Will the real Bengali please stand up! - Urges Author Sreemoyee Piu Kundu
Will the real Bengali please stand up! - Urges Author Sreemoyee Piu Kundu
Cyclone Amphan has devasted West Bengal – not just with the loss due to destruction, but one of the most culturally prosperous states of India is annoyed with the nation’s apathetic reaction to the widespread devastation caused by Amphan that hit on Wednesday.
One of the fiercest cyclones so far has recorded nearly 100 deaths and the number is expected to increase after the authorities assess the damage.
Along with Covid-19 pandemic, the state has been unfortunate to witness such devastation. Amid all this, residents of the state are expressing their disappointment towards the scant reaction of the Union government and national media. The state is feeling ignored at this need of the hour by the rest of the country. The state is not happy with the Union government’s Rs. 1000 crore package for the cyclone. It is said to be insufficient and just a fraction of the amount that Centre owes to West Bengal.
Noted Author and Activist, Sreemoyee Piu Kundu who belongs to Kolkata has expressed her disappointment not just with the media, but also many from the Indian film industry, sportsmen, authors and fashion fraternity.
Here’s her post on Facebook that she had posted today.
I have worked and lived in three cities of New Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore and in almost every city, and in the professions I was associated with - journalism (print), PR and books - almost every organisation was headed by a Bengali, with roots in Kolkata.
Almost all of them are on social media. Since I mostly use Facebook and Instagram, I know a lot of them are extremely active and opinionated and vocal, too.
And yet, despite all their lofty connections that don't we just love bragging about in all our swish living rooms, despite, all their exuberance about Kolkata, the city of their birth and education, and, some, even first jobs and in-laws and relatives - their lengthy and decadent winter vacations, their Calcutta Club pictures over slim, cucumber sandwiches and finely brewed Assam cha, their fancy Lit fest debuts/outings and starry pictures hobnobbing with Amitav Ghosh and Jhumpa Lahiri (nowhere to be seen, off late) - and poster boy/girls of Bong intelligentsia, their opulent weddings in rich, gaudy Baluchari's and intricately woven jamdani's - the Parineeta and Devdas allegories - the Sandesh and Rosogolla swearing, football fanatical, Baichung Bhutia and Sunil Chettri worshipping - the North Calcutta heritage walking - the boasting of being 'bonedi,' (elite) during Durga Puja, especially, which is when our DNA explodes with a primordial pride - flaunting faded photographs of crumbling marble mansions in dingy North Kolkata lanes and antique Victorian paintings - the bragging of being from Jadavpur and Presi and Loretta House and La Marts and St. James and Don Bosco - the canteen addas and first loves and fiery student unions throwbacks - the Bengali Associations, that they then found and join and win elections and organise picnics and Poila Boishakh feasts in, over crunch fish fry and Feluda, overseas and outside your state - the in your face, Probashi parivar - the ones who always attend weddings and drop in for funerals (to claim inheritances) and to either sign off their ancestral homes to prosperous Marwari or Punjabi builders or to take their one surviving parent with them or buy them a real fancy apartment in a high rise that is a great investment for their hard earned dollars or a neat retirement facility, that won't land them in embarrassment about being selfish, opportunistic children, later. After all, their parents, when younger were the cheapest child support and daycare, right?
Don't we just love Bong moms, especially!
I ask, this evening as I sit in the fading light of a flickering candle, where they are all now?
Where is our resonant Korbo-Lorbo-Jitbo, spiel and sloganeering?
Why their only vocalisation of grief and shock at the carnage that is now Kolkata is limited to sharing pictures of devastation or pining for Pujas - that are almost six months later.
Why they are interested in fund-raising through their large MNC's that basically bring CSR glory to the corporation and probably brownie points in their official positions & asking which is a credible organisation to donate money to?
Ramkrishna Mission or CM's Relief Fund?
Why they haven't pulled out all stops to get celebs, politicians and sportspeople - the three Z class heroes in India, who pull weight, any weight, frankly, to actually do something for Bengal?
Where is Saurav Ganguly? Our great Dada, who's touted as the future CM, clearly when the BJP wins, here?
Someday.
Oneday.
Where is SRK- our glorious brand ambassador who air kisses passionately and strides in Eden Gardens?
Amitabh Bachchan who croons the Tagore anthem - Jodi Tor Dak Shune - whose wife is a Bengali?
Vidya Balan, Shabana Azmi, Rakhee Gulzar, her daughter, Meghna Gulzar - those who swear by Kolkata and love being identified as Bengali - it's their second home, as we have all read in various interviews.
Where are singers Shreya Ghoshal, Kumar Sanu, Babul Supriyo (who is a fixture on TV debates, defending his party), Shaan, Abhijeet, Monali Thakur, music directors, Shantanu Moitra and Pritam who hog the limelight on dance reality and music shows on Bangla channels, all the time?
Where is the legendary Amit Kumar, son of Kishore Kumar and Bappi Lahiri!
Bappi Da, c'mon, guys.
Where is Mithun Da?
Where is Abhijeet Banerjee, the economist, the Nobel laureate, who is on a dime a dozen webinars and also apparently helping this Government. The state gave him and his wife a hero's welcome - the CM paid her obeisance to his ageing mother, too.
Where is Amartya Sen?
He's an authority on the financial fate of Bengal, right?
Don't we love quoting him!
Feminists, how about, Sushmita Sen, who posts her #duggadugga with every Insta post and is cordially invited by women's organisations in the city and showered the red carpet.
Where are film directors, Shoojit Sarkar whose career got a huge facelift, thanks to Piku, where he milked his Bangaliana or Sujoy Ghosh whose film Kahaani used Kolkata as a brilliant backdrop - apart from Tweeting - why can't they join hands - along with Rani Mukherji, Kajol and so many other affluent and top-grade celebs to bring a depleted state funds? Organise a concert? Go speak to respective State heads and try and get relief.
Where are writers married to Bongs - Shobhaa De who has so many popular columns in top dailies? Where are lit fest organisers - there are more than three in this city, as we speak, all backed by big corporates/newspaper conglomerates?
Where are the Jaipur Literature Fest, junta, people?
The fashion fraternity?
Has Sabyasachi Mukherjee whose collections are rose-tinted with Bangaliana and remembrances of his middle class upbringing, lead from the front along with other designers, some who may live in Delhi, now, but started their careers, here, like Ritu Kumar?
So many in Kolkata, too.
Also, most top media houses are either owned/run by Bong head honchos/Resident Editors/Channel heads - are they sleeping, now? Or have they chosen the eternal Bong cynicism - classified as 'aatlami.'
Same goes for top corporates, and, as I reiterate, almost every profession?
Why not each one stand up for this State?
Not as a CEO, or, a celeb or a famous person, this time.
But like a child. Rushing to help a mother, a sister, a father, anyone...
I am questioning all these high and mighty Bongs who live afar and asking them - what is the colour of your conscience?
I am asking this, because I left at 20 and was back at 40.
And, may have been guilty of this long distance, superficial concern, too, at some point. Simply because it was convenient or because I was far removed from a poor, politically damaged, once upon a time!
I ask, where all the writers and publishing house chiefs - so many of them are connected to rich and political families in Kolkata - have you tried...tried helping someone, personally?
Who's not your kin.
This state, this race, our city, doesn't need good wishes and virtual prayers and fancy fundraisers and forwards of CESC numbers and KMC helplines - this is a natural disaster, yes, but more than that, a gnawing and spiralling human tragedy.
There are over 3197 affected from Covid, already.
259 are dead already in Bengal.
More are being tested positive, as I speak.
Relief centres for Amphan are packed like sardines.
There are homeless, jobless, hungry migrant workers coming back in droves.
They are sleeping on trees in Purulia.
We shared the photo, didn't we?
We need heroes.
But of flesh and blood, this time.
Stop selling us your Bengali pedigree and abhijatto and cultural and cerebral proficiency, if you don't have the moral courage to extend your humanity, now.
And, for God's sake, stop with the looking forward rants on social media.
And pretty pictures of red and white shaka pola. And, Ashtami Dhunuchi Naach. And, Boi Mela. And Amitav Ghosh's Hungry Tide cross referencing.
Stop it, now.
Stop it, please!
Everything is faraway for us, here!
There are trees in our area that haven't been cleared since Thursday.
There are Covid positive cases, as we speak.
The electricity is off since Wednesday and no one has been able to reach KMC/CESC (we have the numbers and have tried and are trying).
We are buying water to wipe our bottoms.
We have run out of essentials.
Markets are either shut/obstructed with wires and fallen trees or glass and tin pieces.
Or the sellers are dead or missing.
We still haven't heard from our houses staff, for over 72 hours.
Sunderbans. North and South 24 Parganas and Midnapore are completely routed.
Lakhs are homeless.
Bodies are floating in muddy water.
Tigers. Tree tops. Birds. Bones. Wires. Waste.
It is all one for us.
And we need will and power and money and connections.
We need doing.
We need speaking.
We need influencing.
We need donations.
We need relief homes and clothes and food items and rations.
We need cash. We need conversations. We need coverage.
And not just from our Chief Minister or Prime Minister!
And so, and again, I ask.
And, ask, point black.
Will the real Bengali please stand up!
Will the real Bengali stop being such a spineless coward and a pimp of Dilliwalahs and a sophisticated sellout.
Will the real Bengali do something.
Be something!
The link of the post is https://www.facebook.com/sreemoyeepiu/posts/10157106728267751.
