This is how I’ll always remember Calcutta.. Kolkata..
A city full of smoke
A city full of traffic
A city without sidewalks
A city full of open drains
A city with overflowing buses
A city teeming with the poor..
A city without an industry..
A city in utter chaos
A city of lawlessness
A city of the unruly
A city without a rulebook
A city completely mismanaged
A city…. deep in slumber..
A city of content people though they want to complain..
A city that gave me an ENT ailment
A city without a future.. if people don’t wake up
These.. are not just my problems.. but of all those who live here, grumble and complain about things, and then become silent and carry on with their work as if nothing happened..
People need to wake up.. they need to do away with their “Cholche cholbe” attitude..
You are a citizen and hence have a right to a better life.. People need to question. It’s not like “I’m satisfied with what I get..”
It should be “I should get exactly what I deserve and nothing less..”
I admit, I myself don’t have a habit of practising what I preach.. but things can’t be done single-handedly.
People need to be united..
All said n done…. This is a city, which I’ll miss when I go away one day.. for what this city has given me in terms of friends.. is something for which I’ll be indebted to it forever….
A city full of smoke
A city full of traffic
A city without sidewalks
A city full of open drains
A city with overflowing buses
A city teeming with the poor..
A city without an industry..
A city in utter chaos
A city of lawlessness
A city of the unruly
A city without a rulebook
A city completely mismanaged
A city…. deep in slumber..
A city of content people though they want to complain..
A city that gave me an ENT ailment
A city without a future.. if people don’t wake up
These.. are not just my problems.. but of all those who live here, grumble and complain about things, and then become silent and carry on with their work as if nothing happened..
People need to wake up.. they need to do away with their “Cholche cholbe” attitude..
You are a citizen and hence have a right to a better life.. People need to question. It’s not like “I’m satisfied with what I get..”
It should be “I should get exactly what I deserve and nothing less..”
I admit, I myself don’t have a habit of practising what I preach.. but things can’t be done single-handedly.
People need to be united..
All said n done…. This is a city, which I’ll miss when I go away one day.. for what this city has given me in terms of friends.. is something for which I’ll be indebted to it forever….
yeah...u r right.bt everythng n ds world hs some pros & cons.thgh full of probs.........still kolkata remains kolkata..
ReplyDeleteNice post...I also agree with pratyush.keep penning ur thoughts.. :)
ReplyDeleteWell said Preetha.. I think I am not the right person to comment coz I believe the life being a roller-coaster ride.. u may scream and be thrilled or u may just sit back and see the things that surrounds you.. choice is yours. But yes things need to be a a LOT MORE organized and standard of living needs to be raised among all sections of people...
ReplyDeleteCome'on Mam**di ... we can do it!! :D
writing poems and getting philosophical..sumthing wrong in engineers brain...anywys that was nice and cute...
ReplyDeletecalcutta is in a downward spiral for quite some time now . and no one can stop it. kudos to the politicians who have filled this place with antisocials and the likes ....and made the those of us with an option wanting to jump ship.This city was never one with the best jobs or a city of the wealthy .... yet previously it used to be a city of the rich at heart... a city with decent people ...and a civil society .... hence inspite of compromising on better career options one chose to stay ... cause this city offered a peace of mind and security which few other placed in this country could ... This is no longer the scenario. Why should one stay and compromise one's career only for sentimental values. You , me and most others of our age group want to leave this place ...... We will always have an attachement cause this is where we grew up .... but CAlcutta of old is gone . The new avatar is a dengenerate soiety with imported cultures ... Thank the politicians for dragging cal to the gutters .... and making this City of Joy ... The City of unspoken apathy.
ReplyDelete@pratyush "kolkata remains kolkata"...total crap
ReplyDeleteabsolutely true.we need to change..kolkata must wake up and it is our duty to wake people up.we cannot jump ship..we hav to stay back here and take part in the process of social upliftment for all...at least i believe that change is possible..we need a political party with an ideolgy to serve the deprived masses(ideology should be marxism),a student front to garner the thoughts of freedom in the young generation,a cultural front to inspire the society and also a proper sports body and we need a radical change in the education system..process is huge but its not impossible and utopian..coz it has been scientifically proved that such a system can exist..all is not dark in kolkata while we must not be satisfied with the small patches of light we find here and there..we must stand up and bring about a change..we have to get involved in wat ever sphere of society we are comfortable with and bring a change.the basic reqirement..we must serve our society in watever way we can..only then can our society change..very good post coz it urges people to work for a change and just not wait for the change to happen(it will not change automatically or by any parlimentary political party)..that's the way to think and make others think..brilliant..plz post more thought provoking poems like this...
This is Somak.
ReplyDeleteIt can never be denied that what u'v said about kolkata is completely true.But almost every other metropolitan city of India faces similar problems,so why it is only kolkata who is getting all the blames?Try to find out the better sides of kolkata.I'm sure you will find so many that it'l be not at all tough for u to ignore the bad things.It is the city of Ray,Tagore,Writhik Ghatak,R.D.Burman,Shambhu Mitra and many other intellectuals who will always be enlightened in the cultural field of India.It is the only city where almost every halls are allotted for 365 days to host theatres,dramas and other cultural programs.Kolkata is the city which experiences the gathering of one lakh people in a football match,which is simply unthinkable in any other part of this country.
Kolkata is always a strong 'TORCH BEARER' of the culture of bengal,and it doesn't have any tradition of being a 'HIS MASTER'S VOICE'of fucking western culture like mumbai,delhi or bangalore.
And who said you that the people of kolkata don't know to protest?This city has a strong tradition of protesting against any evil work.Peolple of this city are never afraid of protesting against anyone,even against the govt.Recent issues like singur-nadigram,rizwanur or lalgarh are best examples of it.This spirit of the common people is rare in any part of India.
It is true,like any other major city,kolkata also contain some major problems.Bt still this is the city which gives us the warmth we search for.It is my city and i'l always love my 'CITY OF JOY'.
@somak
ReplyDeletebrilliantly said.. really i am proud to be ur frnd..its an honour..u really have faith in our culture and that's wat is the need of the hour..excellently written(fucking western culture..good)..the things u pointed out are the patches of light in our society which will push forward the upliftment of this state..absolutely true..just the names evoke a feeling of romanticism in us..Writhik ghatak,sambhu mitra,chuni goswami,kabir suman,salil chowdhury,utpal dutta,charu majumdar,saroj dutta..and many more
but one thing i disagree Govt is trying(and will) to incorporate western culture in us and dats a fact(disco,malls,multiplexes and also bollywood films have suddenly taken a vulgar turn which has to be copied back here by our teenagers)...Its self conscious people like u who will distance himself frm it but sadly the whole situation is not like that.That's y i pointed out that we need a cultural front to imbibe the cultural taste in us.also the golden history of our past gen must be brought to light by the media and films,theaters..kolkata is and has been a radical city protesting the atrocities here but i must admit the present intellectual front leaves a lot to be desired..does ne protest movement give the call for the creation of a new society??no...it must change...football in kolkata is sumthing xtraordinary but again the club officials are corrupt and love only money at the expense of club and die-hard fans..that must be changed big time...again i wud say we must not be satisfied with wat we have..we must make sure it spreads and reaches all levels and classes of our society..then we can call it the 'city of joy'..we can say so but wat abt the street dweller??will he say it is a 'city of joy'??no...we must carry frwd the legacy left behind by the IPTA..films made by w.ghatak and s.ray were of another class..surely tollywood needs a revamp of ideas(sadly it is going for commercial movies only)..scenario of theatre is good but a 'Winkle Twinkle' comes once in a hundred...so that should change...its not that we are totally in dark but the light must be spread and only then can we be proud to call ourselves resdidents of Kolkata..but as u said the other cities compared to kolkata is far behind..no doubt..but we cannot stop here..coz still lakhs of people go to bed without food(i kno this problem is also prevelant in delhi,mumbai,bangalore etc etc)..we must be united to usher in an era of freedom..we cud be the epicenter of change in india..i believe it coz of the multipe shades of talent prevailing in kolkata and its remarkable struggle against state sponsored terrorism...
Still it was very nice to find out that someone has remembered the golden age of calcutta..kolkata has the spirit and thats y we shud still dream and work for a change...
Exactly what do you think qualifies you to pronounce western culture " fucking" - and given that India has a billion- plus population, it's definitely us doing the fucking. Btw - you are not very articulate- possibly because it' a a western language.
ReplyDelete