tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9821734877044331912024-03-11T08:50:00.658+05:30bagchiblogTopical & EnvironmentalProloy Bagchihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05642253410210767969noreply@blogger.comBlogger629125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-982173487704433191.post-52464673489086916292020-06-14T12:17:00.000+05:302020-06-14T12:17:47.885+05:30Memories of an ordinary bureaucrat :: 51 :: Retirement and after (Part 2)<br /><a href="http://www.bagchiblog.blogspot.com/">http://www.bagchiblog.blogspot.com</a><br />
<br />
(In continuation of the previous post)<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHxgMkkfx2dyhji770HbeUWwromEXTNgGKXhf5XixOiuskkKD3YU5i7fI5ZrB9uWMoLxRBemPK91qBfrDVaxACgwPQOgEc8RgwUwso7SWmccA3jdOllkF3MEU_F-mvu2gLfriD81u995x3/s1600/desktop.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHxgMkkfx2dyhji770HbeUWwromEXTNgGKXhf5XixOiuskkKD3YU5i7fI5ZrB9uWMoLxRBemPK91qBfrDVaxACgwPQOgEc8RgwUwso7SWmccA3jdOllkF3MEU_F-mvu2gLfriD81u995x3/s400/desktop.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">With
a desktop things became much easier although it took quite a bit of time for me
to get the hang of it. For me the advantage was I didn’t have to mail my
letters; they could now be e-mailed and could reach almost instantly. The ones
to Central Chronicle would appear the very next day and those to the Statesman
would take a little more time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The
Upper Lake of Bhopal was having a rough time and had dried up quite a bit. I
was feeling distressed as, it seemed, the apathy of the civic authorities would
destroy the Lake. I sat down to write a letter, a kind of a distress call but
it turned out to be too lengthy. I took a print out and took it to the office
of the Hindustan Times to give it to the editor. As the editor was unavailable
I handed it over to one of the correspondents, Ambreesh, who, I believe, is now
with India Today. That happened to be a Friday and I thought I would meet the
editor on Monday. But before I could do that it was published on Sunday with a
photograph of the Lake from the newspaper’s archives. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Quite
clearly it was appreciated by the Editor, Mr. Askari Zaidi, who took special
interest in the layout of the article and selecting a suitable photograph. I
met him the next day and couldn’t thank him enough for his gesture. With that
commenced a relationship with Mr Zaidi and the Hindustan Times that lasted for
six years during which numerous articles of mine were published making me a
known name (not a face) in the town. Mr. Zaidi encouraged people to write. He
used to say that thinking people must be given a platform. But in the
government such thoughts are considered pernicious.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Late Mr. Mahesh Buch and Late Mr. Kripal
Dhillon, Prof. Zamiruddin and some others used to write in the newspaper very
frequently. They were known commodities; I was a stranger and, kind of, a new
kid on the block – unknown and faceless. Initially many in Bhopal presumed that
it was one of the two brothers whom thet knew was the writer. They had to be told that
there was a third Bagchi who was, well, the ‘culprit’. The article made quite a
splash and very few friends that I had congratulated me. One of the local
editors, whom I did not know, came to congratulate me. By that time many of my
articles had been published.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">That
was in 2001 and since then I have been, so to say, pushing my pen. The
Hindustan Times reduced its city supplement to a mangled version of its former
self. I was also told that newspapers like HT and Times of India (which started
publishing later from Bhopal) were advised that any criticism of the government
would entail deprivation of all commercial ads. The papers, to be on the safer
side, discontinued accepting unsolicited articles. That shut the doors on my
journalistic effort with the HT.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">I,
however, used to write in The Pioneer which too had started publishing from
Bhopal. One Mr. VT Joshi, a very senior journalist who retired, if I remember,
from HT used to be a member of our Saturday Club. He also used to run a
syndicate which used to distribute features to several English language dailies
in different states. Once I was introduced to him he readily accepted my pieces
for circulation. This expanded my reach and if I sent a piece independently to
Goa or Guwahati it would be published. However, the tie up with Mr. Joshi was
short-lived as he expired while on a visit to Bangalore.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">In
the meantime, I started contributing to citizen journalism sites in India and
the US. There still are a number of sites in India which unfortunately have
been unable to make themselves secure. The US sites were however very
welcoming. I recall the Ground Report of Rachel Stern, a UN intern, took all my
pieces and after approval used to publish them. A time came when the site
intimated that I did not need any approval and could post straightaway on the
site. Unfortunately, she sold the site. Similar fate awaited many to which I
used to contribute. For instance, Newsvine – an MS NBC outfit – ran aground
after about a dozen years. Here some of my readers had become friends and used
to exchange views with me. Likewise, the Third Report of one Mr. Boreli, a man
who appreciated well-written pieces, sank when the outfit ran out of money.
Another site, viz. “Media With Conscience” (MWCnews) just sank one fine morning
without any trace.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">It
only proves that in a capitalist society independent journalism has no place.
Money is a scarce commodity and none would like to place one’s bet on a venture
that does not offer much return. Independent journalism hardly ever gave any
return to its promoters. The first decade of this century was, nevertheless,
the golden period for citizen journalism on the worldwide web. It, however, got
caught up too soon in the machinations of the capitalist society for sheer motive
of profits. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Nonetheless, there is one example that defies the above formulation
and it is “Ohmynews” of South Korea. It is a site that was launched years ago
by one Mr. Oh and still continues to offer citizen journalists its site for
mounting photos and texts. I, too, used to contribute to the site before it
became a more professional journalistic site. I had a very large audience and
one of my pieces was picked up by a researcher in the US who even spoke to me
on an international call asking for further details.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While the citizen journalism sites kept
disappearing from the scene I kept writing for it had now become a passion and
a manner of spending my days a little more fruitfully. Instead of passively
waiting for the inevitable end it provided me a reason for being alive. Despite
a repaired heart I am maintaining myself, with tireless efforts of my loving
wife, well enough for my 83 years. Even if all the citizen journalism sites
collapsed all around me I would still have my Blogger and Facebook accounts to
express myself. Hopefully, they are not going to fail me and are likely to
outlast me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p>(Concluded)</o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p>*Photo from internet</o:p></span></div>
<br />Proloy Bagchihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05642253410210767969noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-982173487704433191.post-82094727972516303992020-06-13T12:08:00.000+05:302020-06-14T12:04:35.285+05:30Memories of an ordinary bureaucrat ::51 :: Retirement and after (Part 1)<br />
<a href="http://www.bagchiblog.blogspot.com/">http://www.bagchiblog.blogspot.com</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq6ZVRHsnDOJN1zlVaAA1Cwkuqi-I58_oxVJUxijGgMFWjo9YFjkLeihLFCv-46-MUTyB4pIIdvpqJbLw6JMkLBf5ynymCqQCcSMe7WZRzRiaeKTlpZHJmXhuhO2w017UXkdJWTQSlh9qn/s1600/silver-reed-portable-manual-typewriter-in-a-unique-orange-colour-500x500.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="562" data-original-width="510" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq6ZVRHsnDOJN1zlVaAA1Cwkuqi-I58_oxVJUxijGgMFWjo9YFjkLeihLFCv-46-MUTyB4pIIdvpqJbLw6JMkLBf5ynymCqQCcSMe7WZRzRiaeKTlpZHJmXhuhO2w017UXkdJWTQSlh9qn/s400/silver-reed-portable-manual-typewriter-in-a-unique-orange-colour-500x500.jpeg" width="362" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Soon
after retirement we had to make a move. I was living in my own flat which I had
bought from DDA. Although I was entitled to a Type VII house as Member of the
Postal Board they did not allot any. In fact, I was indirectly asked to shell
out forty grand for a house which I refused to do. It was strange that a
government servant was being made to pay a bribe to get government
accommodation of his entitlement. This had happened with a batch-mate of mine,
too, who was asked to pay a greater amount, presumably, because he was in the
Income Tax Department.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">As
no house was being allotted, after a few days, maybe a month, of joining as
Member, we decided to move into our own flat in Vasant Kunj. We had hardly lived
there for a year when (two months before my retirement) an Assistant Director
of Estates showed up in my office with an allotment letter of a house in Bapa
Nagar. While handing over the allotment letter he said he had a request to
make. I exploded as he said that. Just because he had a request to make he had
come personally to hand over the allotment letter which was of no use to me at
that point in time. The Estate office people thought no end of themselves and
acted hard to get. I gave him a mouthful and told him to take away the
allotment letter and dump it in a trash bin.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Though
of only two bedrooms, the flat in Vasant Kunj was nice and airy. Only problem
with it was that it was on the third floor and climbing up and down at least
twice a day was proving a little too<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>strenuous for us. We had,
therefore, decided to move to Bhopal where the local Chief PMG, a very nice and
amiable Sikh, had selected a flat for me on the ground floor. We are still in
the same flat even after 25 years. It has a fabulous view of the Bhopal Lake. That
apart, I had two of my brothers and the sister living in Bhopal. My wife had
her brother with whom her mother too was living here. For about twenty years we
had a great time. We would have frequent get-togethers over drinks and dinners.
All that is now gone; I lost the two brothers and my wife lost her mother and
the brother. Four people passing on from a well-knit family makes a deep dent
in it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">We
started visiting places as and when it suited us. Soon, however, one morning I
felt acute anginal pain in my left arm. The local doctors administered an
injection of Streptokinase which reversed the impact of the cardiac attack that
I had been a victim of.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">It
was hunky dory only for sometime as the pain reappeared in a year’s time. This
time they referred me to Apollo Hyderabad. I could have chosen Madras but I had
a brother in-law in Hyderabad and I thought it would be good for my wife to be
near her close relatives. They put a stent and we came back only to find the
pain making a re-appearance within a couple of months. After a costly Thallium
Test again at Hyderabad the doctor said I should immediately get into the
hospital. I refused and I decided to go to AIIMS Delhi. It was true I was in a
bad shape as I was increasingly becoming dependent on sorbitrate. A close
friend, unfortunately now no more, from my PGI-Chandigarh days arranged my
treatment with Prof. Talwar, the HoD Cardiology at the AIIMS. He did the
angiography and told me that he did not see any stent in my cardiac region.
Stents, I was told, were not visible in X rays but were visible when
angiography is done. I was stunned as I was sure Pratap Reddy’s outfit wouldn’t
do such a thing. But there it was; Dr. Talwar was a respected physician and his
word could not be disbelieved. No wonder the pain had re-appeared so soon. The
cardiologist at Apollo Hyderabad had cheated me. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Next
day Dr. Venugapal came and checked me out and assured me that I would be
alright. Although a very close friend from my school days had died on his
recovery table around 20 years ago yet I did not have any apprehensions as
since then his reputation had been in an upswing. In 2 days I was back in my
room and had no pain anywhere despite having been cut up at several places in
the region of my chest. Later I came to know that Dr. Venugopal had done as
many as five grafts on me, four of which are still working and the fifth one
somehow got blocked but it has developed collateral arteries. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">In
three months I was fully recovered. In order to keep myself occupied I started
writing letters to editors. Initially I used to write only to the editor of the
Central Chronicle, the only English language newspaper of the town. I used to
write on civic matters and, happily, occasionally they would be taken note of.
Then I started writing to the Statesman in Kolkata. I knew that Mr. CR Irani,
the Editor, was very tough in so far as the language was concerned. But when my
first letter appeared I was overwhelmed. In course of time numerous letters of
mine appeared in the Statesman, some as the leading letter with the title as
the headline for the “letters” section. I was surprised when a 600 word letter
of mine was published without a cut. Those days readers’ responses were given
due importance. The post offices would function properly so that a letter from
Bhopal to Kolkata would reach generally in 48 hours. There was no e-mail or
messenger service then – only physical transmission of messages. With the
appearance of the Social Media the importance that was attached to readers’
letters has disappeared. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">I
used to type out my letters on my portable Silver Reed typewriter that I had
bought in Tokyo in 1982. It was a very handsome-looking two-toned machine in
Orange and Black. Not only did it make writing less strenuous it also obviated,
I suppose, the difficulty in the newspaper offices to decipher the hand-written
letters. My brothers advised me to get a computer but I did not know how to
work on one. Eventually, I joined an institute run by NIIT to learn to work on
a computer. I was certainly the oldest in the class and most of the boys and
girls could have been my grandsons or granddaughters. I was reminded of an
article I had read in Time Magazine years ago describing how life was changing
in America on account of progressive computerization with grandfathers learning
the ropes from their grandchildren. Even the teacher Rashida was a slip of a
girl. I have lost touch with her whereas the young lady who used to manage the
Institute, Farheen Viqas, continues to be a friend on Facebook.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<br />
(To be continued)<br />
*Photo from internetProloy Bagchihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05642253410210767969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-982173487704433191.post-24877887840785826102020-06-05T13:26:00.000+05:302020-06-05T13:37:35.778+05:30Memories of an ordinary bureaucrat :: 50 :: End of the road (Part 2)<br /><a href="hrttp://www.bagchiblog.blogspot.com">hrttp://www.bagchiblog.blogspot.com</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUXRTHv-h52BjMNsQbwVeuECbbGi5R4qwMvzVKUtNyDjyvjfj4PwpnXfa8PRI-i_eHFEcqezhOAOlP5ON3f5jyGJoH426tRoRRlDaZFg0BpJ9mGgHAERKdDd6IGwltYCs0F7Rk6ZtqePTk/s1600/My+Pictures_0008.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="581" data-original-width="716" height="323" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUXRTHv-h52BjMNsQbwVeuECbbGi5R4qwMvzVKUtNyDjyvjfj4PwpnXfa8PRI-i_eHFEcqezhOAOlP5ON3f5jyGJoH426tRoRRlDaZFg0BpJ9mGgHAERKdDd6IGwltYCs0F7Rk6ZtqePTk/s400/My+Pictures_0008.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">A
favourite of the Secretary had been transferred to Chandigarh when the
militancy there was ruling high. He had a government house in Delhi which he
had not vacated as his family was residing in it. After a specified period the
government started charging market rent which was in thousands. A proposal was
made out with the approval of the Secretary for the Accommodation Committee of
the Parliament to allow retention by him of the house on usual terms as Punjab
was highly disturbed and lives of the members of his family would not be safe.
I saw the untenability of the proposal as the officer’s boss, the Chief PMG,
was residing in Chandigarh with his family and that too in the busy Sector 22. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">And,
yet a proposal was made out which was to be defended in front of Central
ministers one of whom, NKP Salve, was the chairman of the committee. As the
matter came up, Mr. Salve asked me whether the officer had been asked to
control law and order. As this was not within his purview I half-heartedly
explained how he could not move his family. Nobody agreed and Mr. Salve said
hundreds of officers were working in Punjab despite the militancy. A
prince-ling from Dhenkanal, who too was a minister, came and told me that I did
not defend the case properly. I told him I found it like defending the
indefensible. But the whole process was very embarrassing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">I
had, on the other hand, the good fortune to take part in a meeting with Prime
Minister Narsimha Rao on the subject of Mahila Samriddhi Yojna. It was a Yojna
that was made out by him for strengthening the women and was run by the
Department of Posts. Officewise data was fed to the PMO every month which was
monitored by PM himself. Officials from PMO would often visit me and ask for
various kinds of information. Once a Jt. Secretary came and asked me to submit
figures block-wise which I said was not possible as the departmental structure
was not designed keeping in view the blocks.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The
same month there was a meeting at the PM’s house and the Jt. Secretary, like a
busybody came and warned me about the block-wise information desired by the PM.
The Department for Social Justice officers were also there with whom there was
quite an ani- mated discussion. During these discussions a man appeared from
somewhere and kept an ethnic small stone vessel in front of the PM. Obviously,
it was some kind of a potion that the PM rolled it around and took it in one
gulp. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">When
the matter regarding submission of the Yojna figures came up I told the PM the
same thing that I had told his Jt. Secretary and said that if he insisted we
would supply some data, accuracy of which, however, we would not be able to
certify as our departmental structure was not built keeping in view
developmental blocks. The PM immediately said that he would not like a change
in the system. There the matter ended. The bureaucracy never would say no to a
minister, more so to the PM. They must learn to do that for good and proper
reasons.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">I
was asked to attend meetings arranged by the Cabinet Secretary for opening of a
school for the children of officers of and above the level of Deputy
Secretaries of the All India Services working on deputation. On the first day I
had to raise the point if the school was meant to be for the children of the
officers of All India Services on deputation to the Centre then why were we
asked to attend the meeting. Our officers were not classified as belonging to
All India Services and were not on deputation; they were occupying cadre posts.
The Cabinet Secretary quickly retracted from his earlier statement and, visibly
embarrassed, said that the school would be for children of all officers of the
level of Dy. Secy. and above of all services. The school named as Sanskriti
School came up later in Chanakyapuri headed by the wife of the Cabinet
Secretary. From the look of it, it appeared that it was a kind of a means to
provide employment to the wives of bureaucrats. Things, however, may have
changed since then. The instance only shows how bureaucrats devise means to
benefit them and their families at the cost of the government. For this school
a huge area in Chanakyapuri had already reportedly been earmarked.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Around
four months before I was to retire I received a call one morning from the
Secretary that I from that day onwards was in-charge of Operations and not
of Development. I did not get any reply to my questions as to why the change
was being made so late in the day when the post could have been given to me in
the first instance. No coherent reply was forthcoming. Later I realised it was
where computerisation was most intense and the man whom I was to replace was
not playing ball with the Secretary. I thought, so be it and why make an issue
of it for four months. I thought it was best to go along instead of creating
more bitterness.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">In
fulfillment of my new responsibilities I occasionally went out to the operational
offices of Delhi where they were working on computers. The invoices from Bombay
to Delhi would take pretty long to reach. It was pre-Windows 95 times and while
the carriers were suffered from in adequacy our men also not very adept. The
net was painfully slow. And yet there was this tiny hope that all were very
keen to learn. I occasionally got a culture shock when I saw Postal officials
working the computers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">This
is precisely what happened when I was asked to inaugurate the computerized Park
Street Post Office in Kolkata in September 1994. On the counters there was an
array of desktops which the officials started working on as soon as the
inauguration was over. Obviously, they had learnt the ropes and were only awaiting
the opportunity. Only the unions were holding them back.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">A
heads of circles conference came along in 1995. It was to be held in Odisa and
a resort on the Puri-Konark road was booked for the officers. It was a two-day
affair after which my wife and I moved to Konark. She had not been to Konark
and this was a good opportunity.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The
curtain came down on my career on 30<sup>th</sup> September 1995. In the
office, however, it was business as usual; only a farewell Board meeting was
scheduled in the evening. I spent 34 years in the department most of which were
sweet and happy despite a large number of changes of places. Only the end came
with a bitter taste which too I got over in a matter of weeks. I knew there
will be some withdrawal symptoms and I had warned my wife about them. I had
told her not to take notice if I talked nonsense or lost my temper for small
breaches of routine. People sometimes went under depression when official
positions and work were withdrawn from them and behaved irrationally. So, on
the last day of September 1995 I bid final good bye to the department.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">It
is now 25 years since I retired and some of the memories are still so fresh. To
have memories so vivid of years gone by even after a quarter century is no mean achievement for
an old man of 83. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">(concluded)</span></div>
<br />Proloy Bagchihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05642253410210767969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-982173487704433191.post-44022289757641333502020-06-04T17:04:00.000+05:302020-06-04T17:04:06.054+05:30Memories of an ordinary bureaucrat :: 50 :: End of the road (Part 1)<br /><a href="http://www.bagchiblog.blogspot.com/">http://www.bagchiblog.blogspot.com</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNeFMjyc6jeX5sCbkxb6xGzqenCz6sWqhl_WRbtgIJanj4FMuw4xcUASIEfzDd_9ZLtUcKjRp3HivTDrMLkL38IksogyG5uKvllNRPubfJmqq9JsvUqSoe003cZa6uzuKirDSX5xxOb_-J/s1600/dak+bhawan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="161" data-original-width="220" height="292" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNeFMjyc6jeX5sCbkxb6xGzqenCz6sWqhl_WRbtgIJanj4FMuw4xcUASIEfzDd_9ZLtUcKjRp3HivTDrMLkL38IksogyG5uKvllNRPubfJmqq9JsvUqSoe003cZa6uzuKirDSX5xxOb_-J/s400/dak+bhawan.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Memories
of an ordinary bureatcrat :: 50 :: The end of the road (Part 1)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">As
we sat cooped up in the plane for almost two hours a train of thoughts passed
through my mind. I was going to take over as a Member of the Board which was
the most that we could get to. But currently departmental officers were
becoming secretaries. Things seemed to have opened up considerably. When I was
a probationer the same man who tarried over my transfer back to Delhi from
Kolkata had told me at Nagpur in 1962 that there was no future for me and that
I was going to retire as a probationer. Obviously, it was a joke but he too,
perhaps, saw no future for himself. But, later, there we were: he working as
Secretary and I as a Deputy Director General. Even my second brother had told
me that I could at best go up to the Junior Administrative Grade – a level that
was four levels below the one that I retired from.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Nobody
could foresee the changes that came through during those thirty-odd years.
Although our growth rate was laughed at as a Hindu Rate of growth of 3.5% yet
the government did well in boosting up the economy with all round development.
In the field of communication it was planning that was the trick and when I
entered the service planning for expansion had just commenced. We harvested the
results as we went along. The data that is touted today about the number of post
offices – around 150000 – was all the result of planning and when the ground
level got spread out the superstructure too got fleshed out. Throwing one’s
mind backwards one can imagine how miserable a condition that the British had
left us in before they finally said good bye. A man in a village had to walk
miles to get to a post office. It must have been a herculean task for our
economists and planners to pull the economy up by sheer boot straps.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The
day I was to join I was told that Secretary was heading towards Australia and
that I should take care nothing untoward happened. He was away for more than a
week and nothing untoward happened. During the interregnum I found that I was appointed
Member in-charge of planning and development. However, because of shrinkage of
allotment of resources there was no scope for any planning or development. The
work relating development was that of computerization and that was all being
looked after by Secretary. He, obviously, did not wish to shed this item of
work for reasons known to only him.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">I
went and told him that it was becoming very embarrassing for me as in meetings
with private sector men I was introduced as Member in-charge of development but
when they asked me what developmental work I was doing I could hardly specify
any. I asked him either to share developmental work like induction of
technology or, in the alternative, change my designation so that I could sit in
my room and twiddle my thumbs in peace. I had to put it straight that if there
was no resolution of the matter to my satisfaction I would be compelled to
approach the minister or the Cabinet Secretary, or both. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">He
was taken aback and said that he would not part with computerisation of the
department. I said, he needn’t give me anything and keep everything with
himself but the condition would be that he would have to have my designation
changed. I came away and after some time the internal phone rang. It was the
Secretary. He said he would pass down the induction of satellite technology.
Though it was only a fig leaf I said, fair enough.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">I
never imagined that I would have to fight some more, though without any gain.
Some officers came and told me that the five-yearly Congress of the Universal
Postal Union was being held at Seoul, South Korea. The delegation generally
includes the Minister, Secretary, a member or two of the Board and the DDG
in-charge of international (postal) relations. What the officers conveyed was
this year no member was going, i.e. I would not go and instead the Additional
Secretary in the Department of Telecom – a Postal officer on deputation – would
be going. The Addl. Secretary was known for his skills in maneuvering things in
his favour because of which he spent around 20 years on deputation in Delhi. He
was a boot-licker of politicians and he would do anything to please them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Soon
the President of our Service association showed up. He narrated the same story
and was vehemently opposed to the inclusion in the delegation of the Telecom
man. He feared that this would set a wrong precedent as it had never happened
that the UPU Congress was attended by a non-postal man. He wanted me to do
something. I knew the futility of it all and yet I said I would go and lodge my
protest with the Minister.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">I
first went to the Secretary and asked him whether he knew of the developments
regarding the delegation to Seoul. He said he knew and when questioned whether
he had advised the minister against including the Telecom man he said he had
not done that. I had to give him a mouthful and told him he had failed to
uphold the interests of the Department and its officers. I then went to the
Minister and asked him when I was sitting in the adjoining building as a Member
of the Board how was he taking a Telecom official to Seoul? In reply he said he
did not “visualize” me and that next time he would keep me in mind. I had to
tell him there was no next time and that he was not properly advised by the
Secretary and that what he had done was wrong. He got annoyed and never spoke
to me again. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">A
favourite of the Secretary had been transferred to Chandigarh when the
militancy their ruled high. He had a government house in Delhi which he had not
vacated as his family was residing in it. After a specified period the
government started charging market rent which was in thousands. A proposal was
made out for the Accommodation Committee of the Parliament to allow retention
by him of the house on usual terms as Punjab was highly disturbed and lives of
the members of his family would not be safe. I saw the untenability of the
proposal as the officer’s boss, the Chief PMG, was residing in Chandigarh with
his family and that too in the busy Sector 22. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">And,
yet a proposal was made out which was to be defended in front of Central ministers
one of whom, NKP Salve, was the chairman of the committee. As the matter came
up Mr. Salve asked me whether the officer had been asked to control law and
order. As this was not within his purview I half-heartedly explained how he
could not move his family. Nobody agreed and Mr. Salve said hundreds of
officers were working in Punjab despite the militancy. A prince-ling from
Dhenkanal who too was a minister came and told me that I did not defend the
case properly. I told him I found it like defending the indefensible. But the
whole process was very embarrassing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">(To be continued)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">*photo from internet</span></div>
<br />Proloy Bagchihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05642253410210767969noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-982173487704433191.post-47523679788601725472020-05-31T11:50:00.000+05:302020-05-31T11:50:14.848+05:30Memories of an ordinary buraucrat :: 49 :: Back in Kolkata<br /><a href="http://www.bagchiblog.blogspot.com/">http://www.bagchiblog.blogspot.com</a><br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIA6cbJEoPAyDAIr4B-XpqdD0JOhe-yZoenbTxFIeUq2rmPzsY6wk2mSIaOTRN0sW195ZHRmHnPn5b8DTSi6OEScuM_WBb2ZZRiP40HRIdZYcr_6VwBCvU5pIty0Ve9EVZJDOhpPlqoySy/s1600/Cal+GPO.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="954" data-original-width="1300" height="293" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIA6cbJEoPAyDAIr4B-XpqdD0JOhe-yZoenbTxFIeUq2rmPzsY6wk2mSIaOTRN0sW195ZHRmHnPn5b8DTSi6OEScuM_WBb2ZZRiP40HRIdZYcr_6VwBCvU5pIty0Ve9EVZJDOhpPlqoySy/s400/Cal+GPO.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Klokata GPO</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Having
very largely got the hang of more important areas of Bengal I was back in
Kolkata for the home stretch. It was time for me to get the orders of my
promotion but inexplicably these were being delayed. I knew the Appointments
Committee of the Cabinet had cleared my name and the Department of Personnel
had issued the orders but it was being held up somewhere in the department. I
did not wish to remind anybody, including the Secretary who was only a batch
senior but somewhat cantankerous. Obviously someone had organized a game and I
thought I, too, would play along. The question of availability of vacancies did
not arise as out of the three sanctioned posts all were vacant. In fact, the
Postal Board just did not exist. Only the Secretary who was ex-officio Chairman
could not have constituted the Board.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">There
were many instances where the higher officials in the Board were inclined to
play games to bring senior officers including Chief PMGs to grief. There was a
national strike in the middle of 1993 which happened to last for one whole
month. The minister, Sukh Ram, negotiated a settlement and the workers came
back to work. Soon after the resumption of work I started getting letters from
two senior officers of the Board to cut the salaries of employees who had
struck work. I was told that some heads of circles had succumbed to the pressure
and brought to heel, some others had been charge sheeted for not obeying
orders. These gentlemen who were orchestrating their views that the month-long
absence deserved a salary cut had forgotten that after every national strike
the Board issued the necessary orders regarding treatment of the period of
absence. This time, therefore, it was for the Board to issue the orders but, seemingly,
it was trying to fire the guns keeping them on the shoulders of Chief PMGs.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">I
resolutely refused to issue any order and wrote back every time that it was for
the Board to issue the orders as it was a nation-wide strike. As luck would
have it, the minister happened to come to Kolkata for a telecom conference
accompanied by a member of the Postal Board who was awaiting orders for
elevation as Secretary. It was from his wing that the letters referred to above
were being issued. As soon as the conversation revolved round to the Postal
strike during the conference I butted in asked him whether there should be a
pay-cut for the strike. Sukh Ram said in very clear terms that there should not
be any pay cut as the issues with the unions were settled in a spirit of
goodwill. I looked at the Member, he had nowhere to hide. Here was a matter
that was resolved by none other than the minister himself and the Board wanted
to punish the employees through the PMGs. The unfairness of it all did not seem
to have occurred to any of the worthies.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">I
was asked to hold Kolkata for around six months. But when a vacancy arose in my
own grade at Delhi at the end of six months somebody else who was anchored in
Delhi for years was appointed. Such things happen and when I mentioned this to
the Secretary at Kolkata his response was “not in this vacancy, I say!”. There
was nothing else to do but to cool one’s heels. One couldn’t have picked up a
fight with the Secretary although I had known him from the beginning of my
career.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">So
I reconciled myself to a needlessly delayed promotion, not that the promotion
would have given me any far greater amount of money. Instead of September I got
the orders in February – a clear five months of administrative delay. So we
collected our meagre personal effects, said good bye to the office people who
had been very nice to us, said the same to many of our relatives and caught a
flight for Delhi.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">*Photo from internet</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<br />Proloy Bagchihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05642253410210767969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-982173487704433191.post-91204320891074332432020-05-28T16:13:00.000+05:302020-05-28T16:13:27.083+05:30Memories of an ordinary bureaucrat :: 48 :: Gangtok <br /><a href="http://www.bagchiblog.blogspot.com/">http://www.bagchiblog.blogspot.com</a><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOu1hlQyMnDBpPGJY-UgE5syqeXuZoAkALDN22QtTZGAoNfBCXslUdI_uutN5XMEKXl_qumQFhnodqq53J7E92NUVAGlHwo70RiYppqUIeSCYuOxqGhKJeBkt1hVNvhKEQ0Sf3FqcHJXju/s1600/Sikkim8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="991" data-original-width="1397" height="281" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOu1hlQyMnDBpPGJY-UgE5syqeXuZoAkALDN22QtTZGAoNfBCXslUdI_uutN5XMEKXl_qumQFhnodqq53J7E92NUVAGlHwo70RiYppqUIeSCYuOxqGhKJeBkt1hVNvhKEQ0Sf3FqcHJXju/s400/Sikkim8.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic", sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: large;">Since
I had gone to Kalimpong, I thought it was my business to nip across and see for
myself what was happening in Gangtok. I had been here more than twenty years
ago but that trip was made on Leave Travel Concession. It was absolutely
unofficial. Now </span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhwdXQdzL5DAJxV74eVH-kfd1raLBpFSAnR_gEMvRfuRgvo-475D7HyPzEK2Tlxf34dm4ENnmJBr8g83O_GjFsV4UzcbNzisfLWmnkAPNKVW152DtaRZR85FSxE91EjFpD2vv-EiVpje5V/s1600/Sikkim1+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1448" height="273" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhwdXQdzL5DAJxV74eVH-kfd1raLBpFSAnR_gEMvRfuRgvo-475D7HyPzEK2Tlxf34dm4ENnmJBr8g83O_GjFsV4UzcbNzisfLWmnkAPNKVW152DtaRZR85FSxE91EjFpD2vv-EiVpje5V/s400/Sikkim1+1.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">that I was in-charge of the operations in that state too I
decided to take a look.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic", sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: large;">As
you travel up from Kalimpong to Gangtok it is a fascinating landscape all
through. Up and down and through lush green </span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCpFQVSNsRFzDzkoLo3XMvoTOE5OkM8AoTP4F2CIdU5rgX1_98KigNUXN4JLoKRgBbwspwioU7uTszYclRo5gSZsf43uQTDCldkPO_SkNLE-GuXWajB8383y2SgGeJ6bIXgc8Rb5eC3oOi/s1600/Sikkim1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1433" data-original-width="982" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCpFQVSNsRFzDzkoLo3XMvoTOE5OkM8AoTP4F2CIdU5rgX1_98KigNUXN4JLoKRgBbwspwioU7uTszYclRo5gSZsf43uQTDCldkPO_SkNLE-GuXWajB8383y2SgGeJ6bIXgc8Rb5eC3oOi/s400/Sikkim1.jpg" width="273" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">forests, occasional gaps revealing
only the tips of the Himalayan peaks, the road winds its way along the edges of
the countless hills before it hits Rongpo. The most interesting part, however,
is the stretch that runs along the somewhat wild Teesta River. They have now an
organization that controls rafting on Teesta.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic", sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic", sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: large;">Gangtok
was as placid as ever despite the tell-tale signs of </span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8XKKVfw4d_P1BGhA2BGthtTX_XSsqjfckp45P5MgVAAI4Nl-u-G6qdylpe8YT5CctMl4V9CwVuqzF273LLMzSmBdBmlYeek9KmDE8CLwyM1zYdcl4HJNR9AZRyXD706hfSpY087tOcrgX/s1600/Sikkim2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1017" data-original-width="1422" height="285" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8XKKVfw4d_P1BGhA2BGthtTX_XSsqjfckp45P5MgVAAI4Nl-u-G6qdylpe8YT5CctMl4V9CwVuqzF273LLMzSmBdBmlYeek9KmDE8CLwyM1zYdcl4HJNR9AZRyXD706hfSpY087tOcrgX/s400/Sikkim2.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">development. The offices
were always efficient performing well – better than their brethren across
several hills in the North-east. Here officials had a heightened sense of
responsibility and they appeared far more sincere than in any other place. It
was quite evident that in <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTV-eLaJCpyMa5ST0sCXYNDwovvyFk_qUfLlGE6DMhoVYzU6uHcpeBProDTSg21XNvi4BB1P8VyNpXMdx1zomNYiMhm6djJlacuB24pCbFeH3l28u5Kr2UDbh7ckggDoV6uOpz2dpxrQ_r/s1600/Sikkim7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1018" data-original-width="1451" height="280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTV-eLaJCpyMa5ST0sCXYNDwovvyFk_qUfLlGE6DMhoVYzU6uHcpeBProDTSg21XNvi4BB1P8VyNpXMdx1zomNYiMhm6djJlacuB24pCbFeH3l28u5Kr2UDbh7ckggDoV6uOpz2dpxrQ_r/s400/Sikkim7.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
the intervening two decades the state had taken long
strides towards prosperity. What I saw this time was much different from what I
had seen last time – the difference being palpably for the better. Our Postal System
appeared to have kept pace with the requirements. Though headed by a Group B
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh1o7g8UFVLyYmUfWEjQfz-jvEmnkhJHxHuvGNZqlfIjtVoq4FOVFVG7k1999llMTM7VG1PKgT-ur1lBMIRYOdnk0spQFMGeM4Su5y1Wa-ORyj3IHDS8z8GvRloCiKl-KWcKdbOl4oW9UE/s1600/Sikkim3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="982" data-original-width="1435" height="272" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh1o7g8UFVLyYmUfWEjQfz-jvEmnkhJHxHuvGNZqlfIjtVoq4FOVFVG7k1999llMTM7VG1PKgT-ur1lBMIRYOdnk0spQFMGeM4Su5y1Wa-ORyj3IHDS8z8GvRloCiKl-KWcKdbOl4oW9UE/s400/Sikkim3.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
officer the Division was doing fine.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic", sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic", sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: large;">We
had an outing towards Nathu La. There was a lot of military traffic. I am
somehow unable to tolerate people coming in the way of armymen. And, here I was
doing it myself. But there was no going back as the target was Nathu La. </span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXNjYS3NEQzZZH-IIVVUwJoMxqDWfJCTVufQa1GwWXj1ypqEUlvjqmJDcbdFuqH_t3Ke9YJZIU1BgoaC2tou6KFLtpdghyAkyfYxpVR38iHIVHRS68JvJ40ZwnBvtFgaW8KOfT6A4_4j-u/s1600/Sikkim6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="982" data-original-width="1435" height="272" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXNjYS3NEQzZZH-IIVVUwJoMxqDWfJCTVufQa1GwWXj1ypqEUlvjqmJDcbdFuqH_t3Ke9YJZIU1BgoaC2tou6KFLtpdghyAkyfYxpVR38iHIVHRS68JvJ40ZwnBvtFgaW8KOfT6A4_4j-u/s400/Sikkim6.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">Over
the winding roads which were well asphalted we hit Tsango Lake after about a
couple of hours. I did not wish to continue further on to Nathu La. This was
12000 ft in elevation and presented lovely sights. The play of cumulus clouds
over the Lake dominated by <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTAFvoH3CV8sknJcGCDkXRVIvsMjI_yXwqBqdlln4DhOqSaMSBb_g5jrM_1ESyPx_UoUN4i_4Y7mqwAnXOP56b7euew4W6KPaXpxa8Ok-LrBKBj1HO0ac3MtLTOHijt-An9RBD0-3CIjW_/s1600/Sikkim10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="972" data-original-width="1405" height="273" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTAFvoH3CV8sknJcGCDkXRVIvsMjI_yXwqBqdlln4DhOqSaMSBb_g5jrM_1ESyPx_UoUN4i_4Y7mqwAnXOP56b7euew4W6KPaXpxa8Ok-LrBKBj1HO0ac3MtLTOHijt-An9RBD0-3CIjW_/s400/Sikkim10.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
snow-covered hills was fascinating. It was in fact a
tourist site as there were several outfits providing tea and refreshments.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic", sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic", sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: large;">Having
“done” Tsango it was our time to leave and get back to Gangtok. The next day we
commenced our long trudge to Kolkata. But then it was yet to be decided whether
we would drive right through or take the regional flight from Bagdogra.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
Proloy Bagchihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05642253410210767969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-982173487704433191.post-55004445026045081922020-05-26T11:56:00.000+05:302020-05-26T12:01:21.985+05:30Memories of an ordinary bureaucrat ::47:: Kolkata - Murshidabad<br />
<a href="http://www.bagchiblog.blogspot.com/">http://www.bagchiblog.blogspot.com</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSeDX0_baBGDAYxYl8QzXgXYejKQdMzb9aUeEyL3FGk-liuKazz3z9OoJFVqIX7fC5G4EBPpJnxukt2bvoA1g1j97PPPuSHWsQ5SMQM_rYWKzKAhzERjwUxJS0rB8qK2sP2n4TEHWx8ENB/s1600/Murshidabad1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="992" data-original-width="1459" height="271" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSeDX0_baBGDAYxYl8QzXgXYejKQdMzb9aUeEyL3FGk-liuKazz3z9OoJFVqIX7fC5G4EBPpJnxukt2bvoA1g1j97PPPuSHWsQ5SMQM_rYWKzKAhzERjwUxJS0rB8qK2sP2n4TEHWx8ENB/s400/Murshidabad1.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hazarduari Palace</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Named
after Murshid Quli Khan, Murshidabad was the capital of Bengal before Kolkata
was made its capital. It was an aggressive act by the British East India
Company that deprived the local Nawab the powers to collect taxes. Murshid Quli
khan had brought the capital to Murshidabadl from Dhaka where it had been taken
by Bangla Sultanate. The region was very affluent and the local Nawab used to
provide handsome tributes to the Mughal court in Delhi.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">That
it was very rich and prosperous was also found by the Anglophile scholar Nirad
Choudhury. In his heavily researched book “Clive of India” he had occasion to
record that Robert Clive, when he saw Murshidabad, thought that the place was
far more prosperous than his (Clive’s) native London. This can be rejected as a
misjudgment due to <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCiJso-66QjWFmBjfqipmXcZyFrOEDX3xmHcJlUi-dmWPRO3XZnhnmdAHsM0M-MJ_d7bxVmD9eZXaHtD_HJH6NptNI1nKmnD53QB4bWB67S-XcUOLjVlwdeQnzZyTSNB3NiN9JQ1dEmgJk/s1600/Murshidabad2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1435" data-original-width="954" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCiJso-66QjWFmBjfqipmXcZyFrOEDX3xmHcJlUi-dmWPRO3XZnhnmdAHsM0M-MJ_d7bxVmD9eZXaHtD_HJH6NptNI1nKmnD53QB4bWB67S-XcUOLjVlwdeQnzZyTSNB3NiN9JQ1dEmgJk/s400/Murshidabad2.jpg" width="265" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Clock Tower</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
ethnic pride but a similar conclusion arrived at by William
Dalrymple in his book “Anarchy” cannot be discarded for any reason.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The
place was crawling with European traders and their representatives. The East
India Company of England had set their shop there with the French, Dutch and Danish
East India Companies who too had parked themselves there for slices of what
seems to have been the slices of the huge cake. The Armenians were already
there as were the Jagat Seths, the famous money lenders. Murshidabad used to
produce a lot of silk and that along with the famed Bengali muslin were
favourite items of trade. Murshidabadi silk was a very coveted thing. My mother
used to have a Murshidabadi silk sari which was her prized possession.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Murshidabad was the capital of Bengal Subah
that had Bihar and Odisha within its control. It was a very rich province with
Murshidabad having the privilege of providing the seat of provincial treasury,
revenue office and judiciary. The Murshidabadi prosperity attracted several
merchant families from various parts of India and Europe who decided to drop
anchor there. The place became a cultural centre as well with development of a
native gharana of music and Murshidabad style of painting that looked like
Mughal miniatures.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxyAIAC-tLNOYbaTszwvCbvqov8A3wLK4mn8no7MFKJ_RBhRSaBNvmMyq7XTPvOkWiaaVlwljVMf3O3Q4FHY1FkdzBQ66LgGRY8Glxqt-yDd67LIdtlncNZ1Hl4mart5DmDUpTYE-JSdxp/s1600/Murshidabad+5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="995" data-original-width="1452" height="273" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxyAIAC-tLNOYbaTszwvCbvqov8A3wLK4mn8no7MFKJ_RBhRSaBNvmMyq7XTPvOkWiaaVlwljVMf3O3Q4FHY1FkdzBQ66LgGRY8Glxqt-yDd67LIdtlncNZ1Hl4mart5DmDUpTYE-JSdxp/s400/Murshidabad+5.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Katra Masjid</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The
affluence gave rise to some significant constructions and a few structures have
been left behind that can be seen even today. The Katra Masjid, Niyamat
Imambada and, later, the Hazaarduari Palace were built. The palace is reputed
to have more than 900 doors and was built for running offices and for
accommodating the Nawab’s and the English Company’s officials.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">As
was quite evident, the English East India Company gradually acquired enormous
powers and the nawabs succeeding Murshid Quli Khan were unable play the games
that the Company had come to master. Slowly, while power slipped away from the
Nawabs it accreted in the hands of the Company. The nawabs came to survive with
the<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT73pBS6msR21PMZwD2gALXMkzdqHqDrgLGC5CIHj8UCtpKEgPMZOjQWWc2KHYazsB31O52czvyqpNGszt76x9k6WHm9QufuDTf1dcvTno9kixaeNh8RPeLH_dbvCDFKAddYKkA6hnuXM8/s1600/Murshidabad4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="996" data-original-width="1418" height="280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT73pBS6msR21PMZwD2gALXMkzdqHqDrgLGC5CIHj8UCtpKEgPMZOjQWWc2KHYazsB31O52czvyqpNGszt76x9k6WHm9QufuDTf1dcvTno9kixaeNh8RPeLH_dbvCDFKAddYKkA6hnuXM8/s400/Murshidabad4.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Imambada</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
grace of the Company which had acquired all the power through crookedness
ad chicanery. The second Plassey war completely changed the equations with the
English coming out victorious. They became more self-willed and deprived the
nawabs of the maintenance from the revenues. Slowly taxes came to be collected
by the Company. Affairs of the state were increasingly being decided by Company
officials in Kolkata. A situation was gradually created in which the capital had
to be shifted to Kolkata. When that happened it sounded the death knell of Murshidab</span><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">ad.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The
English East India Company had already started nibbling at the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bengali territory. The second Plassey war
made the local hereditary nawabs subservient to the Company. The Crown was also
very indulgent in giving the Company sweeping powers to wage war to acquire
territory. The Company, thus, grabbed by fair means and foul considerable
amount of real estate within a short span of time. But that i<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1Sp86W3f4HLfH_ZCeYgiBPNdBW1yOpx9pYsXLdotVsEk-Z4YSX_QANlk8IgYbJCzSc4uXvgBm_jfEaHAHrLiK5dQ6UrkwlvvwE4wEjNt9cef16SU8hs7cyWXY6fV2ZXRZytwEX0tYRwro/s1600/Murshidabad3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="970" data-original-width="1443" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1Sp86W3f4HLfH_ZCeYgiBPNdBW1yOpx9pYsXLdotVsEk-Z4YSX_QANlk8IgYbJCzSc4uXvgBm_jfEaHAHrLiK5dQ6UrkwlvvwE4wEjNt9cef16SU8hs7cyWXY6fV2ZXRZytwEX0tYRwro/s400/Murshidabad3.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hazarduari Palace</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">s another long
story. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">On
our way back from Murshidabad we stopped at Berhampur where my cousin used to
live. He had already organized a lavish meal with Bengal’s favourite fish Hilsa
in mustard sauce. Not many can really tackle a piece of Hilsa as it has too
many bones. We somehow managed it very well, more so because what was awaiting
us was far more delectable. Chhena bara is a kind of jalebi of bigger sizes
made of cottage cheese and as you sink your teeth in them sweet fragrant syrup
oozes out and fills your mouth. They are fried till they are dark brown like kala
jamuns and then immersed in the fragrant syrup. It is just heavenly. We took leave
of our lovable Dada after heaping on him our thanks for the wonderful meal.
That was the last we saw of him as he passed away within a couple of years’
time.Plassey, the place that proved to be the nemesis<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6R__Zo7pPUvfGNzoEl8Ckw3R4jpCC1HAGXy38bzA0DRcLu1Uze5fsBIn4PClm0pTFTnTn0HFY0tmyA4OlVhpAV6c00gvt6u3DMkvqYzVoWGoO24pFHDsgIX1AWeu36nezTU29SkGB9yDX/s1600/Plassey.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="550" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6R__Zo7pPUvfGNzoEl8Ckw3R4jpCC1HAGXy38bzA0DRcLu1Uze5fsBIn4PClm0pTFTnTn0HFY0tmyA4OlVhpAV6c00gvt6u3DMkvqYzVoWGoO24pFHDsgIX1AWeu36nezTU29SkGB9yDX/s400/Plassey.jpg" width="273" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> Plassey that proved to be the<br />
nemesis of the Nabobs</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">We
also visited the village of my father in-law close to the district headquarters
at Malda. It was an affluent village with all the houses built of bricks and
mortar. As I entered the village post office I found wads of currency notes in
the hands of people who had come to deposit them. Obviously the soil was rich
and the farmers were diligent that produced the wads of currency. In times of
the nawabs it was gold and jewellery, these days it is wads of Rs. 100/- notes<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />Proloy Bagchihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05642253410210767969noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-982173487704433191.post-91540952047187694152020-05-22T11:26:00.001+05:302020-05-22T11:26:42.694+05:30memories of an ordinary bureaucrat :: 46 :: Kolkata - Gour<a href="http://www.bagchiblog.blogspot.com/">http://www.bagchiblog.blogspot.com</a><br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuPFHl9t5SnvQkx2JtnXqPtD8B52Z2JiPLqhDT4wylCCQpsFQ6VwBrR1jhMgpI8etGz_GNdFivOLfqCZXmvEHLToxMiH1XPBq8ELEVRN-yGF9I5mLGzYy0ZU4D_niuENvUB26ME6MxmA3x/s1600/Chamkan+Mosque.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="964" data-original-width="1470" height="258" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuPFHl9t5SnvQkx2JtnXqPtD8B52Z2JiPLqhDT4wylCCQpsFQ6VwBrR1jhMgpI8etGz_GNdFivOLfqCZXmvEHLToxMiH1XPBq8ELEVRN-yGF9I5mLGzYy0ZU4D_niuENvUB26ME6MxmA3x/s400/Chamkan+Mosque.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chamkan Mosque</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Gour
is another city where one finds structures of terracotta. These are different
in the sense that they are of the Islamic kind. Gour is located in the eastern
part of West Bengal and the ruins straddle both India and Bangladesh, though
majority of the ruins fall on the Indian side.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Gour
had its heydays during the middle ages when it was the capital of Bengal. Gour
or Gauda became synonymous with Bengal. In the 13 Century it was captured by
the Delhi Sultanate. I did not know that <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghwgQw2PsYEHZ_L3uPz_nN_r1P66LRDvS5AYyERcGEi5_tgRu3t4COH56OG4BhL7X5TeVA9CnRIez8Dun5daxAJlGChE_aBb_la7JiuzKK1GRBpCwuMDwrkm4PY9t0Zpc6GZO3FBBR0zL_/s1600/Gour+4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="919" data-original-width="1435" height="255" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghwgQw2PsYEHZ_L3uPz_nN_r1P66LRDvS5AYyERcGEi5_tgRu3t4COH56OG4BhL7X5TeVA9CnRIez8Dun5daxAJlGChE_aBb_la7JiuzKK1GRBpCwuMDwrkm4PY9t0Zpc6GZO3FBBR0zL_/s400/Gour+4.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Trellis work</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
there was also a Bengal Sultanate of
which Gour was the capital for more than 100-odd years.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Gour was one of the most densely populated
cities of the sub-continent. Portuguese travelers have left detailed accounts
of the riches of the place. They even compared the place with Lisbon. In the
sixteenth century Gour was occupied by Humayun <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWJLH_ULSKfBBvTMFTEcbto58cYsIouIm1evLGwxq57djVm3yRvXCMdmkakO9yg5mnJCRVcqUt3ykCgEfaZpfDR53_KzMfehSsllslFQ438x2lq5FRraAzkMRd20u3VgVIPDiSarmyLd_r/s1600/Gour1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="948" data-original-width="1465" height="258" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWJLH_ULSKfBBvTMFTEcbto58cYsIouIm1evLGwxq57djVm3yRvXCMdmkakO9yg5mnJCRVcqUt3ykCgEfaZpfDR53_KzMfehSsllslFQ438x2lq5FRraAzkMRd20u3VgVIPDiSarmyLd_r/s400/Gour1.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Reminds one of Fatehpur Sikri</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
who desired a name-change for
the place to Zanntabad. Apparently, this did not work out and the place
continued to be known as Gour or Gauda. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Gour
continued to be an opulent place with its trade and business. The Moguls added
a large number of public buildings. But soon the city was overtaken by plague
and change in the course of the Ganges. The city was thus left as a rubble heap
and ruins of what once were fine pieces of architecture.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />Proloy Bagchihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05642253410210767969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-982173487704433191.post-22994253960388940662020-05-20T12:32:00.002+05:302020-05-20T12:32:37.999+05:30Memories of an ordinary bureaucrat :: 45 :: Kolkata - Santiniketan<br /><a href="http://www.bagchiblog.blogspot.com/">http://www.bagchiblog.blogspot.com</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit-CRTRr9VH9In56WlLRQO3RP0AjdHO7dV-rh1NJ0rkhPuBPskUkmM3iWMtXU-zV3DbYWJ8Mp7xvgLdBNTJsQ8uQV_azRhEVkQWaL-dhphAytvcerd5vUyXa5PXi1WacvYhxEdELlT4DQR/s1600/An+artistic+structure.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1417" height="281" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit-CRTRr9VH9In56WlLRQO3RP0AjdHO7dV-rh1NJ0rkhPuBPskUkmM3iWMtXU-zV3DbYWJ8Mp7xvgLdBNTJsQ8uQV_azRhEVkQWaL-dhphAytvcerd5vUyXa5PXi1WacvYhxEdELlT4DQR/s400/An+artistic+structure.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic", sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">My
junior colleagues in Kolkata had always been telling me to take a trip to their
city for a visit to Santiniketan during the Poush Mela. Poush is the 9</span><sup style="font-family: "Century Gothic", sans-serif;">th</sup><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic", sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">
month of Bengali Calendar overlapping both December and January of the
Gregorian Calendar. It is the season of harvests and farmers have enough money
to celebrate. On the last day of Poush the festival of Poush Sankranti is
celebrated. In Santiniketan. Poush Mela is a massive celebration with sweets,
several <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj82gES02ZQoWdVakhxwHRkeg3qu5IE7vLxAwddlFiX0o5rJ1CkRhjYIlRvwZKxCIwDWl7K_DyVVmRpEMAVXhK66mtDchQGMIBwlYQfZnCeQPlfNjAYH4waOcZUTyq4KoqZes-4pFKDDGhZ/s1600/Rakinker+Baij.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="932" data-original-width="1130" height="326" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj82gES02ZQoWdVakhxwHRkeg3qu5IE7vLxAwddlFiX0o5rJ1CkRhjYIlRvwZKxCIwDWl7K_DyVVmRpEMAVXhK66mtDchQGMIBwlYQfZnCeQPlfNjAYH4waOcZUTyq4KoqZes-4pFKDDGhZ/s400/Rakinker+Baij.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sculpture by Ramkinker Baij</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
varieties of delectable Bengali dishes, music, recitations and folk
theatre accompanied by folk music and dance.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic", sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I could never make it to Santineketan during
the Mela. This time too my wife and I were there but only after the
celebrations were over and inmates of the place were back studying for their
examinations. But having come to Kolkata and not visiting Santiniketan would be
an affront to the Bard of Santiniketan. That is what we thought – a trifle
over-estimation of ourselves.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The
beginning of Santiniketan dates back to earlier than 1901. Tagore’s <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIPBOdpHGU7q_NrtCKpnt0VX8YBtuAIKyk_0igV4qzDxtXZ_uUQwDrU7oTBMJC3bTYRQB9Ym8WblT8HqaeRXzOrfSjnHexTyvq23mCflvliPs9Ht3TNQAMiiHnaPm3PJrcwuIM8MtxI4OI/s1600/Original+Shantiniketan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="987" data-original-width="1364" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIPBOdpHGU7q_NrtCKpnt0VX8YBtuAIKyk_0igV4qzDxtXZ_uUQwDrU7oTBMJC3bTYRQB9Ym8WblT8HqaeRXzOrfSjnHexTyvq23mCflvliPs9Ht3TNQAMiiHnaPm3PJrcwuIM8MtxI4OI/s400/Original+Shantiniketan.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The first building that came up in Santiniketan</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
father
Maharishi Debendra Nath Tagore had bought this piece of land from Rajbari of
Raipur for a pittance for his spiritual needs. He used to come here for
meditation and, later, others too seemed to have joined him. The building which
is reckoned as the original Santiniketan was constructed for his use.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">After
almost fifty years followed Patha Bhawan in 1901, which came into being as an
institution of primary education run by Rabindra Nath Tagore. It was during
this time that my maternal uncle was admitted at Patha Bhawan. Initially there
were only 5 students. Characterised by its philosophy “of learning by the heart
with closeness to nature without any superficial barrier between teachers and
students” as opposed to<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiidoIwVC7Wx8Y4V7jZ5uniXw1GRJSML8oNP_1NbQx-XHoS8pZo9LKcDYIxYvRMiwd4e01UVipDRzEoeMekTsdrcjJp6nvEn-7ejVeurpbFGoYtlTaOxhYor745r49cHpGUoycsSAr_ZOee/s1600/Uttarayan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="983" data-original-width="1374" height="285" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiidoIwVC7Wx8Y4V7jZ5uniXw1GRJSML8oNP_1NbQx-XHoS8pZo9LKcDYIxYvRMiwd4e01UVipDRzEoeMekTsdrcjJp6nvEn-7ejVeurpbFGoYtlTaOxhYor745r49cHpGUoycsSAr_ZOee/s400/Uttarayan.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Uttarayan where Tagore used to reside</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
the Western method of rote learning, its system of
teaching and learning was different. <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>What
started as a school grew into the Vishwa Bharati University. It is perhaps the
only primary school that is affiliated with an University.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While only a building was earlier known as
Santiniketan, today it is the entire complex of numerous structures is known by
that name. It comprises intellectual activities, literary and artistic efforts
as also crafts like on cloth or leather. Music is another integral part of the
education. No wonder one can often find the students go on musical soirees.
That Tagore gave birth to a distinctive genre of music universally known as
Rabindra Sangit is perhaps a very well known fact. A large number of youngsters
flock to the place only to specialize in Rabindra Sangit. They have to make
extraordinary effort to master 2000 songs that he had written, each set to a
different tune by him.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJBLQ8p9Sh3EKsk0wNFGy0ljrhyphenhyphen5sunMgVDYytnlDKVLym-s8ELmfIs5npbKhuD_5Jt1Ujvymi77y88hF6t852s9tQPiteoFOMD7MuqRK6AAufe9gyV2Y4rMtWbB0Z8EtPFQQL_-iYkv3L/s1600/Santiniketan+-+Path+Bhavan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="183" data-original-width="275" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJBLQ8p9Sh3EKsk0wNFGy0ljrhyphenhyphen5sunMgVDYytnlDKVLym-s8ELmfIs5npbKhuD_5Jt1Ujvymi77y88hF6t852s9tQPiteoFOMD7MuqRK6AAufe9gyV2Y4rMtWbB0Z8EtPFQQL_-iYkv3L/s400/Santiniketan+-+Path+Bhavan.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Path Bhawan (from internet)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Apart
from music Santiniketan is known for art – visual art. From our childhood we
had seen many practitioners of art who had internalised Santineketan way of
painting so much so that a brief look at it would be enough to tell us the
provenance of the style.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">All
in all, it is a great institution. It<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>produced different kind of men and women who were well educated, well
behaved and gentle and cultured to a fault. When they went out in to the wide
world they carried Santiniketan along with them. I remember the wife of a
faculty member from the up-country of the Indian Institute of Public
Administration who had been to Santiniketan and used to speak <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX5hGwP5YFcVh1er62ppl82JNLPHNIw9qDNvkTUzw0MBBHY67ya1K631ZJ7gd6jxZ-UvPSfMyoVUbV8QMVkke-S3XnmMiNLM0cjcDRtDZcYavkyvEnxqM1iIRvWsj6ny85eBox0hrEDxpu/s1600/Ramkinker+Baij.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="927" data-original-width="1449" height="255" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX5hGwP5YFcVh1er62ppl82JNLPHNIw9qDNvkTUzw0MBBHY67ya1K631ZJ7gd6jxZ-UvPSfMyoVUbV8QMVkke-S3XnmMiNLM0cjcDRtDZcYavkyvEnxqM1iIRvWsj6ny85eBox0hrEDxpu/s400/Ramkinker+Baij.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Another scupture by Ramkinker</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
flawless Bengali.
She had Santiniketan seemingly imprinted all over her.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">As
visitors what we can do is only to see the standing structures or gawk at the
sculptures of Ramkinker Baij and collages of Nandlal Bose. I find that very
frustrating but then I cannot do anything about it. I console myself with the
thought that it is enough we have been able to visit the place and pay our
silent homage to the great polymath who preceded our generation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />Proloy Bagchihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05642253410210767969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-982173487704433191.post-65153296097015728502020-05-17T17:02:00.000+05:302020-05-17T17:02:53.579+05:30Memories of an ordinary bureaucrat :: 44 :: Kolkata - Bishnupur<br /><a href="http://www.bagchiblog.blogspot.com/">http://www.bagchiblog.blogspot.com</a><br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3Lhy0xixncAgx8bXAdY2QBXhLg6StiprdytloEsXwrU2k1rcbREvLKE3ziThvAlFUstFzfATu29nzeqT3-p1tuND3heVlpSQ2wuL0yRyqkqYgv_LHer2RrHHmwsKoegGC6evzJRVLcHZk/s1600/Madanmohan+temple.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="618" data-original-width="800" height="308" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3Lhy0xixncAgx8bXAdY2QBXhLg6StiprdytloEsXwrU2k1rcbREvLKE3ziThvAlFUstFzfATu29nzeqT3-p1tuND3heVlpSQ2wuL0yRyqkqYgv_LHer2RrHHmwsKoegGC6evzJRVLcHZk/s400/Madanmohan+temple.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Madanmohan Temple</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">We
were on to Bankura the clay-horse town. It was an interesting journey through
the crowds and chaos of Bardhaman and the urban scene of Durgapur. I have never
had the occasion to see as many millions of cycle rickshaws as in Bardhaman.
They clogged the roads. Worse they were crowding around th entry and exit of
the Railway Station. Bardhaman is supposed to be reckoned as the heritage city
of West Bengal and, they say, there is much to see but I got upset by the
unruly cycle rickshaws. <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4r_kHKiIiyye41kkmH9yqhv-1wzNWsPS3okLu7qPhu0CrUrwWrEe-ZgmLGHRbmz8DvjLmCmBWIkziwxS1bRO6LH_RNq5VDl-dxoN4_D99UuSspG3FNPl2PwsS7mrBxxN8v5lfjhoTrn65/s1600/Jor+Bangla+temple.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="964" data-original-width="1444" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4r_kHKiIiyye41kkmH9yqhv-1wzNWsPS3okLu7qPhu0CrUrwWrEe-ZgmLGHRbmz8DvjLmCmBWIkziwxS1bRO6LH_RNq5VDl-dxoN4_D99UuSspG3FNPl2PwsS7mrBxxN8v5lfjhoTrn65/s400/Jor+Bangla+temple.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jorbangla temple</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
So we headed further north towards Bankura.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Bankura
is just like any mofussil town - dusty and disorganized. Shops are here, there
and everywhere. The most visible thing that is on sale is the famed Bankura
horse – of terracotta as well of wood – of various dimensions. Some were
carefully worked on, some even had semi-precious stones affixed at strategic
places to make them look more beautiful. I had two huge terracotta horses of about
6 f<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA8H8-R2bNoiRaEBo9Vnh8fyoBKbxg_S5maK8kuh2iLPiCELR8qhpTtDvcVvzUsqnA2MfPgZ1psEjf-_69uSRENMBdulq7PFVvdxkKjRoRfLujthvtfGgfZDdPJud4OdKjJdVGxl2J_y9G/s1600/Rasmanch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="949" data-original-width="1472" height="257" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA8H8-R2bNoiRaEBo9Vnh8fyoBKbxg_S5maK8kuh2iLPiCELR8qhpTtDvcVvzUsqnA2MfPgZ1psEjf-_69uSRENMBdulq7PFVvdxkKjRoRfLujthvtfGgfZDdPJud4OdKjJdVGxl2J_y9G/s400/Rasmanch.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rasmanch</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
t. height in my office so I was not really interested. My wife did buy some
for gifting away.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">We
then moved into Bishnupur which is known for its terracotta temples. We have
been almost all over India where we had seen temples made of granite, sandstone,
marble or slate but we had never come across terracotta temples. Bishnupur has
them in quite good numbers. Some of them eve have living deities.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Bishnupur
is a municipality in the Bamkura Distt. Ironically there was a <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFKOUkgvHtN2koPFrvXpCcyq45aANdwKXLbNLCVEk3iC8g6NxIBWTbErfPFmhJHpyU9s6c-AEU9PUQZNyBMUroFru1Ypfe_u2JvA8PK8M9fDgTmp_I0zitpVFhgp4HDDdAxKsjT_nUm1ri/s1600/Bishnupur11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1017" data-original-width="1435" height="282" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFKOUkgvHtN2koPFrvXpCcyq45aANdwKXLbNLCVEk3iC8g6NxIBWTbErfPFmhJHpyU9s6c-AEU9PUQZNyBMUroFru1Ypfe_u2JvA8PK8M9fDgTmp_I0zitpVFhgp4HDDdAxKsjT_nUm1ri/s400/Bishnupur11.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Another of those terracotta temples</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
time, of course,
long back when Bankura used to be within the administrative jurisdiction of
Bishnupur. But the times have changed and Bankura got developed leaving
Bishnupur behind. The history of Bishnupur stretches back to the Gupta period
but for our purposes its recent history is more relevant. For almost a thousand
years Bishnupur was the capital of Mallabhum ruled by Mallas of which Bankura
was a part. The <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfA1JafeglKk01x5CSYBvtmwZpW-srTNWEzm3gHTTU2EmYGdSuESyAxBAGOsjzgNBV-qJPHhrdvocFwZKHORYTNxies_evuVuW-70oDxqLn8ltAKWoJvoNYlD-D7wd729LBQPM28GrXSF3/s1600/Bishnupur9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="930" data-original-width="1471" height="252" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfA1JafeglKk01x5CSYBvtmwZpW-srTNWEzm3gHTTU2EmYGdSuESyAxBAGOsjzgNBV-qJPHhrdvocFwZKHORYTNxies_evuVuW-70oDxqLn8ltAKWoJvoNYlD-D7wd729LBQPM28GrXSF3/s400/Bishnupur9.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">details of a panel on a temple</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Malla rulers were Vaishnavites and they built here the
exquisite terracotta buildings including temples. These have now become objects
of tourists’ interest.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Although
the place required many more days we could spend only two days as we had to get
back to Kolkata. To that extent our experience was poorer. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />Proloy Bagchihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05642253410210767969noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-982173487704433191.post-42860969599687384152020-05-16T12:10:00.001+05:302020-05-16T12:10:18.104+05:30Memories of an ordinary bureaucrat :: 43 :: Kolkata - Sunderbans<br /><a href="http://www.bagchiblog.blogspot.com/">http://www.bagchiblog.blogspot.com</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2MonFWvXtQRnKrJ-4dcLBbnPK0KHrDaehSWImydgr433whocSKACedx-qF_7o9FhRY6SOoC9Gdwd3EcJDk2PvscrsO9690uU03Fo8LaCRnKN6fm51r4mTu1rf51PdqJql-EnFZTdtaQ1l/s1600/Sunderban1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="991" data-original-width="1439" height="273" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2MonFWvXtQRnKrJ-4dcLBbnPK0KHrDaehSWImydgr433whocSKACedx-qF_7o9FhRY6SOoC9Gdwd3EcJDk2PvscrsO9690uU03Fo8LaCRnKN6fm51r4mTu1rf51PdqJql-EnFZTdtaQ1l/s400/Sunderban1.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Matla River</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Our
Postmaster General, Kolkata, was a very competent officer. Being a local
product he knew most of the employees and he also knew most of the worth-seeing
places. On a Wednesday he came and asked whether I was interested in taking a
trip to Sunderbans on the next week-end. I thought the opportunity was
God-sent. Who wouldn’t like to see a slice of the great Indian mangrove forests
that protect the hinterland, including the megapolis of Kolkata? I promptly
gave my ascent to a trip that would involve in a journey to a place called
Canning and from there a cruise on a boat for 24 hours including a night halt
at a place called Pakhiralay (abode of birds).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Canning
is a town in South 24 Parganas district. It is a sub-divisional town the whole
of which is situated in the delta and hence has become the gateway to
Sunderbans. Named after a Governor General, Lord Canning, the town missed being
a competitor to Singapore. That is precisely what Lord Canning wanted to make
of the town. Only he did not succeed in his efforts. Instead Canning has become
a fishing centre that tries to meet the ravenous demand of fish of Calcuttans
and that too only partially. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">We
had to commence our boat ride from Canning. The boat would ply on the Matla
River up to a distance, i.e. up to Pakhiralay<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>where there is a resthouse and we were to spend the night there. It was
a biggish boat with several hands. They not only steered the boat, they also
looked after our comforts and cooked for us. The cabins were pretty well
appointed and were comfortable.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">I
could imagine boats of similar dimensions, or maybe bigger, powered <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0N417zGteg9TiKw6KwW-PxfTkW5h9S9X8KT_jkp5YW7eCkl-qR-5xsr45J6SusfsN-0BONm3UEFOGkS-vY-mTvSWQv9F5xjVH5ECYwicY87Mae83UMQkwLWOQo5zJt8Qlb15Q5CNNUubs/s1600/Sunderban2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1109" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0N417zGteg9TiKw6KwW-PxfTkW5h9S9X8KT_jkp5YW7eCkl-qR-5xsr45J6SusfsN-0BONm3UEFOGkS-vY-mTvSWQv9F5xjVH5ECYwicY87Mae83UMQkwLWOQo5zJt8Qlb15Q5CNNUubs/s400/Sunderban2.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fishing in Matla</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
by the
winds must have been used by the British to get to what now is Kolkata. They
must have faced serious difficulties in hitting the right channel that would
bring them to the mainland. Sunderban is a maze of streams and rivers through
dense jungles, one could even get lost. Thickly vegetated and densely forested,
even the locals find it tough to move around with the risk of being attacked by
that regal predator, the Royal Bengal Tiger. No wonder, when the aliens came up
against these massive animals in mangrove forests of Sunderbans, the obviously
were in awe of it and named it Royal Bengal Tiger. It is not the English alone
who faced the challenges of Sundarbans; there were others too, like the French
and the Dutch.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">As
the boat calmly moved along the Matla River we saw the jungles on the two banks
which would occasionally be disturbed by smaller game like the spotted deer.
The width of the channel would vary at places where two flanks would come
together to provide only a narrow channel. But our best efforts could not
locate the presence of the big cat. Probably, all of them were yet to shake off
the languor of their afternoon snooze.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">We
reached Pakhiraloy and came across a well-built rest house. Not many birds
visited the site that evening; perhaps not the season for them to crowd around
here. Next morning, however, some sort of commotion out in the open woke us up.
There was an unmistakable pug mark of the Royal visitor. The expert among the
lot said it was recent and probably of the preceding night. It was well and
good that nobody was caught napping outside. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The
excitement was over in minutes and we prepared ourselves to leave. The return
trip was uneventful. We were back in Kolkata by the evening after having ”conquered”
Sundarbans, </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
the great Indian mangrove forest, a bigger part of which has fallen
into the territory of Bangladesh. But, in the times of Robert Clive It was
Indian right through. <o:p></o:p><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<br />Proloy Bagchihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05642253410210767969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-982173487704433191.post-75091067068274110512020-05-14T12:58:00.000+05:302020-05-15T09:52:40.367+05:30Memories of an ordinary bueaucrat :: 42 :: On to Kolkata<br />
<a href="http://www.bagchiblog.blogspot.com/">http://www.bagchiblog.blogspot.com</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCNIRTMhom6Fl3BKV5Wy7yQp6vPMkva5_L1faDL7EVFIm9gCrl1u8fANNj1Ng-TOIqejXvvpOO9X-AW-bRthwEyruniosoSdgHKVWrsMKXvxAiFXokblxyEERkFKveVPGIEXWYMMDjKfZy/s1600/Kolkata+10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="763" data-original-width="1086" height="280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCNIRTMhom6Fl3BKV5Wy7yQp6vPMkva5_L1faDL7EVFIm9gCrl1u8fANNj1Ng-TOIqejXvvpOO9X-AW-bRthwEyruniosoSdgHKVWrsMKXvxAiFXokblxyEERkFKveVPGIEXWYMMDjKfZy/s400/Kolkata+10.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">Although
it was not quite necessary yet I was shifted to Kolkata in 1993 when I had just
2 years left before retirement. The Secretary knew the number of transfers I
had undergone yet he insisted that I went to Kolkata (it was still Calcutta
then) even if only for six months. He said a promotion, the last one in my
case, was likely to come around that time. I had told the Secretary in that
case I wouldn’t move my stuff and would stay in the Departmental guest house.
Ultimately, the posting lasted for one whole year.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">We
arrived at Kolkata minus our heavy baggage and parked ourselves <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJc-luTp-5X0blC7u0fIOwo6t0Asbik_zRXis0krwJdT6Ne5HiKdm3ZXUuGsiD347T412Lmm3EW08SBImmqCBs0AhHsfNktO9_A42yqF7wJns8l8R84Cxs3Pz1jveQ3FiQ-zHejSaTV6h0/s1600/1-Kolkata22.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="543" data-original-width="800" height="270" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJc-luTp-5X0blC7u0fIOwo6t0Asbik_zRXis0krwJdT6Ne5HiKdm3ZXUuGsiD347T412Lmm3EW08SBImmqCBs0AhHsfNktO9_A42yqF7wJns8l8R84Cxs3Pz1jveQ3FiQ-zHejSaTV6h0/s400/1-Kolkata22.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Grave of Job Charnok, founder of Kolkata</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
in the suite
that was generally kept for the minister. It was on the 12<sup>th</sup> floor
of our 14 storied building on what was earlier known as Central Avenue but
later came to be known as Chittaranjan Avenue. It was close to Tipu’s mosque,
Chowringhee, New Market, Esplanade, et al.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Apart
from all that, Kolkata was my mother’s city where she was born 116 years ago in
a family of substance. She worked her way up through various schools to land up
at Bethune College which continues till today to be the finest college for
women. Her eldest brother was one of the <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4yeqOHL6qRIXNXTAOZ_g6NoueR1M6zL3dbBme1ZhDH6tyPvq5BkYlCbW0LvQoR0fxVwrnOLywoYD0_8sa3TMdt4mYnJOm0WDwMFH9IzKrxVt2lH9rji1lgArh4QZgBmRAKN-9vPAUZjw2/s1600/Kolkata1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="995" data-original-width="1474" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4yeqOHL6qRIXNXTAOZ_g6NoueR1M6zL3dbBme1ZhDH6tyPvq5BkYlCbW0LvQoR0fxVwrnOLywoYD0_8sa3TMdt4mYnJOm0WDwMFH9IzKrxVt2lH9rji1lgArh4QZgBmRAKN-9vPAUZjw2/s400/Kolkata1.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Perhaps the biggest ever Banyan tree</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
first students in Santiniketan when it
opened in 1901. Her father being a “bhadralok” – a tag that was given to
wealthy people, landed gentry, educated and prosperous – was close to elites of
19<sup>th</sup> Century Kolkata including Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, Tagore,
and Surendranath Banerji whose nephew married his daughter. They were mostly
Anglophiles and no wonder my mother’s father was nominated into the British
Government in India to work as Deputy Metropolitan Magistrate, Kolkata.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">My
father, however, belonged to what was then known as East Bengal. He was born
into a zamindar family but he left it all and came to Kolkata to study first in
Scottish Church College and then at Presidency College which is now a university.
Kolkata was, therefore, very close to<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz1whZ2r36VwOVzHmR14QP1p-T3oJ81xgBzJG43OI_-LhNeIHE5QsTuziGitryjfTCCkRD08EBzxqvd6ekdAtLBH9n7s25YvHpf_o1NbvIZRVeNW5v0egujKJDm9MkcCrcoK-p_N6ysVkL/s1600/Kolkata6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1012" data-original-width="1472" height="273" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz1whZ2r36VwOVzHmR14QP1p-T3oJ81xgBzJG43OI_-LhNeIHE5QsTuziGitryjfTCCkRD08EBzxqvd6ekdAtLBH9n7s25YvHpf_o1NbvIZRVeNW5v0egujKJDm9MkcCrcoK-p_N6ysVkL/s400/Kolkata6.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Writers' Building - the Bengal Secretariat</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
</div>
us. My wife, too, had numerous paternal
and maternal relatives here.<o:p></o:p><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">West
Bengal as a place of work in the Department has always been very unpopular. Its
predominantly leftist unions would create so much trouble for officers that
many came close to a breakdown. Over the years the attitudes of Red unions
somewhat softened. As the Department spent more money and the life of workers
in front and back offices became more comfortable the anger of the Lefties
diminished and their temperament displayed a welcome change.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">That
is when I appeared on the scene. Monitoring everything – from availability of postal
stationery to ease of carrying out duties by the operatives – things changed
and a greater feeling of partnership between the unions and the administration
was fostered. My formula was simple – whatever was within my powers to do my
officials would <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijGEk0EtT_tOfVk_qGzS1iUzFnFYVJsO-zZrr8kfT9nMZLUhk5xexuvqAnpi_vOkBp4atBZeAgcq6BRjYZfT2dFE249YAwfHFRLorRcKoRAY05jT72LxDYCQ1EiKEbMl5O1CqJDF5kGtHp/s1600/Kolkata16.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1507" data-original-width="970" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijGEk0EtT_tOfVk_qGzS1iUzFnFYVJsO-zZrr8kfT9nMZLUhk5xexuvqAnpi_vOkBp4atBZeAgcq6BRjYZfT2dFE249YAwfHFRLorRcKoRAY05jT72LxDYCQ1EiKEbMl5O1CqJDF5kGtHp/s400/Kolkata16.jpg" width="256" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A church next to Writers' Building</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />do all that and beyond that, even if the Unions demanded, the
administration would not be able to help. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">One
such matter was of computerization of offices. It was a central directive but
the unions will have none of it. It was 1993 and technology was progressing in
the country very fast. In the midst of all this the West Bengal Government
issued a fiat that more and more savings bank accounts should be opened. It was
not possible to carry out the directive in view of the huge backlog of audit of the accounts. Unless the savings bank as an institution in West Bengal was
audited I expected frauds to take place.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">When
I found the unions were very firm against computerization I had no alternative
but to seek higher counsels. I consulted my friend Krishnamurti, Chief
Secretary West Bengal. On his suggestion I went and saw the Chief Minister,
Jyoti Basu. When I told him my problem he listened to it carefully and told me
that unions would have to agree to computerization. Within three days our union
neta came to me and <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCJDD44Gr5qgE_0iExdLxQWuj-k38AS6dgdUHRQYhvp13z6vTWqq1c_f2PpXdZYAfnvGrQLW2bD_wQg3XjU0U3shYm38q89eUADSQLZHhgZATTFZk5ay6bYZ-Q59zp48ocUq_deeDLugZm/s1600/1-Kolkata+9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="558" data-original-width="800" height="278" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCJDD44Gr5qgE_0iExdLxQWuj-k38AS6dgdUHRQYhvp13z6vTWqq1c_f2PpXdZYAfnvGrQLW2bD_wQg3XjU0U3shYm38q89eUADSQLZHhgZATTFZk5ay6bYZ-Q59zp48ocUq_deeDLugZm/s400/1-Kolkata+9.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The High Court of Judicature</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
agreed to in writing of electronic processing of all postal
operations. On the side, he conveyed he was impressed by the fact that I could
go to the very top of the CPI(ML) hierarchy, if there happened to be a problem.
I thought that they developed a healthy respect for me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">That
was, perhaps, a one off thing. We generally had very good relations despite a
total nationwide strike that took place a few months into my term. I had a very
quiet time right through and saw quite a bit of West Bengal, memories of which
are a treasure for me. I used it to solve the problems of the staff and, in
some cases, took decisions that <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGnagGGbg1bketWkpmrCT58JJ5tnqtlcDsWCa5XgZI-Fo6z2-hh5fparyNjI_PLISvjyTNQVdXQIhf5p7LB9RejOHnSybEn6PxIe7aLBdPb03Yu1wd-9a7Uy9kHtQuNTU3oASix-FyhyaB/s1600/Kolkata25.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1017" data-original-width="1465" height="277" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGnagGGbg1bketWkpmrCT58JJ5tnqtlcDsWCa5XgZI-Fo6z2-hh5fparyNjI_PLISvjyTNQVdXQIhf5p7LB9RejOHnSybEn6PxIe7aLBdPb03Yu1wd-9a7Uy9kHtQuNTU3oASix-FyhyaB/s400/Kolkata25.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tagore's rambling house Jorasanko</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
eventually were issued as standing instructions
by the superior office of Postal Directorate. Those decisions thus acquired
pan-India applicability and the staff of the Circle were happy. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Kolkata
has numerous churches and temples, many of them being venerated institutions.
St Paul’s cathedral is one which has Indo-Gothic architecture and is more than
170 years old. Likewise the mosque named after Tipu Sultan was also built
around 1840s. Then we have the Kalighat Mandir, Dakkhineshwar Temple and Belur
Math – all within the Kolkata metropolitan area. All the Hindu places of
worship attract enormous crowds on festive occasions. I was fortunate to visit
all of them except the Mosque of Tipu Sultan and found the experience
exhilarating.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Kolkata
is a place loved by everybody – despite its filth and poverty. At </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">basic level
it is reckoned as a foodies’ paradise where you could get all kinds of food –
from Bengali to Malayalee to Moghlai to Continental. Its bustling bazaars are
what shoppers crave for. At the cerebral level, it <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK3JU_xxZR3nzLHmUpgRnyencyxhB3FaKsB8PuElDyWcfAd11ZQnmrpiZye-4BuSpG9KRt2hV-id061Q0pLtPQ_3p6zqjfePYBs_cY4A3P4cSX2ngIY72c2SiuGLKtbfHtejUkRC699Pqr/s1600/Kolkata26.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="958" data-original-width="1251" height="303" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK3JU_xxZR3nzLHmUpgRnyencyxhB3FaKsB8PuElDyWcfAd11ZQnmrpiZye-4BuSpG9KRt2hV-id061Q0pLtPQ_3p6zqjfePYBs_cY4A3P4cSX2ngIY72c2SiuGLKtbfHtejUkRC699Pqr/s400/Kolkata26.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Both of us at Yogayog Bhawan</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
gives one a cultural high as
soon as one steps down on its soil. Its aging theatres still stage plays that
are absorbing and leave a mark on your consciousness. That multifaceted artist Satyajit
Roy is ever present in the lives of Kolkatans. Its heritage museums, the
Asiatic Society, the National Library and Victoria Memorial are what
intellectuals treat as their watering holes. No wonder the city produced as
many as six Nobel Laureates. The most lasting influence, however, has been that
of Tagore, the first Indian and non-white so honoured, whose Rabindra Sangit –
a new genre of Bengali music – is sung with great reverence even till today
practically in every house where a Bengali lives.</span><br />
<o:p></o:p><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">.<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<br />Proloy Bagchihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05642253410210767969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-982173487704433191.post-83264331395137563022020-05-10T16:39:00.000+05:302020-05-10T16:39:47.024+05:30Our Life, Our Times :: 56 :: Nature responds to reduced meddling<br /><a href="http://www%2Cbagchiblog.blogspot.com/">http://www,bagchiblog.blogspot.com</a><br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzOCJ7bCj2ta04mz7YnI91mYdWpc4Fl3zI7pp7blr8GL6p1S2-yfeLODsX7lwkDJUreUZUbCGJ8Jv4x4ti3VtFwloMb9Ab9RtkOZOJfOgqXFrZobYfFPqelHbAJ3Qf9JO430WBaoRy3n3l/s1600/himalayas.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="600" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzOCJ7bCj2ta04mz7YnI91mYdWpc4Fl3zI7pp7blr8GL6p1S2-yfeLODsX7lwkDJUreUZUbCGJ8Jv4x4ti3VtFwloMb9Ab9RtkOZOJfOgqXFrZobYfFPqelHbAJ3Qf9JO430WBaoRy3n3l/s400/himalayas.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Himalayas as seen from Punjab plains</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The
withdrawal, albeit temporary, of homosapiens from the environment has done
Nature enormous amount of good. Nature has hardly ever been left to itself by
them. It has been an unprecedented development. Never for a day have the
humankind withdrawn from their surroundings so completely barring a few
breaches here and there. This was all because of the deadly corona virus that
has broken all the barriers of space to become pandemic. Ironically, the virus
originated because of human meddling with Nature and, displaying frankensteinian
traits, it started killing humans and forcing them indoors out of fear of death.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">When
humans are around they tinker with Nature all the time doing hardly any good to
it. But all their interventions with the Nature are for their own good. They
harness it for their own conveniences decimating it in the process. Now that
they are confined within the four walls of their homes for a substantial length
of time Nature is coming into its own and, at places, regaining what it had
lost in an unequal contest that has lasted over centuries since the beginning
of human civilization.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Reports
of renewal of Nature have been coming ever since the lockdown for Corona virus
was firmly established. During the lockdown all the human activities, including
the economic and commercial, came to a halt. The wastes and effluents,
therefore, have become scarce freeing Nature from combating them in an effort
to regenerate itself. Neither the industries nor the automobiles are pumping
gases into the atmosphere. Even the air carriers are sitting on the ground,
seemingly hibernating. All the air pollution of Nitrogen dioxide and PM 10
being absent, the skies have become clearer<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>With far clearer skies no wonder, people have reported sighting of
Himalayas from some of the most unlikely places. In Jullandhar in Punjab people
have reported sighting of Dhauladhar ranges which occasionally were visible
from Chandigarh. Even Saharanpur it seems has such clear skies that people are
able to see the Gangotri peaks from their terraces.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The latest to report sighting of the Himalayas
is Sitamarhi in Bihar. The Sarpanch of Singhwahini village in Sitamarhi
District claimed that Mt. Everest was visible from the terraces of the homes of
the villagers. The Himalayan ranges are 190 kilometres away from the village if
one went by aerial distance. Old-timers claim that this phenomenon is being
witnessed after almost four decades. In the interregnum the Air Quality Index
took such a beating that all the skies became mucky making the atmosphere
virtually opaque.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Even
in Srinagar people are able to see the Peer Panjals after many decades. Peer
Panjals above Gulmarg used to be visible from most of the points in Srinagar
fifty years ago. I could see it from the verandah of my office on the Bund. It
was a majestic sight with the blue skies with shredded white clouds with the Peer
Panjals, below which were the Gulmarg hills and then the Jhelum flowing by. One
could never imagine then that the mountains would ever disappear from view. The
ranges were obliterated from view by the automobile exhausts so much so that by
the time I happened to visit Srinagar again in 2011, Peer Panjals, of course,
had become invisible, the traffic policemen were wearing face masks to keep the
pollutants out. An explosion in automobile numbers had taken place and huge
swathes of forests seem to have been felled in Gulmarg and Pahalgam for parking
of these vehicles that facilitate tourism. While in my time fifty years ago
there were no ceiling or table fans or ACs these now have become standard
fixtures in hotels. With so many vehicles – mostly SUVs – plying, the air in
the town has become poisonous and its temperature has climbed up.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Another
unintended bonus of the lockdown has been cleaner rivers along with cleaner
air. The water quality of Yamuna has improved though it is much below the
pristine level. Likewise, Ganga waters too have improved though they are yet
far from being drinkable without treatment.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">What,
perhaps, is more delightful is the wildlife that have come to occupy the urban
space. There have been instances of leopards, bears, jackals, deer moving
freely in cities where the dominant presence was of humans and that scared away
all of them to where they belonged. Birds too are having a gay time in the
absence of the obnoxious presence of humans. They fearlessly come and perch on
window sills, balcony grills and hop around to the pleasure of bird watchers.
“Balcony birding” has become a new way of birding. My young friend Dhananjay
Vijay Singh has taken some excellent shots of colourful little birds that come
and, as he says, pose for him. Even I find on our window grills small birds
that I had never seen before.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">These
benefits are going to be short-lived as the lockdown cannot continue
indefinitely. Industries will have to whirr again, vehicles currently parked at
residences will have to be allowed on the roads, trade and business will have
to commence again. To start with, all this may begin in a staggered manner but
before long things will be in full flow. After all, the economic backlog has to
be cleared and the country seems to have a renewed firmer ambition to become an
economic power – a manufacturing powerhouse. A greater amount of effort will
have to be made consuming a greater amount of natural resources.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It would be interesting to see whether
environmental conservation will be kept in the loop. After all, the rampaging
virus was a product of human intervention with the environment. That is a
proven fact. Nothing will be more unwise than to overlook the factor of
environment in our development and growth. Even if that happens to be a fact,
the Government of India doesn’t seem to be very much concerned about
conservation of environment. A recent report said that in the midst of the
ongoing lockdown the National Board of Wild Life and the Ministry of
Environment took a clutch of decisions some of which are clearly detrimental to
the environment.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">In
the peak of the lockdown when most of the government offices were closed the
Ministry of Environment and the Standing Committee of the National Board of
Wild Life together worked on 31 proposals, 16 of which related to highways,
transmission lines and railway lines through national parks, sanctuaries and
tiger corridors. While the 16 proposals were approved the Ministry also approved
other projects concerning 3000 acres of land in eco-sensitive zones. While the
Minister of Environment is reported to have tweeted that the approvals will
promote “tourism, infrastructure, employment and economic growth” not a word
was said about protection of protected areas that is the mandate of the
Minister.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Clearly,
the government has overlooked the ongoing crisis of the Covid 19 pandemic that
emanated from too much messing with Nature. It seemed to have ignored thousands
of deaths that came in the aftermath of the pandemic which apparently refuses
to die down. The protected areas apart from harbouring our bio-diversity also
contribute to our economy by way of tempering the climate, providing water
reserves and keeping the surrounding areas green.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Invasion
of eco-systems is never a good idea as it makes us fall out of balance with
nature. Thomas Friedman, the Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, says we have “destroyed
the ecosystems all over the world. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What
we have done is we have killed the apex predators and the dominant species.
Once we did that, all you are left with are primitive species. These bats, rats
have co-evolved” (presumably hosting deadly viruses).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br /><br />
*<span style="font-size: x-small;">photo from internet</span>Proloy Bagchihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05642253410210767969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-982173487704433191.post-15562855183065084212020-05-07T12:08:00.000+05:302020-05-07T12:08:52.354+05:30Our Life, Our Times :: 55 :: Martyrdom on icy heights<br /><a href="http://www.bagchiblog.blogspot.com/">http://www.bagchiblog.blogspot.com</a><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbJXqt_WTDbZql63sM8YMnRpu4q1bDndHQnSRq8Ktds0pDV6YdL7NSDrWrLqgOMVcSc6BLlZCY6i_5YKSEiVw_ZKSqfHXphOf1tVwpYkJEoBFSWkQia7hxNGXGG3R29FUEZj-Y3p3k_Xzq/s1600/Col..jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="583" data-original-width="875" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbJXqt_WTDbZql63sM8YMnRpu4q1bDndHQnSRq8Ktds0pDV6YdL7NSDrWrLqgOMVcSc6BLlZCY6i_5YKSEiVw_ZKSqfHXphOf1tVwpYkJEoBFSWkQia7hxNGXGG3R29FUEZj-Y3p3k_Xzq/s400/Col..jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">That
incorrigible country Pakistan seems to be having memory lapses far too
frequently. From what has happened in the recent past, it seems, it has
forgotten Balakot and Uri before that. In the last few days it has claimed the
lives of about a dozen of Indian security officials, including a Lt. Colonel
and a Major and a few others have been injured.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Surprisingly
Pakistan is continuing with its policy of inflicting thousand cuts on India
even as the Covid 19 pandemic is peaking in the country. The situation in
Pakistan is no better. West Punjab already has more than 10000 Corona patients
and the number is expected to go up to 20000. Around 160 doctors have tested
positive. Worse, there is severe shortage of the necessary equipment to fight
the pandemic. PPEs are in short supply as are nurses and doctors. There have
been strikes by doctors at various places for want of PPEs. Even if PPEs are
available healthcare workers are ignorant of the protocols to don and doff
them. Besides testing of patients is limited and in numerous cases, as told by
doctors, test results were not revealed to keep the numbers down.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">While
their country is up against a pandemic with inadequate resources it thinks
nothing of sacrificing the cream of the nation’s youth in destabilizing
Kashmir. No wonder, PM Modi had occasion to remark that while India was
exporting medicines to friendly countries Pakistan was doing what it knows
best, i.e., exporting terror to India.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The
losses of a Lt. Colonel and a Major – two young and bright Indian Army
officers, as also several others of various ranks of the Army and Police have
hurt the people of this country. There are already anguished cries for revenge.
While it is for the government to decide about the nature of a response, people
can only make their feelings known. None can, however, deny the fact that
Pakistan can have no claims over any part of Jammu & Kashmir. Its
transgressions across the border to kill Indian security men cannot, therefore,
be tolerated.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Some
TV channels have described the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist Riaz
Naikoo as a revenge for the martyrdoms of Col. Asutosh Sharma and Maj. Anuj
Sood. That is, to my mind, is far-fetched. Riaz was a Kashmiri and he was only
a puppet of Syed Salahuddin, the Hizbul Mujahedeen chief. A true and proper
revenge for the martyrdom of Col. Asutosh Sharma would be to take out
Salahuddin so that Hizbul Mujahids are removed for ever from the face of this earth. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">*Photo from internet</span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic", sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span>Proloy Bagchihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05642253410210767969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-982173487704433191.post-87129478885729183482020-04-30T16:44:00.000+05:302020-04-30T16:44:48.921+05:30Our Life, Our Times :: 54 :: Cooped up In a sealed house<br /><a href="http://www.bagchiblog.blogspot.com/">http://www.bagchiblog.blogspot.com</a><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglW3EwQ7XSKz4O9SCd7yyBP0yGQeICd2WStj1WQBWOENsy93lDe05HZ99PtqD9ZTyZ8ycwonueToVdD_ZIqlFUSzDKnccG4vL97IRzR3xUOU23EsBm0XwqzgJ-8SkwF5hIP0Ip0x8Akpag/s1600/sealing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="168" data-original-width="300" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglW3EwQ7XSKz4O9SCd7yyBP0yGQeICd2WStj1WQBWOENsy93lDe05HZ99PtqD9ZTyZ8ycwonueToVdD_ZIqlFUSzDKnccG4vL97IRzR3xUOU23EsBm0XwqzgJ-8SkwF5hIP0Ip0x8Akpag/s400/sealing.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">It
has now been more than 72 hours that our building was sealed by the
authorities. They have erected barricades on two sides of the building on the
Ridge Road. So even if one gets out of the complex one would not be able to go
on either side unless one jumps over the barricades. That is a tall order for
many, especially for me – an octogenarian. At this age I would be lucky if I am
able to go across a barricade that is a couple of feet high. What we have are chest-high
barricades on both sides. So jumping over the barriers is out of the question.
Hence, the entire community of 13 flats is stuck inside for as many as fourteen
days, Yes fourteen days, which is the quarantine period – a period determined
by the period of incubation of the Covid <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>19 virus.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The
sealing of the property of 13 flat owners came about because one of them
thought nothing of the advice given by the PM and numerous others including the
TV channels that one should stay at home during the lockdown period. He somehow
obtained a pass and moved around freely or rather indiscriminately in his SUV
with his wife. The wife must have developed symptoms as he got her tested
earlier and even had the common areas sanitised. As she tested positive people
came took her away to Chirayu Hospital – now a Covid 19 hospital. And the following
day they sealed the building and since then we are stuck.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Our
helps have disappeared, the hawkers no longer hawk around vegetables and even
one of the two watchmen have bolted away. Thankfully my wife had bought enough
of vegetables, rice and wheat flour so there is not much of worry on that
score. But I have to have medicines in uninterrupted supplies. I cannot go to
the CGHS dispensary. The government arm dealing with this part of the problem
of confined people has so far been unable to respond.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Claims
are made that supplies of vegetables and groceries would be made door to door
but that is hardly ever happening. The watchman who is around is helping out in
getting the vegetables from hawkers who are somewhere around the barricades. Even
if vegetables are not available one can survive on cereals. These are early
days, perhaps, things would improve as the days roll by. We are, in any case,
luckier than others as we can somehow manage things.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I think of the government it seems they
have taken upon themselves huge responsibilities. The way the services to both,
the affected and unaffected are being rendered is amazing. The governmental organization
has risen to the occasion as one man and tirelessly taking care of the people.
As they found a corona positive patient from our building the testing unit came
yesterday to do swab tests of every individual in the building. They were
sitting out in the Sun which was doing its best with the late April heat of the
high noon. They were in their PPEs that are made of sheer plastic in multiple
layers that retain the body heat and apparently make it unbearable. One member
of the team was fidgety and I found him trying to open up the PPE as much as
possible. I had nothing but huge amount of respect for them. They were putting
their life on the line to save others and they are in thousands.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">It
is not healthcare workers alone who have taken upon themselves the mantle of
being saviours of the people. There are others like the municipal workers, the
sanitisers, the police and allied forces who have been shouldering huge
responsibilities. Medical research laboratories are doing fantastic work and
one feels proud when one realises that the nation can fight any adversity that
might befell it. This massive blow as, I remember, the 1962 war with China,
miraculously raised nationalistic feelings among the common men. Hundreds of
thousands of workers who got locked in without any source of income may have panicked
and started walking hundreds of kilometers for their homes but that sort of behavior
was natural. Eventually, appreciating their difficulties, the states to which
they belonged took it upon themselves to arrange for their transport back home.
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The
take away from the misfortune that befell us is that it has perhaps made us a
more cohesive and strong nation. People are ready to meet any challenge that
comes their way. Perhaps all this is because of the Prime Minister’s popularity
among the masses. His repeated calls given in national addresses over the TV
were responded to with enthusiasm by the people. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">*photo from internet</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />Proloy Bagchihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05642253410210767969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-982173487704433191.post-19079834963275685482020-04-26T12:26:00.000+05:302020-04-26T12:26:24.777+05:30Our Life, Our times :: 53 :: Wishing for a Corona-free India<br /><a href="http://..www.bagchiblog.blospot.com/">http:..www.bagchiblog.blospot.com</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbR-R97AYzb7sDlDkRTX6d0MBATadUlv7pOr7h2tKjhDBCv3UiOi58t-OD2PnLg4GAlNZz9HcXi1eCA5Za1iqXJ1mF1d8s6NYuEDfH8SW6mvPn7m8DPj6o1r6B-TdN_5y8wXowIiYQYBgt/s1600/Delhi_India_Government_may_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="420" data-original-width="980" height="168" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbR-R97AYzb7sDlDkRTX6d0MBATadUlv7pOr7h2tKjhDBCv3UiOi58t-OD2PnLg4GAlNZz9HcXi1eCA5Za1iqXJ1mF1d8s6NYuEDfH8SW6mvPn7m8DPj6o1r6B-TdN_5y8wXowIiYQYBgt/s400/Delhi_India_Government_may_.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Many
predictions have been made about the currently rampaging corona virus that is
infecting thousands and killing hundreds in the industrialized and developed
world. While China claims that life in the epicenter of the pandemic, Wuhan,
has become almost normal it is rampaging through the developed world like never
before. Thousands have fallen (victim) to it in Germany, Italy, Spain, Great
Britain and the US. Economies of these countries are disrupted just as those of
the emerging economies like that of India. It is difficult for a country to
remain under a complete lockdown for long. But the virus is such that unless
there is a complete cessation of all kinds of activities its chain is not
snapped and it continues to thrive.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">That
is what the doomsayers are afraid of. How long can the countries be kept locked
in while the pandemic has a free run of the world knocking down thousands of
people with the infection and killing hundred as it sweeps through various
countries. A medicine man was describing the other day a scenario on the TV that
was frightening. He said that nobody knows how long this menace would last – it
could be a year or it could be two years or even more or indefinitely into the
future. It seems to have the capability to send us all to the Stone Age –
dangerous and lethal as it looks like. The immediate misfortune of a long drawn
out lockdown could be a severe famine. For loosening grip of the virus on us
much would depend on how we handle it and how soon we are able to eradicate it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Lockdown
and social distancing have emerged as major arms to fight the virus. But to
organize millions of people to pay heed to the advisories to observe the
restricted way of life indefinitely is a difficult proposition. Many of those
caught straying out of their houses, particularly in India, are poor and they
come out to get some fresh air, crammed as they are generally 8 to 10 people in
a hundred sq. ft. room. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Indian
economy is slated to lose heavily as the virus looks for new victims in India.
Estimations have been made of a loss of Rs. 32000 crore every day of the
lockdown during the first 21 days. Unemployment has risen from around 5% to 26%
as on 9<sup>th</sup> April 2020 and 45% of the households have seen a drop in
their incomes. It is mind-blowing. Almost every sector of the economy has been
battered. It must have been heart-wrenching effort for the government to have
announced a lockdown and then extend it knowing as they did its massive
economic costs. The Gross Domestic Product is likely to register a historic low
of 1.9% as indicated by the IMF. Worldwide, too, economies are likely to
contract and global economic growth is likely to suffer. No one wishes to
extend one’s neck out and predict with certainty when the pandemic will cease
allowing resumption of the arrested economic activities.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The
doomsayers say it is not as simple as that – that is predicting a post-Covid
scenario. There could be any number of possibilities. The virus could refuse to
go away or the world is unable to chase it away. The first scenario as painted
by Politico, an US based magazine, is about the great deceleration. The US,
Europe and China, the big three, struggle to recover from the battering of
their respective economies with major fiscal and monetary efforts. The second
scenario is more about China which wins the war with the virus and capitalizes
on it by building ties across Asia, undermining democracy everywhere and
ruthlessly blunting dissent at home. The rosiest scenario is about a V-shaped
recovery and the rich West vaccinating everybody against the virus in the third
world for free.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">These
basically depict the American way of looking at things. The scenarios predicted
are generally US-centric. For us it would suffice if we imagine only two
alternatives. One, the virus becomes uncontrollable, mostly because our people
do not observe the guidelines issued by the government. In the process the
Centre has to throw more money at it to contain it. But that pulls in millions
who were climbing out of poverty into middle class back into poverty. Despite
the herculean efforts of the government the economic recovery is slow with
poverty on the rise enhancing social tensions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The
alternative scenario that we could think of could be that despite the lapses of
various sections of the people the government with its unmitigated efforts is
able to control the pandemic and makes the country largely free of the corona
menace. With the virus shaken off, the government decides to prepare for the
next pandemic which is predicted to be more lethal. The most positive item of
this scenario would be the government, with the help of various international
organizations/institutions, is able to pressurize China to close down its wet
markets. Economically, the government, with active cooperation of the people,
is able to register a V-shaped recovery eventually regaining its economic and
social balance and is able to put its economy back on a firmer footing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The
above is more of wishful thinking. We are such a divided country, a few
sections of it will never allow the government (run by whichever party) to
continue and do the good work. We start barking at our opponents at the
slightest pretext regardless of the fact whether the opponent is doing work
that is good or not. Look at the way West Bengal government is fighting with
the Centre.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">What
all this adds up to is that people in general should act as advised by the
experts, the government at the centre having most of them. If we do that, we
would be lucky if we become a Covid-free country by September next. Only then
Modi will be able to set the wheels of the economy in motion. Hopefully, once the
economy starts moving he will get support from most sections to recover the expenditure
and losses incurred in dealing with the pandemic<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic", sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">*Photo from internet</span></span></div>
<br />Proloy Bagchihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05642253410210767969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-982173487704433191.post-42999845764367014212020-04-22T17:18:00.000+05:302020-04-25T12:51:24.246+05:30Destinations :: Manali (1993)<br />
<a href="http://www.bagchiblog.blogspot.com/">http://www.bagchiblog.blogspot.com</a><br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif3Hh3eGbuZgvQ3NHRze8T3pH2rux1SvpgtzHBx3xK-sBiKiTvjt69rKa9yLFEkL_agPWk_UPjYeK0l_qGOBGnLD1GhQBb7dYoU4CG8dtYfczDSIhnHOkVeszR6V4wn_BE6gpFgWyrB_Pb/s1600/Prague_0024.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1447" data-original-width="963" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif3Hh3eGbuZgvQ3NHRze8T3pH2rux1SvpgtzHBx3xK-sBiKiTvjt69rKa9yLFEkL_agPWk_UPjYeK0l_qGOBGnLD1GhQBb7dYoU4CG8dtYfczDSIhnHOkVeszR6V4wn_BE6gpFgWyrB_Pb/s400/Prague_0024.jpg" width="265" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Add caption</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">In
1993, having slogged quite a bit in the Personnel Wing of the department, we
decided to take a break and a holiday. We had covered most of the hill stations
by the 1990s but we had not been to Manali. I had heard about Kulu and Manali
when I was still in the College. As the trip was difficult not many would
attempt it. We had a family friend who used to be a very good artist. He was
most probably from Karnataka but was trained in Santiniketan when Tagore was
around. He was so intensely influenced by Bengali culture that he would wear
nothing other than hoti and kurta which Bengalis call </span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_Sedr8DZV7kO8nti3LUHQVLm5BSIS7z6rfAPTimVK0lIsjtW8DnlA94MbMBxmrCBU2z_v2SAKAnxvX-Enb99CZ7bRb6n7kwPtK_2gAA1zGcYen6mqzqEWe_quX0ZneIfd_FrrKHrio2Ix/s1600/Prague_0002.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="994" data-original-width="1432" height="277" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_Sedr8DZV7kO8nti3LUHQVLm5BSIS7z6rfAPTimVK0lIsjtW8DnlA94MbMBxmrCBU2z_v2SAKAnxvX-Enb99CZ7bRb6n7kwPtK_2gAA1zGcYen6mqzqEWe_quX0ZneIfd_FrrKHrio2Ix/s400/Prague_0002.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">Panjabi. Having heard
about the colourful Dussehra of Kulu he decided to take a trip and came back
and told us about the beauty of the place. This must have been in very early
1950s.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Since
then Kulu Valley was on my mind but could never make it – even when I was in
Chandigarh. This time we decided to spend a week there and in order to have
more time there we did not take the surface route. </span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLrroeceKvPkaN1DAxSSeHoGz3JrJZfq1_6Fn5h0v0dI0bopVzzCa7QztQw3uj_jNIeo6AYFc5xl0UmXrhxsb7t5Txi2oj8OtpfcR_VaGenWY2_BIscQlox1ap83tqzPeq5gD7ae8iGG_P/s1600/Prague_0004.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="965" data-original-width="1447" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLrroeceKvPkaN1DAxSSeHoGz3JrJZfq1_6Fn5h0v0dI0bopVzzCa7QztQw3uj_jNIeo6AYFc5xl0UmXrhxsb7t5Txi2oj8OtpfcR_VaGenWY2_BIscQlox1ap83tqzPeq5gD7ae8iGG_P/s400/Prague_0004.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Indian Airlines had
introduced a flight from Delhi to Bhuntar which is about 10 kilometres away
from Kulu. We took this opportunity and flew to Kulu, Of course, the flight was
risky as the plane after leaving the plains of Punjab had to fly between two
hills. Occasionally the hillsides came pretty close to the wing tips even
though it was a small turbo prop plane. Obviously the passage chosen by the
pilot was narrow and perhaps was tricky. But the flight was uneventful though
not devoid of anxiety.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Kulu
is a temple town and was known as “Dev Bhoomi” (God’s own land). There are
temples from where one can get a panoramic view of</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9nnDWCLPwFT2PH9QXVT-3sRVsgcE-ptn_aaNPBJNUrL4zeZwTHf_ILfMVa6Sbg8psMILOTnu7y0jVgxXtXL1Rpa9z6Y3NR_aJjVqrKH11GkkD3mmm8hOVIhOWe1KP7TGDKUhorA8P0nzl/s1600/Prague.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="833" data-original-width="1404" height="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9nnDWCLPwFT2PH9QXVT-3sRVsgcE-ptn_aaNPBJNUrL4zeZwTHf_ILfMVa6Sbg8psMILOTnu7y0jVgxXtXL1Rpa9z6Y3NR_aJjVqrKH11GkkD3mmm8hOVIhOWe1KP7TGDKUhorA8P0nzl/s400/Prague.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> the valley. There are
numerous temples that crowd around the place – some are in the valley and
numerous on the hillsides. But we were not really interested in temples and
hence we pushed off straight towards Manali. On the way, however, we stopped to
take a look at the trout farm. Trouts were introduced here by the British and
they flourished here as well as in Kashmir. I therefore saw a trout for the
first time after leaving Kashmir five years ago. I had even had a piece of
grilled trout along with friends. The <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY8jyuG6c7Jg_0c9zhekqXPyvJPJbwVmW6FVX_cYgyfL-WkY2atYaTZsvcYQRAjqejydk4FaN9ayipNKwl_7qQVkrnLMhRUq8NMZ3xaIgYkSPAMxOmrrxMT-YoCivcuHxUz_cs2-o5diPU/s1600/Prague_0005.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="968" data-original-width="1454" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY8jyuG6c7Jg_0c9zhekqXPyvJPJbwVmW6FVX_cYgyfL-WkY2atYaTZsvcYQRAjqejydk4FaN9ayipNKwl_7qQVkrnLMhRUq8NMZ3xaIgYkSPAMxOmrrxMT-YoCivcuHxUz_cs2-o5diPU/s400/Prague_0005.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
farm seemed to be doing well and it had a
burgeoning population of the fish.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Manali
town turned out to be haphazardly built overgrown village. It is here you see
the effects of unplanned urbanization. And yet it is full of foreigners,
especially Israelis.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One would come
across foreigners almost everywhere. I came across a white man getting a
haircut and a shave in high noon by the side of what might be called a main
road. The barber had nailed a looking glass on a tree trunk and had placed a
chair in front with a small table by his side for keeping his instruments. A</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIIi7bnXrU7YqSG_9X5cHPG69Zo4vjQlzr3fHsHlKy64InMhlqoeuWaCgtz0dasTu-Di6h50rpD-Pv4R3Q4_NY1PrRd7lDUBi5Y1eXD3eHDtR2s1Kk_s1pcU9ZlX3APsalk6GV3Q-IkqyD/s1600/Prague_0011.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="971" data-original-width="1415" height="273" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIIi7bnXrU7YqSG_9X5cHPG69Zo4vjQlzr3fHsHlKy64InMhlqoeuWaCgtz0dasTu-Di6h50rpD-Pv4R3Q4_NY1PrRd7lDUBi5Y1eXD3eHDtR2s1Kk_s1pcU9ZlX3APsalk6GV3Q-IkqyD/s400/Prague_0011.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">
typical rustic setting that one comes across in rural India.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">There
was nothing much to do in Manali except enjoying the very pleasant climate. We
made a trip to the river side, the river bei<i>ng </i>Beas, one of Panjab’s
five rivers. On another day we walked up to the Circuit House near which there
was a dense growth of trees. Manali seems to have lost a lot of trees and hence
this place near the Circuit House has become a sight to be seen. The place,
indeed, looks quite bereft of trees.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_GoBack"></a><i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">We
had to do the very popular tourism sight of Rohtang Pass. One cannot really go
across this more than 13000 ft high pass. It is open only </span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMUMUDxzRmbJjxnQdQqWAgtJJ-rtTuywCZ8_CI6kwDibUnWA84_68woz12w0hE_5EMcNQKufQtqevORrLIcHJax3dLXlr3QiBSUhKiNZuf3KVRB_cDcJY5vAJiRD3ufHRlKwkkdE68XMFg/s1600/Prague_0003.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="918" data-original-width="1488" height="243" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMUMUDxzRmbJjxnQdQqWAgtJJ-rtTuywCZ8_CI6kwDibUnWA84_68woz12w0hE_5EMcNQKufQtqevORrLIcHJax3dLXlr3QiBSUhKiNZuf3KVRB_cDcJY5vAJiRD3ufHRlKwkkdE68XMFg/s400/Prague_0003.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">up to a point for
tourists who want a little feel of the Alpine climate and snow laden mountains.
But we came across snow fields, small though they were, very soon after we left
Manali. The winter had been harsh and snow was littered all around even in late
April. Himachal Tourism has provided certain places on the way for fun and
frolic for children. The Pass was closed and naturally we could not approach
it. Now the road through Rohtang is an alternative route for Leh but one can
face a traffic jam right at Rohtang because of heavy traffic of Army vehicles,
commercial heavy <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1a4qkDyxmXM1ALWY-oDm1iBzShxoASvTS8oA6DmQzuDTwTigblTGtDyHOAfu5jau9XJ8AH2zxJD-lxe6kcjrZVSosxp_0XLoGM2S1Wi7f_-l0S8MlCErUnXIECeY8DpvwW5omceAJIufA/s1600/Prague_0025.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1441" data-original-width="938" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1a4qkDyxmXM1ALWY-oDm1iBzShxoASvTS8oA6DmQzuDTwTigblTGtDyHOAfu5jau9XJ8AH2zxJD-lxe6kcjrZVSosxp_0XLoGM2S1Wi7f_-l0S8MlCErUnXIECeY8DpvwW5omceAJIufA/s400/Prague_0025.jpg" width="258" /></a></div>
vehicles and tourist vehicles. And one has to obtain a permit
to travel on this road to Rohtang. Tourists get the permit for only a day.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">We
also took a trip to Naggar, a town on the north bank of Beas River a short
distance away from Manali. It used to be the capital of Kulu State at one time.
It has a castle built by the former king which is now converted into a heritage
hotel. Devika Rani and her husband Svetoslav Roerich had a house here which is now
a Museum. It mostly contains his landscapes. He was known also as portrait
painter and his portrait of Nehru is hung in the Central Hall of the Indian
Parliament. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiSmZ-6FX1Sf6Q4iP6MQyO3EDsceiAlHQAzddlofFVaXRnKOB5E-fb6VrNzCEJk_8xDsCdIFvNlt6tav7K_fvpdaFFYMHhpURubr9gKrvX-oG7aVGOPH7tS-tFMfZHyS3PfR4lmREv1838/s1600/Prague_0018.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1434" data-original-width="950" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiSmZ-6FX1Sf6Q4iP6MQyO3EDsceiAlHQAzddlofFVaXRnKOB5E-fb6VrNzCEJk_8xDsCdIFvNlt6tav7K_fvpdaFFYMHhpURubr9gKrvX-oG7aVGOPH7tS-tFMfZHyS3PfR4lmREv1838/s400/Prague_0018.jpg" width="263" /></a><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">From
Naggar I could see down below a temple in the valley. The </span><span style="font-family: "century gothic", sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">temple was like any another temple but smaller in proportion. What was peculiar about it that it was made of slate grey stones. On the way I had seen several structures – domestic and commercial – of this grey coloured slate stones. Construction of houses with these stones would not perhaps present many difficulties but to erect a temple, complete with its pointed spire, must have been very a labour intensive process hundreds of years ago</span><br />
<br style="text-align: start;" />
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
</div>
<br />Proloy Bagchihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05642253410210767969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-982173487704433191.post-7632098531031691872020-04-20T12:26:00.000+05:302020-04-20T12:29:23.279+05:30From my scrap book :: 18 :: China should pay for our distress<br />
<a href="http://www.bagchiblog.blogspot.com/">http://www.bagchiblog.blogspot.com</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJM0NnnC_AfGTvIen1svl5N9_5nRnesdIcz7K5_pfJQ8QWtz9OG06n9Q5270Qad70nPjLJqOPXO28gOVpN7iICFBWApGLSUn1fy_gI_CiC0_S1ksUokwpFMmUb0Qbf66Xe_2omHhlqw8O1/s1600/stay+home.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="400" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJM0NnnC_AfGTvIen1svl5N9_5nRnesdIcz7K5_pfJQ8QWtz9OG06n9Q5270Qad70nPjLJqOPXO28gOVpN7iICFBWApGLSUn1fy_gI_CiC0_S1ksUokwpFMmUb0Qbf66Xe_2omHhlqw8O1/s320/stay+home.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; font-size: 18.6667px;">Writing on the current pandemic of COVID 19, David Quammen, a commentator, has been trying to look for the reasons of the spread of the virus. He says the reasons can be found in the facts that “We invaded tropical forests and other wild landscapes which harbour so many species of animals and plants – and within those creatures so many unknown viruses. We cut the trees, we kill the animals or cage them and send them to markets. We disrupt eco-systems and we shake viruses loose from their natural hosts. When that happens, they need a new host. Often we are it.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Quammen
has very succinctly described the mechanics of the spread of the COVID 19 which
he says was not even a novel event that befell us. “It was – it is – part of a
pattern of choices that we humans are making”. His findings reveal that only we
have invited this not-too-novel a virus to be our malign guest. Our unrestrained
greed, our feral quest for new experiences have enabled this virus to treat us
as its host and bash and pummel us any which way. Even the ongoing pandemic has
not deterred us as reports have appeared in the press indicating that the
Chinese wet markets with live and dead animals, the alleged source of the
virus, have been reopened after the lockdown was lifted in Wuhan.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The
novel Corona 19 virus belongs to the same family of viruses as the Severe Acute
Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) viruses that too acquired epidemic proportions in
2002-2003 infecting around seven thousand people killing more than seven
hundred – just about 10% of its victims. The virus emanated, scientists
believe, from a non-human source, presumably a bat. Years ago they found
something like this in a cave in Yunnan, about 1000 miles West of Wuhan, and
noted its existence with concern.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">One
such scientist, Zheng Li Shi of the Wuhan Institute of Virology, who gave Covid
19 its name, along with her collaborators showed in 2005 that the SARS pathogen
was a bat virus that had spilled over into humans. Shi and her collaborators
have been tracing corona viruses in bats since then, WARNING that some of these
are uniquely suited to CAUSE HUMAN PANDEMICS.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Quammen
has reported that in a 2017 paper researchers had pointed out that they had
found corona viruses in multiple individuals of four different species of bats,
including a horse-shoe bat. The genome of the virus taken from a horse shoe bat
was reported to be 96% identical to the Wuhan virus. And those two constitute a
pair distinct from other known corona viruses, including the one that causes
SARS. The assessment of the researchers is that COVID 19 is novel and,
therefore, possibly more dangerous.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Quammen
reports that Peter Deszak, president of a research organization that focuses on
connection between human and wildlife health, told him that he and other
researchers have been “raising the flag” on these viruses for 15 years.
According to Deszak, they had even taken blood samples from Yunannese living
near the cave the study of which revealed that 3% of them had developed
antibodies against SARS related corona viruses. This only proved that these
viruses were making the jump from bats to humans. “In other words this Wuhan
emergency is no novel event. “It is part of a sequence of related contingencies
that will stretch forward into the future AS LONG AS CURRENT CIRCUMSTANCES
PERSIST. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">By
the “current circumstances” Quammen means “perilous trade in wildlife for food
with supply chains stretching from Asia, Africa, the United States and
elsewhere. The trade has been outlawed in China on a temporary basis but it was
also outlawed during SARS, then allowed to resume – with bats, civets,
porcupines, turtles, bamboo rats and many kinds of birds and animals piled
together in markets such as the one in Wuhan”.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">From
what Quammen has indicated it is clear that China was aware of these lethal
viruses for around 15 years. Having some knowledge of the Chinese official
system gathered during my one month stay in China around 30 years ago, I can
say with confidence that they have a very efficient system of ascending
channelization of vital information from the district level to the central
authority. Hence it will take much more to make me believe that the findings of
the researcher Shi were not known to the Chinese Central authorities concerned.
Even Peter Rezdak has said that he has been raising the red flag over these
viruses for the last 15 years. Looking at all these pieces of evidence it is
clear that China, despite having the services of brilliant scientists, failed
to take preventive action in time and avoid the pandemic and the Wuhan lockdown
for two months. Its failure to warn the world of the pandemic cost various
countries thousands of life and, of course, millions of dollars as their
economies came to a grinding halt.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">After
the SARS epidemic the Chinese had closed down its wet markets that sold wild
and farmed animals and various species of birds including bats. But these were
soon reopened just as these have now been reopened after Wuhan recovered from
the Covid 19 pandemic. According to President Trump, the WHO has supported this
brazen act of China. That the WHO was slammed for this reason by the US is
another matter but the stalling of $40 billion US contribution would surely
adversely adversely affect mitigation activities undertaken by WHO in so far
Covid 19 pandemic is concerned.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The
Times of India of April 16, 2016 reported another lapse of China. “In the six
days after top Chinese officials SECRETLY determined they (most) likely were
facing a pandemic from corona virus, the city of Wuhan at the epicenter of the
disease, hosted a mass banquet for tens of thousands of people That is to say
that even after the Chinese authorities were convinced that they were up
against a PANDEMIC they did not let it out to the world until their formal
functions – “two biggest meetings of the year” – were over. Nothing could be
more irresponsible than this and nothing could be a more blatant display of
self-centredness.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The
pandemic has set the Indian economy back by decades. It has had to briskly ramp
up the medical facilities in thousands of hospitals, provide necessary
equipment to doctors and para-medics, had to use the national airline to rescue
thousands of stranded citizens in corona affected countries including China and
above all had to put the country under a lockdown, presently, for as many as 40
days during which all economic activities have come to a full stop.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Besides, the government has had to put money
in the hands of millions of industrial workers, agricultural workers, labourers,
daily wagers etc., who had been stranded in their respective places of work.
The growth rate of the economy is going to be severely impacted. Some reputed
organisations like IMF have predicted that India’s growth rate in 2020 is going
to be only 1%. Quite clearly, the economy of the country is going to be
severely depressed pulling millions of people back into poverty.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Since
the corona crisis is being considered as one that is worse than created by a
war the government is trying to fight it like it would fight a war. It is
throwing everything it has to alleviate the sufferings of the people. It is
likely to take years to come out of it and it will take blood, sweat and tears
of the people to do so.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">One
does not know how the world community feels about it but one tends to feel that
the Republic of China is solely responsible for inflicting this misery on India
and other countries. It, therefore, should be made to pay compensation to all
the countries for making them needlessly suffer privations. If reparations were
paid by Axis Powers for waging an avoidable war after the Second World War
there is no reason why China should not pay countries like India for the
devastation caused to their economies<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_GoBack"></a> and inflicting
misery on their unwary citizens.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">*Image from internet</span>Proloy Bagchihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05642253410210767969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-982173487704433191.post-24483156918434654722020-04-12T10:46:00.000+05:302020-04-12T10:46:43.592+05:30Deatinations :: Dar es Salam (1992)<br /><a href="http://www.bagchiblog%20.blogspot.%20com/">http://www.bagchiblog .blogspot. com</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkWNZOVfzPIPLIoqfDw0hGb4gfgjl8-CGX2xzuiFXhdEYNAayCo_3ZFYH6TUKF1AzQKcD6uLxtCYnKFig0IAz0bg_YQ-FDFVXQeBOsCwLdKnxqj_Jd0nzuP3xYzkiy4t14sArzm4jpzudj/s1600/Prague_0008.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="897" data-original-width="1264" height="281" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkWNZOVfzPIPLIoqfDw0hGb4gfgjl8-CGX2xzuiFXhdEYNAayCo_3ZFYH6TUKF1AzQKcD6uLxtCYnKFig0IAz0bg_YQ-FDFVXQeBOsCwLdKnxqj_Jd0nzuP3xYzkiy4t14sArzm4jpzudj/s400/Prague_0008.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mt. Kilimanjaro as seen from Moshi</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">We
took off from Nairobi and after sometime were flying by the snows of
Kilimanjaro. We could see the peak from the plane – it was largely flat and at
places green with some snow around. After around an hour the plane landed at
Dar es Salaam airport. I was put up at Ambassador Hotel that was just about
better than ordinary but nowhere near the Panafric Hotel of Nairobi.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tanzania is made up of the former Republic of
Tanganyika and the former Republic of Zanzibar. The two joined together to make
a viable country. As I was taken to the Postal Headquarters I could see lack of
development though the roads had been asphalted by Japan about three years
back.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Postal Headquarters was I think a fourteen
storied building that presumably was a gift from a friendly country. I had to
go to my counterpart on the 12<sup>th</sup> floor. Out of two only one lift was
functioning. I waited for the one that was working. I saw on the panel above
the lift doors the lift coming down stopping at every floor. As it hit the
ground floor and the door opened a mass of humanity seemed to have been
expelled from it. Taking into account the number people waiting for the lift I
refrained from joining the pull and push to get into the lift. I decided to
climb the 12 floors taking breathers on every other floor. I am normally scared
of lifts and if these are crowded they are all the more inconvenient as they
give me claustrophobia.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">At
the age of 50 climbing 12 floors is quite a job though I once climbed 13 floors
after having escaped a severe injury in a stalled lift in Sanchar Bhawan in New
Delhi. But that was when I was a few years younger. Huffing and puffing I made
it to the 12<sup>th</sup> floor. My counterpart offered me coffee that was very
welcome. He introduced to me a gentleman who would take care of me and help me
in my work.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">We
started with a visit to the main office of exchange in Dar es Salam, Dar for
short. Getting the hang of what needed to be done I later moved from office to
office. Thankfully they had placed at my disposal a Suzuki Vitara. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">It
was a small postal organization and its traffic with foreign postal
organizations was limited. There was another office of exchange of mails at
Arusha and a third one in Zanzibar. Arusha is somewhat close to Serengeti
National Park. For Zanzibar one had to take a hovercraft from Dar but frequent
breakdowns reportedly did not allow it to come back to its base in Dar. I,
therefore, chose to go to Arusha. Though there is a flight from Dar to
Kilimanjaro Airport only 50 kilometres away from Arusha the Administration
booked my travel on a bus along with an officer. The bus trip turned out to be
of more than 12 hours and we reached Arusha close to midnight.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Next
morning Director Moshi arrived at the hotel. He was in-charge of the operation
in the region including Arusha and Moshi. As it was a Saturday the office was
not open. I had, therefore, to extend my stay by one day. I lost another day as
they did not get tickets by air for Dar. I had refused to travel back by bus. The
extra day I spent in working with Director Moshi. I did as detailed a survey as
possible of the routes that are being used. The officials complained that their
mails for Europe were being held over at Nairobi and hence being delayed in
transmission. I flew back to Dar and spent another day with my counterpart for
discussions. Their chief also told me that they were not happy with the way and
the tardiness their dispatches were being treated by Kenya Post. He wanted me
to intervene to rectify the situation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">After
a fourteen day halt I was ready to leave for home via Kenya. Despite being so
near Masai Mara and Serengeti I could not visit any of the famed game parks.
Somehow my counterparts slipped in the matter. They should have planned for it.
When any UPU dignitary visits Delhi for short length of time he is always taken
around Delhi, Agra and Jaipur – the Golden Triangle. These administrations
obviously had no such tradition.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />Proloy Bagchihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05642253410210767969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-982173487704433191.post-24579406828262554592020-04-08T13:10:00.000+05:302020-04-08T13:10:25.035+05:30Destinations :: Nairobi (1992) - Mombasa<br /><a href="http://www.bagchiblog.blogspot.com/">Http://www.bagchiblog.blogspot.com</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyDvmixZ7NDrKHXXVkUBo4Xrka5QNUnJOhTnVV1kjbDEWVO-Xise8xI0YA4rgEOrU6PWkLnOau9jPYR2socliGHSSKTeKsyaldP_aQuMytUIAoY4B-2f3cROaSMLAVVwZRwTYHpYWOU5kg/s1600/Nairobi2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1004" data-original-width="1387" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyDvmixZ7NDrKHXXVkUBo4Xrka5QNUnJOhTnVV1kjbDEWVO-Xise8xI0YA4rgEOrU6PWkLnOau9jPYR2socliGHSSKTeKsyaldP_aQuMytUIAoY4B-2f3cROaSMLAVVwZRwTYHpYWOU5kg/s400/Nairobi2.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Malindi beach</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">We
hit the highway for Mombasa around midday. From Nairobi the distance was a
little more than 500 kilometres from Nairobi but the driver said he would be
able to cover it in five hours. True enough we arrived at the White Sands hotel
a little before 5.00 PM.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The
highway was very good and we maintained a speed of a little more than a hundred
kilometers all through. It had traffic warnings, “safari salama” in Swahili
language but written in Roman script on big hoardings planted at frequent
intervals. The highway ran parallel to the famous Nairobi – Mombasa metre gauge
track on which the Kenyan Railways used to run their well known luxury train.
The train was reported to be like the one that plied between Kuala Lumpur and
Singapore where they used to serve, inter alia, Earl Grey tea at one time. The
train had provision for looking out for game on its two sides as the track
seemingly cleaved the two game parks of Amboseli and Tsavo. The highway too did
likewise but since the railway coaches are on a higher level the passengers are
able to see giraffes and elephants – the tall animals for which the parks are
ideal habitat. The highway being on a lower level offers only an occasional
impala or a zebra that happened to cross the road. Tall grasses of the
expansive grasslands shroud the animals from view.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">As
we drove down the highway we could see Mount Kilimanjaro on our right with its
peaks covered by snow. This is the only mountain in Africa that gets snow. The
setting reminded me of the film “The Snows of Kilimanjaro” of 1950s starring
Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner and Susan Hayward. The film was based on Earnest
Hemingway’s novel of the same name. I cannot forget the last scene where a
tired and sick Gregory Peck languorously sits on the grassy ground leaning
against a tree trunk below the snow-capped Kilimanjaro as a vulture circles
overhead.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">We
arrived at the hotel a little before five in the evening. It was a very
luxurious hotel – very well appointed and very good food, western as well as
Middle Eastern. The beach was next door and indeed it was a good and clean
stretch of beach with, curiously, white sands. Later I found white sands all
along the Western coast of Africa, that is, wherever we happened to go.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Mombasa
has had a chequered history. It has changed hands several times. Only when Vasco
da Gama, the great Portuguese sailor and adventurer went up and down in search
of India he came across Mombasa, a bustling commercial port that he thought of
capturing it. Even the rule of Portuguese was not stable as the British were
out to expel them from the port. They succeeded in doing so and eventually they
received the town on a platter from the Sultan of Zanzibar who nominally
controlled Mombasa after being defeated by the British. It soon became capital
of British East African Protectorate. The English influence that one comes
across is because of a pretty long spell of British Rule.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The
interior of the town is quite filthy and crowded. There are a number of mosques
as the town was in possession of Omani Sultans. We did our work and visited
offices. Only surface mails were being routed out of the country through
Mombasa. An international airport came up much later. We used to lunch at the
hotel as the food used to be delicious. I found most of the waiters wearing
very colourful printed shirts that had heavy African embroidery right around
the neck and along the front openings for buttons. On being told that these
were known as Kitange shirts and were available in the market I looked for them
in Nairobi and bought a few.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Having
come all the way I could not leave the place without visiting Malindi, a town
about 100 kms away. I had heard about it so much. It is also a port town and
had attracted European attention. Vasco da Gama during his voyages on the
African west coast knocked several times on the doors of Malindi. Eventually he
was successful in breaking through the African resistance and establish a
Portuguese trading post and he also procured a guide who would show him the way
over the Indian Ocean to India.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Like Mombasa Malindi too had a chequered
history and was alternately ruled by Omanis and Swahilis and therefore a large
section of the population is Muslim. During the World War II it was bombed and
was later hosted a PoW camp. Today Malindi is a tourists’ paradise with blue
seas and white sands. The sands are so white that they dazzle the eyes when the
sun is out. Exotic lobster-based food is served on the beach.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Next
morning when it was time for us to leave our UPU Regional Consultant expressed
a desire to be driven through the Tsavo National Park. So we drove through the
Park – mostly through tall grasses over which we could spot a few tall necks of
giraffes and the humps and the backs of elephants. All other small animals like
antelopes, hyenas, jackals etc, were successful in hiding themselves from view.
An ordinary, everyday automobile is not good enough for safaris. One needs to
be at an elevation, say like on elephant back to view the animals in their
natural environment. Anyway it was quite an experience to drive through
Park.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The
day after our return was the last day before my departure for Dar es Salam. I went
and met the top bosses of Kenyan Post to brief them about what we had done. As
I came down to the DDG’s deputy’s room where we had done all the work an
officer came and told me that the DDG wanted us to go to Nakuru. We piled into
a car and drove for around two hours before hitting Nakuru. It is a typical
colonial town having been established during the colonial era. Its elevation of
more the 3000 ft gives a temperate climate all round the year. It is more famous
for the Nakuru Lake where hundreds of thousands of flamingoes gather creating a
splash of white on blue waters of the lake. It is a sight for the Gods.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">(Concluded)
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<br />Proloy Bagchihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05642253410210767969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-982173487704433191.post-73050042840572100192020-04-04T16:42:00.000+05:302020-04-04T16:42:50.634+05:30Destinations : Nairobi (Part I) 1992<br /><a href="http://www.bagchiblog.blogspot.com/">http://www.bagchiblog.blogspot.com</a><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht_oWHd-pzilmCH89e_JlZxsC_mp4kyv1ItBGOlnQ-Qa9KxJMh1qfOBsCXU3ZqIlESwPfjoJ7dJi34OsJ_cUK389djDK-6TNkYdAXX83j5sT9Ri9-p_H7DKd-fP8TyiF6vZBrTcx88JJxQ/s1600/Prague.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="964" data-original-width="1467" height="262" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht_oWHd-pzilmCH89e_JlZxsC_mp4kyv1ItBGOlnQ-Qa9KxJMh1qfOBsCXU3ZqIlESwPfjoJ7dJi34OsJ_cUK389djDK-6TNkYdAXX83j5sT9Ri9-p_H7DKd-fP8TyiF6vZBrTcx88JJxQ/s400/Prague.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jomo Kenyatta Convention Centre, Nairobi</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">About
a couple of hours of flying brought us to Nairobi from Addis Ababa. The Nairobi
airport was bigger, more business-like and free of clutter. This was the second
time I was using the airport. Earlier, about three years ago, I had passed
through Nairobi on my way up to Manzini in Swaziland as also on my way back
from there to India. Here the first thing that strikes you is that everybody is
very smartly dressed – men in suits, generally, in shades of grey and women,
too, in skirts and top of more or less the same colour.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">An official from the administration was there to receive me. He whisked
me out in a jiffy and took me straight to the Panafric Hotel. It was a biggish
hotel which I later found very comfortable. The Kenyan Administration man
deposited me in the hotel and before disappearing said somebody would come in
the morning and take me to the Office of the Director General. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">So
I cooled my heels till the next morning. In the meantime I availed of<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh2wE2KvO_cEARkTFxuFUVFtNQbAoQfM6IvVyt80CBCPDAhb-JbGBNmYb3t9N0iEpYyIx9CIhy330-5zUQe_i5jFxl0qkW9CCq5eUf_UZ4eb-1Q51zlVPUhJrKoKRo1OOOpus9Q19jLAmt/s1600/Nairobi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="978" data-original-width="1416" height="273" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh2wE2KvO_cEARkTFxuFUVFtNQbAoQfM6IvVyt80CBCPDAhb-JbGBNmYb3t9N0iEpYyIx9CIhy330-5zUQe_i5jFxl0qkW9CCq5eUf_UZ4eb-1Q51zlVPUhJrKoKRo1OOOpus9Q19jLAmt/s400/Nairobi.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">At the animal orphanage</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
the
hospitality of the hotel and had tilapia fish for dinner. The fish is also
available In India but apparently not in such copious quantities. Panafric’s
fried tilapias were very good. Next morning a young man made his appearance; he
was one Mr. Oyyo from the Administration. He took me to his Deputy Director
General who welcomed me over a cup of Kenyan Coffee – not the same as in Addis
Ababa with a herb. It was plain and simple coffee – much like what one gets in
India<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">We
went to the level below the Deputy Director General and commenced work
immediately. The work was similar to what we had done in Ethiopia. The only
difference was that Nairobi had more intense relations with Europe, especially
Eastern Europe, and the postal traffic had gone haywire because at that point
in time the former Yugoslav Republic was breaking up. Many countries came up on
the scene whose names even the officers were unfamiliar with. Like for example,
they did not know where Ljubljiana was. They were impressed when, on being
asked, I told them it was in Slovenia. Every day we would work through the
emerging requirements of the people and the business community to ensure that
the Postal System gives them satisfaction. I was there with them all the time
and many of the boys were very intelligent and hard working.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH_a8ybR1w8sa76k7fhJ7eozPktgDEN9DBmuQiZOmAV0N2gH-6PRHQy2O4SPWA1VjwSZy8uNJ7DtU-5SvqKeMQQ1Dh2OPtbo87UZ2pKiTz_U3ADBViD1reyPNIgQLEeN_uLYKbmzPWJUhK/s1600/Nairobi1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="928" data-original-width="1458" height="251" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH_a8ybR1w8sa76k7fhJ7eozPktgDEN9DBmuQiZOmAV0N2gH-6PRHQy2O4SPWA1VjwSZy8uNJ7DtU-5SvqKeMQQ1Dh2OPtbo87UZ2pKiTz_U3ADBViD1reyPNIgQLEeN_uLYKbmzPWJUhK/s400/Nairobi1.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">An exotic bird in Nairobi National Park</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Towards
the end of the week Mr. Oyyo informed me that we were to go to a small town,
Mechakos. It was off the Mombasa road and used to be the capital of Kenya
before it lost the status to Nairobi. Nairobi thus is a young town, established
only in 1890s <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A biggish village now, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mechakos had a number of people working on
wood. Perhaps, wood was easily available nearby and the people were making good
use of it by shaping out lovely curios. Wood craft was very popular and as
there was a market for the finished product in Europe and the US the craftsmen
seemed to be quite affluent. I found many of them working wearing suits instead
of dungarees or overalls. I too bought a good looking figure of a man about 10
inches tall.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">On
our way back there was a scare. The engine of the vehicle – a kind of SUV much
like our Mahindra’s Bolero – caught fire mid way to Nairobi. The driver tried
to put out the fire but couldn’t do so. The officials who accompanied me scrambled
away from the vehicle. I came out last as the official sitting next to me was a
lady and she was in a hurry to get out. The fire was eventually extinguished
but the vehicle wouldn’t start. The driver left in a bus that mercifully came
that way to bring another vehicle. Nairobi was still good 40 to 50 kms away.
All told, he had to travel around 100 kms that could take around two and a half
hours. But <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg85WsVWK7yRT5FcaUb4isYExYt6ZaitYZZyQclLX8MVvjAUSAZM4G0wI7xzTjbwif9h1CuNo3vHxm7Va4eesc6vEBeKVTL-TWz0q-nUVPESnOO-ZCftHsV-ePAgaOMaLSXc_rq8FOHRq9s/s1600/Nairobi4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1374" data-original-width="1046" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg85WsVWK7yRT5FcaUb4isYExYt6ZaitYZZyQclLX8MVvjAUSAZM4G0wI7xzTjbwif9h1CuNo3vHxm7Va4eesc6vEBeKVTL-TWz0q-nUVPESnOO-ZCftHsV-ePAgaOMaLSXc_rq8FOHRq9s/s400/Nairobi4.jpg" width="303" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Central Business District</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
as dusk fell over the highway the lady got worried. She was worried
about looters who ply the roads at night. True enough; Nairobi was not quite
safe in the evenings how could its outskirts be safe at night? Thankfully, the
driver arrived with another vehicle and I hit the hotel at 9.30 in the night. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">In
African countries the incoming mail was not being delivered door to door. They
had no postmen and had the post box system; everyone who received mails had to
have a post box in his name. One day I was taken to the City Square post
office. There I came across hundreds of post boxes of aluminium in many tiers.
Checking them I found lots of the letters that were put in the boxes were
pretty old. But the blame would not come to the post office; it was the
business of the holder of the post box to have his mail collected in time. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The
City Square is a typical colonial place with shops all around. This is where
the post office eponymously named is situated. And this is where I had the
first Indian samosa. The man who brought it said he had done so since I was an
Indian and it is from India that it came to Kenya. Our samosas are, however,
bigger and very, very seldom would have fillings of meat. These were far smaller
and had meat inside and were very delicious.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 39px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic", sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">While winding up we found that there was appreciable traffic of parcels to Eastern Europe. Kenya is known for its coffee and tea and these products go all over Europe, especially Eastern Europe but there were obviously bottlenecks as the dispatches were being unduly delayed – a case of defective routing. All these were revised with the hope that consignments from Nairobi would be moving faster to Europe.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic", sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"><br /></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggIMWePRtSnKItY3p2ISO2WgwWEMXVeHtIIwprWvEMzU8IHdL0t2Z4L_q3ehT-2XGTPcnO2tb_lGkF2CFc-OigzorLqZcx7Pv1bhxdPDB8fwKrySZCqHwcai6O7Kz2EGPtBd49JtgBCK5E/s1600/Nairobi5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="994" data-original-width="1372" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggIMWePRtSnKItY3p2ISO2WgwWEMXVeHtIIwprWvEMzU8IHdL0t2Z4L_q3ehT-2XGTPcnO2tb_lGkF2CFc-OigzorLqZcx7Pv1bhxdPDB8fwKrySZCqHwcai6O7Kz2EGPtBd49JtgBCK5E/s400/Nairobi5.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">An antelope in the Orphanage</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Had
the Administration informed me in time that it would not be able to organize a
trip for me to Masai Mara I would have arranged one for it myself as many
batches left from Panafric for the National Parks. One Sunday, however, Oyyo
came and took me to the Nairobi National Park. It was quite strange to see tall
giraffes against the backdrop of tall buildings. Nairobi also has an orphanage for
wild animals.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Nairobi
offers some fine shopping in Africa after South Africa.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I came across a shop that offered gear for
safaris. These included from hats to jackets to boots to cameras. However, I
found an Egyptian cotton shirt in khaki with posterior of a zebra printed on it
in black. I found it very attractive and it was with me for years. Next to this
shop was the famous restaurant by the name “The Carnivore” where Sunil Gavaskar
was reported to have had crocodile meat. The restaurant offers meat of almost
all wild animals. In an Indian shop I came across incredible cheating. I bought
a few braces for my trousers and the price quoted was unbelievable – each one
almost of Rs. 1000/-. During the bargaining I happened to tell them even in India
they wouldn’t cost so <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8TCkY-HK1gURbn_R3CvexZb_S9udSe6_vtadGy61hEmpnkUvhTeyL62P5O3ROXylwOBj2AQ8zcnBqU9OM5CDicZ9JfRob65YwZ4RpjKNfknXFC3-ms6dIID5_ih_Jy1zPmLN20MG-pB4c/s1600/Nairobi9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="784" data-original-width="938" height="333" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8TCkY-HK1gURbn_R3CvexZb_S9udSe6_vtadGy61hEmpnkUvhTeyL62P5O3ROXylwOBj2AQ8zcnBqU9OM5CDicZ9JfRob65YwZ4RpjKNfknXFC3-ms6dIID5_ih_Jy1zPmLN20MG-pB4c/s400/Nairobi9.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">At the National Park</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
much the shopkeeper immediately asked me whether I was an
Indian. When I answered in the affirmative the price immediately dropped by 50%.
All this happened in the presence of Oyyo. I felt very ashamed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Central Business District of the town is a
massive affair and in it is located the tallest building of the town – the
Kenyatta International Convention Centre, KICC for short. The building is of
thirty storeys and has a helipad. It occupies an enormous area. There are other
interesting buildings but the district was still, kind of, work in
progress.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The
regional UPU consultant for Africa, a former officer of Nigerian Postal System
was to come to Nairobi. He wanted to visit Mombasa. I met him after arrival and
found him familiar with many Indian consultants. A very amiable elderly person
he asked me to accompany him to Mombasa. I had to go there in any case as it
had exchanges of postal items with foreign countries.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<br />Proloy Bagchihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05642253410210767969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-982173487704433191.post-10201617997601079622020-03-31T17:06:00.001+05:302020-03-31T20:18:48.847+05:30Book Review :: "A century is not enough " by Saurabh Ganguly & Gautam Bhattacharya<br />
<a href="http://www.bagchiblog.blofspot.com/">http://www.bagchiblog.blofspot.com</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiedGcPL0s49jOlfoE2rRS9lS7kL3PRtBlWXX0cRLcwC0aB3KS_DxcLBZbAmNf0OwuwFJc4ELav15glLnsr-uEOTGUjiGykenjrG7NnWbPkT8veCsF7fUbKIMM7dLBt2IaH_JkjidA9zqrt/s1600/SouravGanguly-2-970x582.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="582" data-original-width="970" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiedGcPL0s49jOlfoE2rRS9lS7kL3PRtBlWXX0cRLcwC0aB3KS_DxcLBZbAmNf0OwuwFJc4ELav15glLnsr-uEOTGUjiGykenjrG7NnWbPkT8veCsF7fUbKIMM7dLBt2IaH_JkjidA9zqrt/s400/SouravGanguly-2-970x582.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">A
few months ago Saurabh Ganguli had said in a conversation with a participant in
the programme that he anchors that none should ever try and emulate him as his
life had been like a roller coaster ride right through – up and down, up and
down again. At that time I did not quite believe it; I thought it was his
modesty that was making him speak like that. Now that I have read his biography
– not exactly an autobiography as there is a co-author – I have come to realize
how true his statement was and how well-meaning it was.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“A
century is not enough” written by Saurabh Ganguli and Gautam Bhattachary is an
account of Saurabh’s cricketing life including his brief fling in the Indian
Premier League, better known by its acronym “IPL”. Although immensely endowed
with cricketing talent his life in the Indian cricket team was not easy,
barring, of course, the period of five years when he led the national side.
During his captaincy he built up a team virtually of world beaters. In building
it up he gave wide berth to favouritism and parochialism, the two evils from
which Indian cricket used to suffer. He spotted talents and picked them up on
merit and always gave them enough time and space to blossom.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Born
with the proverbial silver spoon, his father encouraged him to opt for cricket
instead of football – a more popular team-sport of West Bengal. To help him
achieve his aspirations he used to be sent to England in summers to hone his
cricketing skills. He emerged eventually as a right arm medium pacer and a left
hand batsman. It is said that he chose to be a left-hander because he could use
his brother’s cricketing gear. As a south paw his exploits from the crease were
amazing and he amassed a sizable number of records. He may not have been as
prolific as his close friend Sachin Tendulkar but he was not far behind -
perhaps only next to him. He had another advantage over his friend and that was
that he was also a bowler and collected an appreciable number of scalps in
Tests and ODIs with his medium pacers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Everybody
knows how Saurabh got into the Indian Cricket Team in 1992 and then was laid
off for as many as four years. As an 18-year old entrant in 1992 he was only a
passenger in tours of the team. He was hardly ever picked up to play; only he
reportedly picked up numerous adverse comments about his attitude. Although he
denied the allegations his attitude born out of superior social and financial
status of his family kept chasing him for quite some time. He was even called
“snooty” in England and his nick name “Maharaj” that his father used to call
him by did not quite help in the matter. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Be
that as it may, his ascent to the status of captain of the Indian team was
dramatic and he laboured hard to prove that he was a fighting and admirable
skipper. He not only tried to build up a team that would not only challenge the
best in the world but also beat them in their own backyards. Before him the
team lacked homogeneity; there was no spirit of commitment to the team or the
country. In short, the members of the team lacked the attitude that would make them
stand out in the world. Ganguly went all over the country to search for talent
and that fire in the belly to perform. He picked them up and gave them enough
scope and time to shed their inhibitions and concentrate on performance. His
selections were transparent – and honest with no consideration other than
cricketing skills. His boys Zaheer Khan, Mohammed Kaif, Harbhajan Singh,
Yuvaraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and a few others became parts of the team, gave
off their best and then retired as legends of Indian Cricket.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">For
more than half a decade his team ruled over the world cricket beating the
legendary West Indies, South Africa, England, Australia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka,
Bangladesh and New Zealand on quite a few occasions in India and abroad thus
giving to the team the habit of trying to win – not throwing in the towel or
play for a draw. He brought into the team a new element of aggression
disorienting the world cricketing community, bringing in trophies and laurels
for the country. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Then
came his nemesis in the shape of Greg Chappell! He, in his enthusiasm to
challenge Australia – at that time, by far the best team in the world - sought
Chappell’s help in sorting out technical issues in respect of the Australian
grounds. Having been terribly impressed by his cricketing acumen he decided to
have Chappell as the Head Coach for Team India. Despite many knowledgeable
persons advising him against his move to have Chappell as the Coach he pursued
the matter with the BCCI. Even Ian Chappell, Greg Chappell’s brother, a former
skipper of the Australian team, spoke to Dalmia, the then BCCI Chairman,
advising him against his brother’s appointment as the Indian coach. Ganguly’s
efforts succeeded but soon it turned into a virtual war with him. Greg Chappell
behaved cussedly and was hell-bent on removing Ganguly from the captaincy.
Chappell’s efforts succeeded but it broke the spirit of the team.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Everybody
wanted to hear from Ganguly what exactly went wrong between the two but one
does not get any answers from the book. Ganguly was aware that Chappell was
gunning for him but he did not reveal any reasons for Chappell’s dissatisfaction
with him. He, though down for some time did not give it up and fought his way
back into the team. Even his father, who had encouraged him to take cricket as
his profession, was miserable to see his son weighed down by worries and
frustration and advised him to throw in the towel. But Saurabh wouldn’t listen
to him. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">This
is the most interesting and instructive part of the book. He fought his inner strife
by himself shedding all self-doubts and frustrations and came out blazing with
his bat. His instrument for discarding all negative sentiments was to remain
physically fit. He used to run more than a dozen laps at Eden Gardens. He did
retire soon enough, as he said, for being always put on trial; but he retired
on a note that was by far more positive. His is an example of how a man of immense
mental strength deals with adversities even if these are not self-inflicted. He
has always been saying that cricket is a mind game; it is played more in the
mind, not simply on the crease. To be in a national side one has to have not
only perfect hand-eye coordination but also a strong and analytical mind.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">After
having been one of the most dynamic skippers he has emerged, phoenix-like, as a
respected and admired cricket administrator. Soon after retirement he was
elected president of the Cricket Association of Bengal and then three years
later he was unanimously elected Chairman of BCCI, a nationally coveted
position for all cricketers and cricket lovers. This is the first time a cricketer
was elected for the post, barring, of course, the brief term of Sunil Gavaskar.
But Gavaskar was a Supreme Court appointee. Though Ganguly’s term may last only
for nine months because of the cooling off provisions there are many who hope
it would be extended. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“A
century is not enough” is a well written book and thankfully it is shorn off of
most of the technicalities of cricket which I used to come across decades ago
in the books by Don Bradman, Len Hutton, Denis Compton, Jack Fingleton or Sid
Barnes. The technicalities may not appeal to all lovers of the game, including
Ganguly’s female fans that are there all over the country. As is well known, he
is universally called “Dada” (elder brother), admired for his deportment as
also for his handsome looks. No wonder he anchors a hugely successful reality
show called “Dadagiri” on Zee Bangla channel every weekend. Though the name of
the show suggests something different, including coercive behavior, there is no
such thing in the show. Kolkata’s high and mighty have appeared in the show and
they seem to have been hugely pleased to have been there.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Ganguly
is mercifully not from among the Kolkata crowd who do not speak any native
language. Though educated throughout in Kolkata’s St. Xavier College he speaks impeccable
Bangla. Besides he is a true Bong who celebrates Durga Puja wearing dhoti and
kurta and plays on the “dhaak” - Bengali percussion instrument. The other night
he sang and played on a guitar. I wouldn’t be surprised if I see him in front
of an easel with an artist’s palette. He is such a complete well-rounded
package.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Shahruk Khan made a huge understatement when
he told Ganguly while walking a lap in Eden Garden adter an IPL match, “Dada,
they love you here”. They not only love him, they idolise him.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<br />Proloy Bagchihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05642253410210767969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-982173487704433191.post-21998430091779121842020-03-29T12:38:00.000+05:302020-03-29T12:38:48.423+05:30Our Life, Our Times :: 52 :: The Lockdown<br /><a href="http://www.bagchiblog.blogspot.com/">http://www.bagchiblog.blogspot.com</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpn4s-T9n9C1bflokXw4uHdfK1J5q3aLZNEfZVvyaLWJpSBBBiRxS3LDms5RSznkBj1BahqpqpmlTsMbjxER8kslGOO9geN18_dyvkLpzUesMaqdp7CNjJhLzJTQ4DA0aRvh3QLMig8bAF/s1600/lockdown-delhi-featured-e1585253957525.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="461" data-original-width="820" height="221" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpn4s-T9n9C1bflokXw4uHdfK1J5q3aLZNEfZVvyaLWJpSBBBiRxS3LDms5RSznkBj1BahqpqpmlTsMbjxER8kslGOO9geN18_dyvkLpzUesMaqdp7CNjJhLzJTQ4DA0aRvh3QLMig8bAF/s400/lockdown-delhi-featured-e1585253957525.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">So
far only four nights have gone under “lockdown”; another seventeen nights await
such a passage. But the two of us, my wife and me, both senior citizens are
already undergoing a sentence of lockdown till our very end. For the last so
many months, especially after the two older siblings passed on, we have been
under a lockdown of sorts. With nowhere to go, nothing to buy off the shelves
we don’t even have to go shopping. Our vehicle sits on its four wheels in the
complex most of the time. Virtually everything is home delivered. And, payments
are made online. With Modi’s lockdown, therefore, our life has not changed one
bit. We continue to stay at home and keep taking in the marvelous view of the
Lake and the green hills beyond from our big and wide windows. The peaceful sight
is enough of sustenance for us. Perhaps, it also helps us to keep COVID-19 at
bay.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">This
is an unprecedented lockdown the like of which we had never experienced before.
It is not like the blackouts during the wars or even like curfews during civic
disturbances. The “Janta (people’s) Curfew” of Modi was bad enough. This is
much worse – a country-wide lockdown, with no planes flying, no passenger
trains running and no buses plying. Each district has become an island with
only essential services running. Repeated advisories have been issued to people
to stay at home. The government obviously does not want to allow here what
happened in Italy, in England or in Spain or New York or California. This deadly
virus, it seems, can be neutralized by only social dispersal of people. They
have to quarantine themselves in their respective homes. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The
civic authorities have a problem there. Oldies like us will willingly stay at
home if everything of our needs is delivered to us. That, however, is not a
template to be emulated by the young generation. With no work and, hopefully, a
paid holiday for three weeks they want to enjoy it – not cooped up in the
generally overcrowded houses but by biking around on the motorbikes on
traffic-free roads or even walking on empty streets. They are giving a tough
time to the law and order machinery.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Perhaps,
it is impossible to keep more than a billion people confined to their homes.
Television, that ubiquitous entertainer and a godsent for times like this when
there is a massive clampdown and everything is at standstill, keeps one abreast
of everyday happenings in the country. It is here that one sees every day by
the hour how the cops are losing weight by trying to check those whom the
current circumstances have made vagrants. There could be compelling reasons for
them to be out on the streets in the times of a clampdown. Perhaps, their
houses are too small for the family, maybe it is dark and dingy, or perhaps it
lacks hygiene and sanitation. Or, perhaps, there is no place where they could
hide and most probably there is no money salted away for buying provisions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">No
wonder, as the TV screen shows, hundreds of people are marching down
expressways in an effort to get back to their respective villages. Obviously,
they feel that if they have to die of hunger or of COVID-19 it is far better to
do so among the family in surroundings that are familiar and not in a strange
city they have no stakes in. The concept of “social dispersal” that Modi was
talking about the other day to prevent the spread of the contagion thus got a
massive setback. Those who decided to leave their temporary homes or shacks
couldn’t care less for high sounding concepts which they could hardly ever live
by. For them, as for almost all of us, survival is more important and in times
of difficulties nothing could be more comforting than the lap of the family.
The governments, therefore, have swung into action and are providing succor to
the hapless migrant labour, are arranging buses for these people to avoid the
harrowing march of uncharted miles to their villages and travel in relative
comfort of omnibuses – thus breaching their own decision of lockdown. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The
newspapers that are available are full of COVID news. I am not able to get the
Delhi editions of most papers as transport for them is just not available. What
we get these days is locally printed ones of which only the Times of India is a
national newspaper with multi-city editions. But even it missed the news of the
wildlife bazaar that is run in China. It sells from pangolins to bats which
appear to be farmed like poultry, and snakes, rodents, geckos, lizards, insects
and what have you. China is where the wild animals are collected and then
dispersed in the countries of South-East Asia. Our depleting numbers of
pangolins apparently have been ending up in the stomachs of S-E Asians. One can
only wish that after letting loose a pandemic China winds up the trade in
exotic animals.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">While
deaths due to COVID and its new victims are in the papers every day the havoc
caused by the pandemic is also being reported. The Bombay Stock Exchange had a
steep fall from which is yet to fully recover. Its SENSEX 30 fell from above
40000 to 28000 and has only marginally recouped the losses. The essential
commodities like vegetables, if easily, accessible are selling at jacked up
prices. Indians like to profiteer in good times and bad – perhaps more during
the bad times as people would hardly have any alternatives. By and large, it
seems India is still better off as countries in Europe and the US are suffering
far more than our people. Clearly, COVID – 19 is quite a leveler.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Century Gothic","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">As
I was running out of medicines we had to plan getting out of the house. We had
not been able to replenish our monthly stock from the government dispensary. So
we had to get them whatever might be the risks. This morning we did just that.
We did not go to the government dispensary but bought medicines from chemists’
shop. They, being essential, have to be kept open. That is where the pharmacist
told my wife that no curfew passes are being issued for local commutes; one
needs a pass only when one wishes to go out of the district for good and valid
reasons. We realized there was no curfew but only “lockdown”. Perhaps, that is
what “containment” of COVID-19 is all about. Though there is no curfew one could
not be on the streets without any valid reasons.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br /><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">*photo from internet</span>Proloy Bagchihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05642253410210767969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-982173487704433191.post-75261912099889801142020-03-26T13:00:00.000+05:302020-04-03T15:52:17.067+05:30Destinations :: Addis Ababa (1992)<br />
<a href="http://www.bagchiblog.blogspot.com/">http://www.bagchiblog.blogspot.com</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwqJ6MwUYXIJAptcxaQLxSa5KOPH0Rkmmt_IeEs0Xo-7qZMkSq3lt0Lw_ZAHKdtTLXsuvHCtgNarNd_sAE4FSaIyFFIVxjGTR0lqyOnMVOti__uGhc8HVf_X2ll1IhAqzvu4dWV3Pb7p3Q/s1600/Addid+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1032" data-original-width="1336" height="308" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwqJ6MwUYXIJAptcxaQLxSa5KOPH0Rkmmt_IeEs0Xo-7qZMkSq3lt0Lw_ZAHKdtTLXsuvHCtgNarNd_sAE4FSaIyFFIVxjGTR0lqyOnMVOti__uGhc8HVf_X2ll1IhAqzvu4dWV3Pb7p3Q/s400/Addid+1.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">An old monument</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">I
was picked up by the Universal Postal Union for a three-country assignment in
Africa.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This was in 1992 and, for a
change, I was asked to proceed first to Addis Ababa via Berne, Switzerland. On
previous two occasions I was asked to proceed directly to the country where I
was supposed to operate. This time they wanted to “brief” me. Briefing, however,
amounted to asking me to carry quite a bit of literature, most of them being
useless for me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Though
Berne, ike every other place in Switzerland is a beautiful city yet I had
decided that I would not be staying at Berne as my late eldest brother was
stationed in Geneva. The question of giving up an opportunity to stay with him
for a couple of days did not arise. Besides<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEECo7viugYjnzLMklXaVtzJE3mt9Noj6lDetXBGsSEO-rD4WsSYP-qMG98CGoBTPykEyh1LJv7l_SDQTbSBBPJDs7KXghev77Nb2SvAJ499EzkyI0d65escSerOMWGzDN21agQ84JgO86/s1600/Prague_0001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1017" data-original-width="1331" height="303" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEECo7viugYjnzLMklXaVtzJE3mt9Noj6lDetXBGsSEO-rD4WsSYP-qMG98CGoBTPykEyh1LJv7l_SDQTbSBBPJDs7KXghev77Nb2SvAJ499EzkyI0d65escSerOMWGzDN21agQ84JgO86/s400/Prague_0001.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A mosque</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
, Berne was only around two hours
away from Geneva by train. My brother was at the airport when I flew in from
Delhi via Frankfurt. I was back in Geneva after five years, having been here in
1987 with my wife and late third brother and his wife. We had spent almost a couple
of months here during which we travelled quite a bit in Europe.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">After
two very pleasant days I was set to move for Addis. I had to again fly via
Frankfurt and take the flight of Ethiopian Airlines for Addis. Its stock was
pretty low with my brother but there was nothing I could do about it. The
flight that night from Frankfurt was the last to fly out. We started boarding
when the airport cleaning brigade was already on the job. The flight touched
down in Rome and then at Asmara, which till then <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeIU7Qi7xJz94J7Lzj9Nrr0iJ1pyKa9hJctSOyBOYgY1890SNGiSgkUtdVROR3qmRg_Go1sRUNXEJ5L6QrQJ7vxHHmzSf5LGdThtBzkiRJ-fxu6ql0Ae4H_VU_FGOKy0hv0ir7l4HJcrod/s1600/Prague_0002.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1010" data-original-width="1426" height="281" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeIU7Qi7xJz94J7Lzj9Nrr0iJ1pyKa9hJctSOyBOYgY1890SNGiSgkUtdVROR3qmRg_Go1sRUNXEJ5L6QrQJ7vxHHmzSf5LGdThtBzkiRJ-fxu6ql0Ae4H_VU_FGOKy0hv0ir7l4HJcrod/s400/Prague_0002.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">An animal commercial carriage</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
was a part of Ethiopia in the
province of Eritrea but was fighting for independence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Eventually after a brief civil war the
country became independent. Asmara was known to be a very beautiful sea port on
Red Sea and had a lot of traffic with Italy. No wonder hordes of Italians
climbed into the plane only to get off at Asmara.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The
representatives of Ethiopian administration came and received me and lodged me
in Hotel Ethiopia. It was a very ordinary hotel with virtually minimal
facilities. Probably that was the best around the town but I couldn’t have had
any say in the matter. The country had just come out of a dictatorial Leftist rule
of Mengistu and I could divine an environment of fear still prevailing all around.
It was Mengistu who hadA Convention Centre</span><br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
</div>
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">
overthrown in the 1970s the Emperor Haile Selassie of
the Solomonic dynasty. The Emperor traced his lineage from the legendary King
Solomon and Queen Sheba of Biblical times. His relations with India were very
cordial.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoplGvdERtn2TeyAjnNCesqtPaoudTqnhhDpmaPTx60kwibhXj9IbceCUt8V18sEJzfD-7t1EHupcssVlm0D3QmzgewyfsPxsy9A4hHtrbH052K1LHQbVprzcMLuU6mZhuR1YwO3uiq7ZY/s1600/Prague_0006.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="974" data-original-width="1301" height="296" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoplGvdERtn2TeyAjnNCesqtPaoudTqnhhDpmaPTx60kwibhXj9IbceCUt8V18sEJzfD-7t1EHupcssVlm0D3QmzgewyfsPxsy9A4hHtrbH052K1LHQbVprzcMLuU6mZhuR1YwO3uiq7ZY/s400/Prague_0006.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My Ethiopian colleagues</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Though
the departmental headquarters were not very far from the hotel I used to be
picked up and deposited back at the hotel promptly at 5.00 in the evening. It
seems none would work at the office after office hours as commuting through the
streets was not very safe. The first day my counterpart took me to meet the
Chief of the Ethiopian Post. He used to sit in a spanking new what looked like
a building of aluminium. Perhaps, this was a donation from a friendly country. Together
with the chief, I had good discussions over cups of Ethiopian coffee. They take
black pretty strong black coffee with a sprinkling of a herb that floats on
the
top of the coffee giving it a peculiar pleasant aroma. No wonder there is quite
a bit of traffic in coffee between Ethiopia and Europe. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The
road in front was an artery of sorts and was always very crowded. People in
tattered clothes would be sprawled on the central verge. It was like India when
we had a substantial population of beggars. One day when I decided to walk to
the office I got a taste of it. These people were all Somali refugees occupying
the pavements and they would beg rather aggressively; they would nudge you,
push you or even catch hold of your hand to beg. I told Mr. Mohammed, my
counterpart, that after this experience walking to office was out for me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir_kRTcAk9npkqqDg8lqqUsHgKbwKbranQaR8PyF6L2zw_B0ifcUrSx0QRngF6hEHQC9YRKu-Xy4DXEvccpHq4I0ilv9tdiXgXbPh4s5WdNz8RBaC18h1ef9b8SuVPd_VJZiA26N-OuUgy/s1600/Prague_0003.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1418" data-original-width="977" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir_kRTcAk9npkqqDg8lqqUsHgKbwKbranQaR8PyF6L2zw_B0ifcUrSx0QRngF6hEHQC9YRKu-Xy4DXEvccpHq4I0ilv9tdiXgXbPh4s5WdNz8RBaC18h1ef9b8SuVPd_VJZiA26N-OuUgy/s400/Prague_0003.jpg" width="273" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A monument</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">My
job in Ethiopia, as indeed in the other two countries, was to guide the local
administration in finding new routes or new air services with a view to
speeding up of the foreign mails. Certainly not a big job but this had not been
done for quite some years. So together with the loca
l administration and a
newer version of airlines directory we devised a more or less improved schedule
of receipt and dispatch of foreign mails subject to the approval of foreign
administrations concerned. Since it had no railways of its own, the surface
mails from abroad would arrive from Djibouti. Promptness or otherwise of it all
depended on the political situation in Djibouti. It was pretty unstable during
my stay in Addis Ababa, vital, as it was, sitting on very busy sea lanes passing
through the Gulf of Aden.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXEf3n38ujPqi0xYna96B4aESW1NzWP4-wlKevfBq7K6FAte9LUMcGtluyrbVsYle9uUx-4NBiAnV9ZbZmKiKjFt1iDu4ulZ3T3UT4d7QniD6S8Nb8I5jUHzScuId5fGYZiqKSYSVLAUQV/s1600/Prague_0007.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="983" data-original-width="1383" height="281" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXEf3n38ujPqi0xYna96B4aESW1NzWP4-wlKevfBq7K6FAte9LUMcGtluyrbVsYle9uUx-4NBiAnV9ZbZmKiKjFt1iDu4ulZ3T3UT4d7QniD6S8Nb8I5jUHzScuId5fGYZiqKSYSVLAUQV/s400/Prague_0007.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">In a Nazareth restaurant</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">I
was given a round of the city and also visited some of the town sub offices.
There was nothing distinctive about them. The city was, however, littered with
some Communist-style structures. A big stadium was left incomplete despite apparent
expenditure of millions. The town was, however, more like our sub-urban towns. After
1992, however, things seemed to have improved. There are
high rises, overpasses
and a light rail operating in the city. There are massive squares in the town
and economic activities apparently have picked up.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Bayen,
who was my companion during my stay, took me out to Nazareth (also spelt as
Nazaret) a place around 50 miles away. It is on a highway originating in
Djibouti. It is considered to be a transportation hub and is predominantly a
Christian town. Bayan took me to a restaurant where we had some good Western
food. Bayen used to be a senior official of the department but for lack of
prospects he was looking for an opportunity to migrate to Canada. I understand
he has since been able to get away to Canada. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlllosh6uaJ4rVbnFrCG_F3yoG5yUuZQCt9JE2J6rF57B-FATwkvco1ieDQV3q4cnW0qct3TS48bFKOwxstIyLef17SFpT5Yl2C0huUsZYDIcOPmNI52QcT6jNNxQl9AbYqWv61c_8ilEb/s1600/Prague_0005.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="975" data-original-width="1439" height="270" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlllosh6uaJ4rVbnFrCG_F3yoG5yUuZQCt9JE2J6rF57B-FATwkvco1ieDQV3q4cnW0qct3TS48bFKOwxstIyLef17SFpT5Yl2C0huUsZYDIcOPmNI52QcT6jNNxQl9AbYqWv61c_8ilEb/s400/Prague_0005.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A typical street scene of Ethiopia of those days</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The
night before I was to leave for Nairobi Mr. Mohammed invited me to a dinner in
a bigger hotel. Two other officials were also present. It was a typical Ethiopian
dinner with the foursome sitting round a circular cane table with high rims. On
it was spread the Ethiopian flatbread which is
used as a plate for stews,
vegetables and salads to be deposited on it. The diners sitting round it tear a
piece of the bread to scoop out a morsel. There were around three or four
entries. Mr. Mohammed, however, warned me about one which, he said, was
half-cooked beef and might not be to my liking. Hence, I left it out.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">After
two pleasant weeks it was time for me to move again, this time to Nairobi.
Climatically both are more or less the same, though Addis sits at an elevation
of more than seven thousand feet against Nairobi’s almost 6000 ft elevation.
Both are, therefore, cool and one has to use woollens. Nairobi, however, is
much greener than Addis Ababa.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />Proloy Bagchihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05642253410210767969noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-982173487704433191.post-58317103178798019202020-03-22T12:04:00.000+05:302020-03-22T12:06:09.574+05:30Tavleen Singh's India's Broken Tryst - Book review<br />
<a href="http://www.bagchiblog.blogspot.com/">http://www.bagchiblog.blogspot.com</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikpqH_PxjtcE4zJKrui_zH8POMVF1u2fdbcxmdCyuTlO-ClQ2UhRoo0VWm6rSGmLSjsFiDHbWIYzQDUlJ6M9WTXeTbwiTTD6CC1BZFSc2PdwUbrlcjnkmhW2yE3nzlkrVq4nCD2jsV2oxV/s1600/india%2527s.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="313" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikpqH_PxjtcE4zJKrui_zH8POMVF1u2fdbcxmdCyuTlO-ClQ2UhRoo0VWm6rSGmLSjsFiDHbWIYzQDUlJ6M9WTXeTbwiTTD6CC1BZFSc2PdwUbrlcjnkmhW2yE3nzlkrVq4nCD2jsV2oxV/s400/india%2527s.jpg" width="250" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">In
today’s media world there are very few journalists who have not sold themselves
and have remained unbiased. The power of the pen being such that journalists or
columnists get sucked into the power- play of different ideologies, even
different shades of opinions. Politics is the art of the possible and when
people from media are not true to their profession they walk across to whoever
offers them the highest bid. Thus there are elements of sale and purchase in
the profession. There are, of course, others who consciously descend to the
journalistic depths for love of money or for sheer hatred. It is thus difficult
in the current times to identify a journalist or a columnist who is unbiased
and whose credentials are clean.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">For
a long time I have been reading the columns of Tavleen Singh, initially in
India Today and currently in the Indian Express in its Sunday edition. I have
found her writings objective and free of bias. She does her reporting from the
field and her opinions are formed by what she observes and hears there. No
wonder she has remained in the forefront among journalists of corresponding
calibre. How she maintains her equilibrium and is not swayed by temptations of
power and glory is something inexplicable. Perhaps, it is because she has
independent sources of sustenance. And, of course, her live-in partner of
thirty-odd years has been a solid support for her. Even then one must concede
that she has refrained from falling prey to the big, wild world of politics
infested more with wolves than with humans – where it is difficult to keep
oneself stable but very easy to succumb to its false charms.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Having
read her columns I eagerly took up her book “India’s broken tryst” when it came
my way. It is a sweeping coverage of post-independent India and its politics from
Nehru down to Modi. As the book was published in 2016 it covers only the first
few months of Modi’s regime. But its pages are packed with human content from
Nehru’s period down to virtually the present day. The most outstanding feature
of this period was how Indian National Congress, after 50 years of its rule,
left the country almost at the same place where it was at the time of
independence in 1947. During this period China, South Korea, the “East Asian
Tigers” all became economic giants with China emerging as a super power of the
world – able to tell off the US not to mess with it. While it was at the same
level of development as India in 1948, China quickly shifted gears to hit double
digit growth. We in India during this period were, apparently, happy with, what
has been disdainfully called, the “Hindu Rate of Growth” of around 3% with
official and political corruption hitting all time high.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Tavleen
travelled several times through Uttar Pradesh. Having seen it from close
quarters she has described the state’s poverty in graphic terms giving vivid
details. The uncontrolled population, absence of healthcare and primary or
secondary education have contributed immensely to perpetuation of poverty in
the state’s villages. Years of lack of governance has deprived the village
community of the wherewithal to survive with dignity. Come to think of it,
decades of Congress rule did not eradicate poverty, malnutrition, illiteracy
and <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>absence of healthcare and civic
amenities that are available to a civilized society made the situation more
abject reducing the people to the level of wretched of the earth. Indira
Gandhi’s slogan “garibi hatao” survived as only a slogan without making a dent
on poverty in the state, indeed the entire country.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The
same is true of the era of Sonia Gandhi, daughter in-law of Indira Gandhi, who
had contested elections from Rae Bareli for the last two decades or so and yet
the situation in her constituency and its villages are in a shamble. She or her
son Rahul Gandhi who won from Amethi did not do one bit for their respective
constituencies. This was more reprehensible as Sonia was the de-facto prime
minister running the UPA II government by remote control on the advice of her
Leftist friends brimming over in the National Advisory Council. And yet, superseding
the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh did not bring any succour to her constituents
or kudos to her or her Advisory Council.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Tavleen
Singh says Sonia cannot stand honest criticism and can be vicious in her
response. Just because Tavleen used to write uncomplimentary pieces against her
Sonia Gandhi had construction at Lavasa being carried out by her partner
stopped which was later rescinded by the judiciary. This, however, stalled the
project for three years. This was conceptually the first hill town to be built
after independence on the Western Ghats. The builder, Ajit Gulabchand, derived
inspiration from the Italian hillside town of Portofino. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Tavleen
Singh has given pride of place in the book to the pavement dwellers of South
Mumbai. Sharing, as she did, a luxury flat with her partner in the NCPA
Apartments she curiously became an altruistic friend of many of the dwellers of
the nearby jhuggis and jhopris and homeless people. She tried and rendered
assistance to them with love, money and her precious time. But, what is
important is that through their troubles and tribulations and the rigours of
their interfaces with petty bureaucracy and the magistracy she reveals the
State’s corrupt, cold and heartless treatment of the poor. Their crushing
poverty was bad enough, the unsympathetic treatment given to them by the agents
of the so called “welfare state” was worse.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The
book covers only about a year and a half of Modi’s regime. She started almost
as a “Modi Bhakt” and was impressed by the changes wrought by him in Gujarat.
She was one of the very few journalists who espied a Modi wave in late 2013.
Very few politicians saw it coming and the Congressmen, of course, were
sanguine that Sonia would lead them back once again to the Raisina Hill. Modi,
the “chaiwalla”, as Mani Shankar Iyer said, just had no chance. As Modi chose
Varanasi as his constituency she invested her time in it and stomped through
its filth and grime to interview people just to get the sense of what voters thought
of Modi. She saw unmistakable signs of Modi romping home victorious.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">She
was on the same page as me in so far as Modi was concerned. Without caring much
for the Hindutva Brigade we wanted Modi to win as he looked like one politician
who could turn the tide in favour of the country. But soon after he formed the
government his party’s motormouths started issuing statements that embarrassed
the new prime minister. Modi’s procrastinations in responding did not help.
That is when he disappointed many of us. Tavleen, too, expressed it but, later,
in her columns was more vehement.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Written
in a racy style the book is eminently readable. I must say that I have never
come across a book of political history as absorbing and interesting as this
one. As it gives one sense of recent history it is all the more interesting.
Its protagonists walked the earth when we too were around bringing in an
element of familiarity.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<br />Proloy Bagchihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05642253410210767969noreply@blogger.com0