| Up
Further Reading:
Sukanta Chaudhuri (ed.),
"Calcutta the
Living City", Volumes I and II, Oxford University Press, 1990.
|
Calcutta
Calcutta has had a large number of sobriquets bequeathed to it - the city of palaces, the city of
beggars, the seat of culture, the city of processions and the city of joy. The last nickname (courtesy
Dominique Lapierre) has by far become the most popular internationally, but only residents of the city
can tell whether it is a misnomer or the city actually lives up to its name.
Calcutta, which was the capital of India till 1911, bore the full brunt of the divisive British policy of “Divide and Rule”, the scars
of which exist to this day. As in Punjab, millions of Bengalis were uprooted from their homeland during the partition of India
in 1947.
Calcutta began with all the advantages, having been developed by the British as the “Second City of the Empire”, but quickly
lost its position of pre-eminence in independent India. Today the city is industrially bankrupt and spiritually corrupt. It is still
managing to hold on to some vestiges of pride by retaining the title of cultural capital of the country. But that is due more to the
decadence in other cities than by its own efforts. Calcutta faces an unprecedented population explosion coupled with
a dwindling job market as investors pull out of the city with their capital. The government goes about
inviting foreign investment but is unable to provide even the very basic infrastructure while
militant trade unions (read “vote banks”) flourish under government protection and hold companies at
ransom.
An honest, if bleak, picture of the city has been drawn here in the hope that some of the city’s
myths be exposed so that things can change for the better. The way things stand today, it
can hardly become worse.
Come see the city's collapse,
And dance in its ashes and dust,
Some sell dreams (while stocks last) and guided tours,
Others build myths of the past.
However the one thing that Calcuttans possess in bounty is Hope. How far they are justified, only time will tell. But as far as
Calcutta is concerned, like a cockroach that has been stamped and trampled upon, it just refuses to die.
|
|
