Kolkata Confidential

Home insecure home
Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’ s consistent refusal to shift from his Palm Avenue residence to a safer and bigger house has become a headache for the security agencies. With the chief minister being the target of Maoists and other terrorist organisations,those responsible for his security say that providing tight security to Bhattacharjee is an impossible task.

“There are altogether eight flats at Palm Avenue housing complex where the CM stays. You cannot impose much restriction on the movement of other residents. For the chief minister we provide as much security. Thereafter,it’s a matter of luck for the chief minister,” said a senior official.

Even during the last meeting of the committee,which reviews the security perception of VIPs,it was recommended that the chief minister change his residence as early as possible. But all in vain.

Cool mall
With powercuts plaguing Salt Lake,residents of the township have found innovative ways to escape the scorching heat. And City Centre,the popular mall of the township,seems to be the answer to all their prayers.

“Whenever things get unbearable I head for the mall for window shopping. The air-conditioned stores offer respite at least for some time,” says Manjula Sen,a homemaker who has been a resident of Salt Lake for the past three years. The shop owners aren’t complaining either.

“Most window shoppers come back to buy things so we have no problem with them,” says Rahul Sen,owner of a garment shop. But it’s the kiosk owners who are making a killing.

“In the past few weeks our sales have almost doubled,” says Raju Kanoi an employee of an icecream stall in the mall.

Multinational India!
It’s difficult to see Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee,a self-proclaimed fan of T S Eliot,speaking wrong English. But perhaps the failed attempt to industrialise Bengal is weighing heavily on him.

At the recently concluded Kolkata-Kerala festival,Bhattacharjee called Kolkata and India ‘multinational’.

“We live in a multinational country. We should believe in unity in diversity,” he said. Multinational!

We get it chief minister.

Tough queries bite?
Author Arundhati Roy had to face tough questions at a recent press conference in Kolkata over the acts of violence committed by the Maoists. When asked whether she condemns the massacre of CRPF personnel at Dantewada,she replied: “Condemning has become a politically motivated gesture to avoid looking into the whole picture about what is going on.” So when some mediapersons put a straight question asking why she defends the Maoists who kill ordinary people everyday in Lalgarh,the Booker Prize winner screamed,“Please stop heckling me,otherwise I will have to leave this place.”

Peerless comments
Mediapersons and photo journalists had a heady day covering the mob attack on Peerless Hospital,but inside the hospital,some staff members were giving some of the best one liners. Take this for example: “It was an artistic destruction. Everything was broken and shattered with precision”. Another gem — “I am sad they didn’t even leave the aquariums. Many costly fish died.” Surely one has to say Peerless employees are a league apart.

Heroic woes
THE alleged heckling of Trinamool MPs and Union ministers — Sultan Ahmed and Mukul Roy two Trinamool — by CPM men in Sashan in North 24-Parganas,has not earned them the sympathy of their party colleagues. At a recent meeting held at Mamata Banerjee’s residence,the issue was brought up,but the ministers received cold shoulders. According to party insiders,the police had requested the MPs to take a detour,as local CPM cadres were holding a procession,but the minister duo remained adamant and asked the convoy to move through the procession. “They wanted to become heroes. Then they themselves instigated the mob by shouting at them,” said a senior MP of Trinamool.

CPM makes hay
CPM leader Basudeb Acharia was much relieved to see that most of the Trinamool Congress MPs were absent when Parliament reconvened last week. For the past 10 months,his voice in the Lok Sabha has been drowned by protests and comments from Trinamool MPs. So last week,Acharia had a field time as he attacked the Trinamool,supported by Left MPs from Kerala. He took the opportunity to take a jibe at his political rivals,saying “how to deal with Maoist supporters in the Cabinet?”