Pride, party and pice

Reading Kuldip Nayar’s autobiography – Beyond the Lines (Roli Books) now.  Nayar is the sort of person – even whose best friends would find it difficult to understand the reasons for his rise to such fame.  His writing style is lackluster. He doesn't have the intellectual depth of say – B G Verghese, erudition of Sham Lal or even Khushwant Singh’s knowledge of history. His gossipy tidbits and juicy nuggets often appear as part conjecture and part concoction to be consumed with a large dollop of salt (he admits to having manufactured an 'interview' with Sheikh Abdullah, since the Sheikh had refused to say anything on record about the Emergency. His story of Narasimha Rao sitting at a Puja, while the Babri Masjid was being demolished is, at best, fantastic and his insinuations about foulplay in Shastri's death is plain grist for the rumor mill). He indulges in sweeping generalizations (Bengalis are “anti-centre” – we  are anti-everything!!), is an indefatigable namedropper and has deep personal prejudices (has something unkind to say about almost every one he has mentioned in the book and no qualms about getting even with his friends and contemporaries).  

To me – he was more of a reporter (than an editor or journalist) – who managed to position himself at the right time with the right people at the right place –   and obviously thrived on his ‘connections’ (including that of his in-laws, the Sachars. Old Congress stalwart Bhim Sen Sachar was his father-in-law and Justice Rajinder Sachar author of the famous Sachar Report is his ‘saala’). By his own account, he comes across as a bit of a 'political animal' too. He doesn't make any secret of trading in favours and takes pride in his purported back-room political dealings. He claims to have "helped" Lal Bahadur Shastri become PM ( Pg 262 -  why blame poor Barkha Dutt trying to put in a word for A Raja ?) Another reason for his success, perhaps, was that, he wrote for the lowest common denominator of the newspaper audience. For his time, he was relatively affluent too (house in plush Vasant Vihar). His book on the Emergency – 'The Judgment' – was an instant best-seller and riding on its popularity he was one of the first Indian journalists to syndicate his column (even before Khushwant Singh, I think). In short, he was an older edition of Shekhar Gupta, no wonder Gupta once referred to him as a “guru” (only to later axe his column from the Express).

Take it with these caveats and you might even enjoy this mildly salacious commentary on the history of post-independence India - seen with tinted (green not sepia) glasses and written with an obtusely slanted pen.  Though, I wish the editing of the book was a little more competent (habeas corpus is spelt as ‘habius corpus’ - pg 240) knowing that language isn't Nayar's strongest suit.

Is the Party over ?

Like every July 21^st, this year too Mamata brought Calcutta to a grinding halt with Trinamool’s annual show of strength - the “Shahid Divas” rally (Kolkata's pain in Party's gain). All arteries of the city – including the Howrah Bridge – were choked with over 5 lakh people pouring in from all over the state. In contrast, the CPIM had organized a rally  of nearly a million cadres on February 19^th , which was a picture of organization and discipline.  At yesterday’s meeting Mamata famously declared the Trinamool Congress’ decision to go it alone in the state, while still continuing to remain a part of the UPA at the Centre.

Mamata had clearly overplayed her cards on the Presidential Elections in opposing Pranab Mukherjee’s only to eat her own humble pie later on – after being ditched by her new found brother Mulayam.  She’s now stuck in an unenviable position where she can’t leave the UPA nor join the NDA – her so called ‘indispensability’ having been seriously compromised with the Samajwadi Party extending support to the UPA (without formally joining it, yet) and even Mayawati maintaining a neutral  - politically expedient- posture. It’s almost as if she’s begging to be kicked out of the house but Sonia is just extending her agony by not obliging.

Prior to this she faced the minor set-backs in the Municipality Polls (where of all Trinamool lost in Haldia) and the Singur case against Tata Motors.

Will these reverses sober her down a little? I think so. And, that might actually augur well for West Bengal as she is forced to focus on governance and development of the state. It's time to stop partying and start work.

Pice Hotel

Don’t know what’s the origin of the name “Pice Hotel” –  Siliguri is full of them.  ‘Kalpana’ is still the most famous but its quality has gone down in recent times I am told.  So on this trip, I was taken to Usha Hotel on Jalpai Mor. Lovely Mourola Maccher Jhol, Aad Maccher Jhaal and Shorshe Iilish. The Aad was really fresh and, I was told, comes from Katihar. The Iilsh is of Padma  smuggled across the border. Though very nice, the best of the season is yet to come.  

Next stop will be “Chalachal”  known for its Mangsho Bhaat.  A friend on Twitter (@deep_anchor) has recommended Jajabar Hotel on Teesta Bank in Jalpaiguri (specialty - Chitol). But, the place I am waiting to go is ‘Popular Hotel’ in Falakata, near Dhupguri – which by many accounts has the most outstanding ‘imported’ Iilish from Bangladesh.

P.S Another Twitter friend @filmichef thinks “Pice” has its etymological roots in Rice – as these were originally cheap “Bhaater Hotel”. Pice could also be a variation of paisa - writes @geffbeck - indicating you could get a meal for a few paisa here. Remember the adage 'one pice father - mother' ?  Or pice could also have come from piece - as you pay by the piece (usually fish). A number of my FB friends affirm the 'paisa' theory  ("ek poisha ye pet bhorti khabar"). 

Gorkhaland Express

Telengana Protestors

In a comment on one of my older blog posts  - the Siliguri Connection (click here to read) a correspondent wrote – that Siliguri should claim its status as a city-state like Chandigarh by the time Gorkhaland is formed (which – according to him or her is only a matter of time). My first reaction – probably emanating from my latent main-land arrogance and Bengali chauvinism - was to dismiss it as a flippant and tongue-in-cheek remark like many friends and readers of my blog are prone to (especially, when posting anonymously). But, then it got me thinking.

Maha - heartburns

Though I have a decent working knowledge of modern Indian history – as any average educated Indian – I have never quite fathomed the under-currents of sub-nationalism that seem to drive the demand for smaller states. I have read and heard – how the linguistic division of the states post independence was an artificial creation. Having lived in Maharashtra for a better part of my life – I have known about the  Marathi heartburn over the loss of Belgaum to Karnataka. But, frankly the extent of underlying emotions  arising out of denial of state identity didn’t quite register on me.  I always thought, it was the politicians jostling to create their own fiefdoms within a democratic set up.

With Kashmir weighing heavily upon our psyche, splintering of the 7 sisters of the North-east and Khalistan – at one time – looking close to the realms of possibility – we have somehow been conditioned to think of any demands for new states as signs of secessionism. We were inclined to put the original demand for Gorkhaland in the same bracket. The making of the 3 new small states of Uttarakhand, Chattisgarh and Jharkhand was also seen more as an exercise of political expediency.

teaching 'em to count

So – when Mayawati declared her intention to split UP into 4 smaller states, our initial reactions were understandably cynical. Certainly, it was a political masterstroke. As a Tweeple wit remarked – before Rahul Gandhi could come to terms with one UP, she created 4 – enough for him to lose count. But, deeper reflection would reveal greater sense beneath her apparently whimsical sleight of hand. After all, what does Uttar Pradesh mean – the inimitable sociologist Ashish Nandy asked in a TV debate. While naming the erstwhile Central provinces – Madhya Pradesh could be attributed to a simple lack of creativity, to christen United Provinces as Uttar Pradesh was bereft of any rationale.

of Maha - Rashtras

That brings me to my favourite party quiz question in Mumbai: Why is Maharashtra called Maharashtra? The real reason – as once explained to a senior colleague of mine – Nirmal Sinha – by a  Marathi Trade Union Leader – is not what the Thackeray Tiger would have us believe (Maha – as in great – rashtra) but “Mahadev (or Shiva)’s Rashtra”. That’s because – it seems 8 out of the 12 Jyotirlingas of Shiva were located in the greater Bombay State ( Somnath, Dwarka, Ujjain, Bhimashanker, Trimbakeshwar, Sri Sailam Mallikarjuna, Omkareshwar, Grijhneshwar). It’s another matter that 4 of them now fall outside of Maharashtra ( in Gujarat, MP and Andhra).

So is it any surprise that, the young Scindia scion – on coming to Mumbai tries to claim his Maratha roots by speaking a smattering of Marathi ?

But, the bigger question is - if by carving out Maharashtra we nixed the identity of the Marathi speaking people around the region.

and, minor - rashtras

Now whether Bundelkhand should include parts of MP as well will be decided in the course of time. But, the question that is boiling is Telengana and can’t be put off much longer. There is little justification of denying Telengana statehood in the face of such over-pouring emotions and political angst and to hold Hyderabad as a pawn in the negotiations is absolutely ludicrous, in my judgment – with due deference to the retired judge whose charming wife light-heartedly says he is a better flirt than a jurist (who said I am not afraid of libel !!).

little donuts

One of my favourite authors, Charles Handy, had in a management context talked of the “Donut Principle”. It basically means, people can identify themselves best at two levels. So you can be a Bengali and an Indian – but not a Bengali, Eastern Indian and Indian (debunking our old proclivity to term any one south of the Vindhyas as South Indians and everyone in the cow belt – North Indians). So, it is difficult to impose artificial regional identities on ethno-culturally heterogeneous communities.

Though I won’t go as far as my former editor boss – who advocates breaking up of South Asia into independent small states – a la the European Union - but with a common national cricket team (where Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh will be allowed to have their own cricket teams and Nepal can have the status of Switzerland, retaining their own currency), I think  a further devolution is inevitable and already evident in the emergence of regional parties that have come to stay.

An article by B G Varghese puts some of the issues in a balanced framework (Better and more beautiful)

Meanwhile, I will be waiting for Siliguri to become the Chandigarh of the East.

The Siliguri connection

Calcutta still manages to throw up a few pleasant surprises. Sealdah station was one of them. Was there last week to board the Darjeeling Mail for a team meeting at Siliguri (NJP). The new platform was so much more cleaner than Howrah. It’s far less crowded and even at the entrance one could find place for parking a car.

West Bengal is probably the only large state in the country that never had a second large urban center to boast of. Older District Towns like Burdawan, Behrampore, Malda had long passed into irrelevance. And, Bidhan Roy’s vision for creating alternate industrial centers and satellite townships (like Durgapur and Kalyani) to take the pressure off Calcutta – never fructified in the hands of successive governments.

Siliguri redeems this reputation to some extent – though’ more by default than anything else. Without any real manufacturing industry to boast of (despite the Left Front Governments half-baked attempts to create industrial zones such as Dabgram) and tea being on a decline, it has really thrived on dubious cross border trade through Bangladesh and Nepal.

But, it was nice to see some signs of economic resurgence. For a long time – The Sinclairs was the only livable hotel in town. Now, it has a smart new 4 Star – The Royal Sarovar. 2 large malls and multiplexes have come up. But, the real eye-opener was a 400 acre gated community – Uttarayan – very tastefully laid out over what once used to be a tea garden.

But, the Bagdogra airport is a shame. It’s the second of the only 2 commercial airport in the state and as the gateway to the entire North Bengal, Sikkim and Bhutan it has a sizeable traffic – a large number of them being foreign tourists. Now with the advent of the low-cost airlines – the number of flights have gone up exponentially. It has only one X-Ray Machine at the security and only 2 boarding gates. As it’s essentially a Defence Airport – commercial flights operate only around noon time – when it turns out to be a veritable mess – not entirely unexpected considering that Calcutta is only a shade better. The Dhaba kind of atmosphere and food in the airport cafeteria run by the Employees’ Co-operative (in true Marxist style) completes the picture.

The Darjeeling Mail itself was a nice experience. The AC I coach was one of the best I have traveled on - in recent times. New and well kept – the beddings were laundry fresh and the toilets in great shape. We were some 11 of us together crammed inside a 4 berth coupe – gorging on fried chilly chicken from Chung-Wah over Old Monk and Whiskey – followed by Kasha-Mangsho and Rooti.

The weather in Siliguri is still very pleasant in the evenings – slightly nippy but not sharply cold any longer. Just right for a grand meal of Chitol Maacher Peti, Mourola Maccher Chocchori, Chyapa Shutki’r bharta (sourced from a local restaurant called ‘Bong Connection’) in the open terrace - warmed up by generous doses of distilled spirits.

These are moments when you feel – life’s not so bad after all – even in an impoverished state. So you tell yourself – stop cribbing and enjoy what you have !!



Read related Blog: Gorkhaland Express (by clicking here)