Kolkata Confidential

Long stay and aquick exit
When Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee visited Calcutta Medical College and Hospital on Thursday for its 175th year celebration,he made it a point to stay there till the culmination of the function. After spending around an hour along with the State Health Minister,Bhattacharjee was almost ready to leave the dais assuming that the programme was over. But soon he was reminded that the crucial part of the programme was still left. He quickly sat down and waited for the crucial part,the college anthem and the National Anthem. But as soon as the anthems got over,the CM left dais even as others were trying to catch their breath.

Abode for Basu’s memories
Following the controversy over selecting the site for setting up a memorial museum on veteran Marxist leader Jyoti Basu’s life,the CPM has decided to set up the museum on its own. State Urban Development department has refused the proposal to set up the museum at Indira Bhawan,a government guesthouse where Basu lived for the past 21 years. On Friday,CPM leader Biman Bose said the museum will come up in Kolkata,and the party is looking for a suitable site in the city.

A different ball game altogether
Football officials in Kolkata,it seems,can’t give up on their old habits. Going slow seems to have become synonymous with the Indian Football Association (IFA) that organises the Calcutta Football League (CFL). With the tournament now stuck in a quagmire — the premier division of the CFL,which started in October,is yet to enter the middle stage — the IFA is trying to find a new excuse everyday to wash its hands off the real problem. A former footballer came up with an interesting explanation. “The IFA reminds me of the Left Front government of the 1980s when the state used to blame the Centre for every bad thing,including the waterlogged roads of Kolkata. Perhaps the IFA bigwigs are more bureaucratic than a bureaucrat!”

Food but without thought
After the judge of a fast-track court awarded life sentence to Prabhu Shankar Agarwal,the owner of Haldiram’s Bhujiwala last week,the group of lawyers standing inside the courtroom seemed to be the most elated lot. “We have got a very good scope to earn money. This is the reason why the lawyers,including the defence counsel of Agarwal,twisted the case in such a way that he got life term. Now,the case will go to the High Court where Agarwal will hire minimum 7 to 8 lawyers. We will get the chance to loot the food baron,” a lawyer was heard saying.

Some laddoos and chitchat
The inmates of Amdani ward in Alipore Central Jail had an opportunity to tickle their taste buds on Saturday night,courtesy bhujia king Prabhu Shankar Agarwal,who has been awarded life imprisonment in an attempt to murder case. After he was lodged in the ward,he shared a few laddoos with the inmates. The entire night he chatted with the inmates who were happy to find a food baron in their midst.

Unfairly mismanaged
The Kolkata Book Fair,which is known to attract millions of book lovers,is being talked more for its mismanagement than its books,this year. From the chief minister to the stall owners,everyone has raised eyebrows on the mismanagement — poor electric supply and equally bad infrastructure. Not only this,the mismanagement on the part of organisers could be gauged from this single faux pas. Asked about the food court at the Mexico pavilion,a senior official of Book Seller’s and Publishers’ Guild replied,“Yes,we had to organise this. We have completely forgotten about it. But the very next day,the same official had to eat his own words and say that cooking cannot be allowed on the fair ground.

Trail of books,oops! food
Continuing with the book fair,the only stalls that are easy to locate in the horribly chaotic boi mela this year are those that serve food. Yes,the food stalls are most easy to locate,and the quickest way to do is by following the trail of discarded paper plates. The trail of used paper plates will lead to either the Benfish stall or poush parbon stall where the puli pithey was a great hit with visitors. But couldn’t the stall owners do anything to stop people from littering? “We have placed garbage bins outside our stalls but no one seems to care,” said Sambhu,a stall owner. But then Kolkatans were never really known for their civic sense. Were they?

City of power failures
When the lights go out,you know you are in Kolkata. That’s the kind of reputation the city seems to have earned after its latest appointment with powercuts — the venue this time being the ongoing Kolkata Book Fair. After two days of sporadic power failures that already left hundreds of visitors fuming,the annual fair was plunged into near complete darkness on Sunday evening. The incident brought back fresh memories of the recent blackout at Eden Garden. No wonder Sunday’s power failure at the book fair did not surprise everyone,as they know — the bigger the occasion,more is the chance of a power failure.

Missing bhadro in lok
Veteran actress-cum-activist Shabana Azmi had to go through an embarrassing moment while visiting the book fair. An over enthusiastic mediaperson stunned the actress and those present at the press conference by asking her age. To the question,“How old are you?” Azmi promptly replied,“As old as I look.” The reporter,however,persisted and told her that she didn’t get his question and said,“I want to know your age.” Visibly red-faced organisers had to shut him up and hurriedly escorted the actress out of the venue.

Truly,a rainbow crowd
An organisation that works for awareness about homosexuality had to face a tough time in selling its newsletters to visitors at the fair. While most of the visitors (read middle-class Bengalis) obliged stoically,a few were seen walking away from the volunteers of the organisation,as if they would miss a flight. “Most people were nice,but some ran away like we are going to bite them. Some said they were horrified that we could talk about such things in public,” laughed a volunteer.