I think
    They can switch context in a wink
    But a surfeit of em
    One must surely condemn
    If they're superfluous from the beginnink!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thanks Niladri, will take your comments on board. Welcome to my blog

    ReplyDelete