A socially savvy Left and Calcutta Biriyani

A socially savvy new Left 

One of the most distinctive and endearing features of elections in Bengal used to be pol­itical graffiti. Wit and satire poured over the walls in the form of limericks, cartoons and caricature. It was acerbic wit and caustic creativity at its sharpest. Party workers painted walls and drew posters on old newspapers. Loudspeakers belted out parodies and spoofs. But, not any more—flex-printed giant hoardings have replaced artwork stuck to palm leaf billboards on bamboo polls. Party anthems are now more sophisticated—composed and sung by professional artists, they play at traffic junctions and go viral on you-tube.

Although late to join the party, social media has changed the paradigm of electioneering in Bengal and become the new tool of buzz creation. Memes of politicians have pushed over cartoons. Whatsapp, Facebook and Twitter are the virtual platforms for political sparring in place of the traditional para-r rock adda. Of course, the advantage of social media is that it lends itself to crowdsourcing, not to mention that it is dynamic. With elections held in five or six phases stretched over nearly two months, it helps to maintain momentum and currency by continuously updating messages. It also allows for timely course corrections.

On a side note, it was interesting to note how the Left got off to a better start here than TMC, for whom Twitter was mainly a weapon against the Delhi-based English media.

Tiffin time 

The Boxwallahs took with them not only the industries of Bengal but also Calcutta’s finest restaurants. While other metros are in the throes of a gastronomic tsunami, Calcutta scores in street food. A lunch-time walk thr­ough any of the major office areas (it is still too British to have a downtown) of Dalhousie, High Court, Camac Street and Theatre Road can be a virtual feast. First, there is the traditional Bengali lunch from maach-bhaat (fish curry rice) to omelettes, khichudi and ghugni. Then come the fish fry, mutton chops and cutlets. In winters the favourite is “ishtew”—an Anglo-Indian derivative of the Irish stew. Chowmien and biriyani have long been a steady presence along with the patented kathi rolls. But now, frontiers are being crossed with litti-chokha, chole bhature, dosa and pav bhaji.

The high-end culinary explosion in other cities happened by migration of white-collared populations. Expats have added to the food scene there. With economic power shifting to those cities—people have greater exposure to the global trends. Calcutta, on other hand, had the influx of workers from the neighbouring states in eastern India, who have added variety at the base of the pyramid, as it were.

Bengali “Kaal-char Shal-char” 

May 8th: Tagore’s birth anniversary celebrations have assumed the proportion of a festival under the current political regime. Earlier, a few weeks before Satyajit Ray’s birth anniversary, it upturned the name of the road adjoining his apartment to ‘Satyajit Ray Dharani’, lighting up pole kiosks with Ray’s movie posters.

Yet, music and cinema are two fields where Bengal has made a comeback. Digital technology has brought down the cost of movie-making (the total outlay on a Bengali film is less than the budget of an ‘item number’ in Bollywood) and multiplexes have made distribution easy, allowing talented young directors to experiment with more contemporary themes.

Meanwhile, with Vishwabharati’s monopoly on Tagore’s works gone, there is more experimentation with his songs—something that would have got legends like the late Debabrata Biswas into trouble. With that has come the rise of Bangla Rock and Jeeban Mukhi gaan (New Age songs) breaking the century-old stranglehold of cliched Rabindra Sangeet renditions.

Modern Bengali cinema, however, steers clear of politics. That still remains the domain of theatre. And the Group Theatre movement is still alive though not kicking. Penury ­ensures it is surviving purely on passion and commitment and shoestring budgets. Bengali theatre is unable to attract the kind of well-heeled ­audience that alternative theatre gets in Bombay, Bangalore, and Delhi. The Academy of Fine Arts, near Victoria Memorial—that long preceded Prithvi and NCPA in Mumbai or Kamani and IHC in Delhi—is in poor shape. The state of other public auditoriums is as pathetic and the single-screen halls are languishing.

The theatre fraternity had openly come out in support of Poriborton. Now they are a disillusioned lot. In future, the plays of Badal Sircar will probably be watched more in translations outside Bengal than in Calcutta.

Last Month 

Calcutta Biriyani—arguably the best—is a favourite of political ­workers. Last month, there was a long queue at the Royal India Hotel in Chitpore, as they were packing biriyani boxes for local party offices.

Article first published in +OutlookMagazine Click on this to read

TAGS: #FOOD & #BEVERAGES,  ASSEMBLY #ELECTIONS,  SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES,  #LEFT FRONT,  #TRINAMOOL CONGRESS

Lost in translation

Article first published in +Medium (click here)


Every-time I pick up a book of acclaimed international authors, ho have won global recognition, sometime the Nobel or other prestigious literary awards from around the world – be it Murakami, Pamuk or Kundera – even Marquez – a feeling of regret besets on me thinking of the many Indian language (now fashionably called “bhasha”) authors who have lost out due to the sheer lack of good translation.

Tagore himself has been the victim of some terrible translations (often his own – which sometime were worse than what others did for his works). Some would believe owed his Nobel largely to his friends W B Yeats’ advocacy (Read: Why was Tagore so neglected ? By Ian Jack). The older translations are as stilted as the so called “Anglo-Indian” authors of earlier years. For example, Radha Chakravarty’s transcreation of Shesher Kobita is way superior to all previous ones.

In the post Tagore era – only in Bengali itself – there have been some phenomenal writers and poets who could have easily turned heads across continents – Bibhutibhushan (author of Pather Panchali – that Satyajit Ray made a world phenomenon with his debut film), Tarashankar, Buddhadev Bose – even a Samaresh Basu, Sunil Gangopadhyay. My heart aches when Bengali youngsters quote Neruda but haven’t read Sakti Chattopadhyay.

People refuse to believe Sankar (Mani Shankar Mukherjee)’s Chowringhee – which many think was a take of on Arthur Hailey’s best-seller Hotel – was actually written and published (in 1962) a good 3 years ahead of Hotel (1965). Now translated by Arunava Sinha – it has caught attention of the world – receiving laudatory reviews in international publications like The Economist, Independent and others.

I am sure – there are several such undiscovered gems and jewels buried deep in the archives of other Indian languages. It is only recently that serious translators like Arunava (Sinha) and Vivek Shanbhag (Kannada) are emerging – who can do justice to the originals. Competent translations is only the first step. But, they have to be marketed too. One must acknowledge the contribution of commissioning editors like Chiki Sarkar – who brought translations of Indian language writers under the radar of Penguin Random House, HarperCollins India and other major international publishing houses. The challenge, however, lies elsewhere. One is not sure – about the quality of writing happening today in the regional space. Present generation prefer to write in English because of wider marketability and many low hanging prizes – not just the Booker.

Still if works of the old masters – many of them nothing short of classics – can travel beyond the Indian shores it would be a great tribute – even posthumously – to Indian Language literature.

Repackaging Lohia or Lenin won't get AAP far

  

More column centimetres and TV talk-time have been consumed in analysing the AAP victory in Delhi.  Probably, there will soon be a slew of book launches chronicling the rise of the common-man’s messiah Arvind Kejriwal.  Predictably – there is already talk of AAP spreading its wings to other parts of the country. Some feel – Mumbai is ripe for picking with a similar “urban revolution” and AAP should seriously target the BMC polls next year – while others think they will be better off prospecting in election bound Bihar and West Bengal.

Personally, I am sceptical of the national scalability of the AAP model   - especially under its present leadership and ideologues. It’s entirely possible, having surprised in Delhi they can always find the magic formula and pull off miracles in other parts of the country too.  However, with its roots in the IAC (India Against Corruption) Movement - AAP’s main plank so far has been anti-corruption (essentially at a petty level) and empowerment of the Aam Aadmi.  Whereas, BJP – under Modi has been playing the development and governance cards (the latter includes eliminating large-scale institutionalised corruption or scams as seen during the UPA regime). In my judgement, the 2 are somewhat different “positioning”, in political marketing terms, which may not hold equal appeal in all places and situations.

In an affluent city-state like Delhi – the concerns are more civic amenities, administration, law and order, petty corruption and cost of living. Development (“Vikas” as it were) though important is not an immediate crying need. People tired of the corrupt old political class wanted a breath of fresh-air. However, the same may not be the case in a state like West Bengal and Bihar – where people are desperately trying to cope with basic challenges of survival. There the crying need is economic development, employment and income generation opportunity - essentially call for a better future and standard of living. Issues like corruption – probably – come one step up on the Maslow hierarchy - when people are struggling to keep the body and soul together.

I found it telling,  in Delhi – the youth swung en-masse towards AAP. Come to think - this is the constituency that had overwhelmingly supported Modi in the Lok Sabha elections.  Throughout  his campaign – Modi was talking to the younger generation and even on the day of voting –  he tweeted urging  young voters to come out in large numbers. Vote they did – but not for his party. I would attribute this to the fact that – the younger generation in Delhi (whether they are locals or have come in from other parts of the country for education or employment) don’t have to worry about their next square meal. They are in Delhi because the city already offers them greater economic opportunity  than other places. Therefore, their concerns are different and of a higher order than their counterparts in Calcutta or Patna – when after completing school or college youngsters have to pack their bags for Delhi, Bombay , and Bangalore for higher education or in search of a job.

Bihar has already seen large-scale social re-engineering thanks to the Lohia-ites, though the jury is still out on whether Caste still prevails over development – in what is arguably the last remaining BIMARU state. But, in Bengal – the so called empowerment of the “proletariat” has no novelty factor.  People have seen a lot of it first under the Left Front and now under the Government of Ma, Mati and Manush. To them AAP will be yet another “peoples’ party” by a new name.  The ordinary Bengali is tired of slogans – they now wish to see delivery of real economic progress, industrialisation and employment – to secure the future of the next generation.

This is not to make a case for the rise of the BJP in West Bengal – especially after Mamata Banerjee has one 2 important by-polls with a thumping majority – quashing rumours of dissension within her party and disenchantment of voters.  It has also shown the Muslims are still unwilling to align with BJP. To make a decisive shift – BJP has to break into the core vote-bank of Trinamool, which won’t be easy.  

But, for AAP - to gain a toe-hold in Bengal or Bihar, it will have to radically reinvent itself. Merely repackaging Lohia or Lenin won’t get them too far.

Article first published in Swarajya: Click here to read