Kolkata Confidential

Spawned by Hobsbawm
Prakash Karat has denied talking about CPM’s bleak prospects in the forthcoming Bengal polls during a telephone interview to renowned Marxist historian Eric Hobsbawm. Few comrades,however,are wondering in private how Hobsbawm talked about “local elections” if Karat made no mention of the same. The CPM general secretary is apparently arguing that he spoke to Hobsbawm in November last year and around that time by-polls were being held for 10 Assembly seats in Bengal. The argument being put forward in Karat’s defence is that the 92-year-old veteran historian might have spoken to him about those local elections or bypolls and not state Assembly elections as is being made out. It is still to be seen whether fellow comrades will buy this argument.

Unavailable,Karat’s ‘golden quotes’
Though CPM general secretary Prakash Karat has denied making any adverse comment about the party to Left historian Eric Hobsbawm,a section of CPM leaders in Bengal are disappointed that they have not been able to read the historian’s controversial article that carried Karat’s quotes. “The magazine is not easily available in Kolkata. I tried to read the article on the Internet,but failed,” said a senior CPM leader. The article had appeared in the UK-based magazine The Left Review. “We actually don’t know what Hobsbawm has actually written and what Karat actually said. We are still in the dark,” said the leader.

After errors,babus in Mamata terror
The discovery of some embarrassing mistakes in her recent Rail Budget speech is learnt to have earned several officials the ire of Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee. In her speech,Mamata announced that two stations on the Kolkata Metro network — Rash Behari and Park Circus — would be renamed after Bhagat Singh and Mother Teresa,respectively. Much to the embarrassment of the Railway Ministry,it was later pointed out that there was no station on the Kolkata Metro by the name Rash Behari,and that the Park Circus station the minister referred to was actually the Park Street station. It was later understood that Kalighat station,which is located on the Rash Behari Avenue crossing,was incorrectly referred to as the Rash Behari station. Worried officials at the Kolkata Metro swung into action immediately,sending out clarifications that there was no proposal to rename the Kalighat station,which draws its name from a famous Kali temple. In damage control mode,officials in Delhi,too,clarified that there was no move to rename the Kalighat station. The mercurial Didi was sure not amused by the goof-up and Railway Ministry mandarins are on tenterhooks over what could follow.

A monkey act altogether
A day after 18 monkeys were found dead in a swimming pool in North Bengal,forest officials were alerted by Army officers about some “suspicious behaviour” of the monkeys. The forest department officials rushed to the spot to observe the “suspicious behaviour” so that it could shed some light on the primates’ deaths. But after spending nearly a whole day staring at the monkeys,which were hopping from one tree branch to another,the forest officials concluded that there was nothing “suspicious” in their behaviour.

IPL’s light of hope for Eden
Darkness and Eden Gardens have become synonymous. Three months ago,when the stadium hosted an ODI between India and Sri Lanka,floodlights went out halting the match for 26 minutes. Then,during the India-South Africa Test,there was darkness at the break of noon as the sun played peek-a-boo with the cloud on the fourth day. Only 35 overs could be bowled,which delayed India’s victory march. Now,with the IPL Season 3 coming up,the Bengal cricket fraternity is keeping its fingers crossed and Jagmohan Dalmiya & Co has their task cut out.