Kolkata shows up for Mamata

KOLKATA: The mood was festive. Four giant screens at Shahid Minar were beaming live images of Mamata Banerjee's swearing in as chief minister, punctuated momentarily by faint guitar strummings by a choir. The sweltering mid-day heat notwithstanding, it was a sight none wanted to miss.
Durga Hembram was no different. An elderly 53-year-old, she sat rather alone, metres away from the crowd.She'd travelled early Friday morning from her Pandua home, went to office in AG Bengal and left by noon to catch the swearing-in. She could have done the same in her office, she says, but then she wanted to soak in the atmosphere. So she headed straight to Shahid Minar, chose a "vantage point" to sit and didn't remove her eyes from the giant television screens. She is a Mamata fan, she admits demurely, like her husband and three children. Rather reticent, Durga's face broke into a broad smile when Jhargram MLA Sukumar Hansda took his oath in Santhali. She left only after the national anthem was over with a satisfaction on her creased face.
At the other end of the Shahid Minar ground, an elderly trio was grabbing curious eyeballs. Sabuj Sarkar with his guitar broke into a song all rural folksongs intermittently. Without a microphone, his voice didn't reach all. But Sarkar wasn't complaining. With Babli Chakraborty and Ratna Ghosh, both former school teachers, they'd reached here from their Jadavpur homes early morning. An apolitical band Youth Choir a small background flex gave away their political leaning. "We're drawn towards the individual Mamata Banerjee. It isn't politics but her fighting spirit and never-give-up attitude which drew us towards her. A single woman without a godfather has turned adversities into opportunities and turned the tide. If this isn't inspiring what is?," says Sabuj.
These snippets were also witnessed at Metro channel. Sk Ismail Khan, a 70-year-old, had reached here from Metiabruz early morning. "Today is the culmination of a dream. Why would I miss it?" he said. Ashima Das, 53, wound up work at a small refrigeration firm she works in G.C.Avenue, early. En route to Sealdah to catch her train to Canning, she'd stopped over here. "It is a historic day today. I wouldn't miss it," she says. Ashima, however, adds as an afterthought. "The way she struggled has drawn all these people (pointing to the hundreds thronging Metro channel) has drawn towards her. She will do well, you see. She has been with people," she adds. She hurries to catch a bus, saying rather apologetically, "I have promised my children to cook a nice meal for dinner. I need to pick something up they'll be waiting."
The hour-and-a-half ceremony was perhaps Kolkata's most watched programme. Add to it, a dash of euphoria, a delayed Holi (with only green abir) and some harmless firecrackers, the celebrations were complete. The passion Mamata generated when she stood by the governor and uttered her oaths were witnessed across the city. Forty-year-old Babi Srivani, unable to walk after being crippled by polio in childhood, shouts a shrill, "I can even die for her." The momentary hush suddenly broken, Srivani couldn't control her tears. Speaking animatedly at a Trinamool party office in Harish Mukherjee Road, she says, "Hadn't it been for them (pointing to the party workers thronging the non-descript office) I couldn't have moved. They'd given me this wheelchair and it is life for me." Closest to Mamata's Kalighat home, Harish Mukherjee Road was bedecked with her cut-outs and flags. Shops had downed their shutters. With hardly any vehicles it was a holiday in these parts.
At Pratapaditya Road, Pradip Kumar Saha had put up a shamiana at his Calcutta Auto Rickshaw Operators' Union. Saha says he wanted people to watch Didi. So he and his union colleagues had pulled in money to hire a LCD projector to beam the event live. "We just want to celebrate this moment. Nothing more," Saha says. At a Selimpur Road Trinamool party office a 42-inch LCD was also requisitioned for today. The preparations had started right at 7 am and concluded by stopping all buses and offering its passengers sweets. The passengers, they insisted, didn't consider this to be a bother. Many of them, indulging in this festive-like spirit, said this victory of Trinamool Congress has ushered in second independence in the state.
In north Kolkata's Vivekananda Road, middle-aged Subir Saha was the most vociferous among the people craning their necks to get a glimpse of the television screen. Saha said, "In the morning, I have garlanded all the portraits of eminent personalities over here." Mamata Banerjee was one among them. But then, he adds, since this is only the beginning of the journey, he also prayed to God to give her strength. So did Arup Ray. "She needs strength to fulfil people's aspiration. Have you watched the crowds (near aspirations). While she had taken her oath in an auspicious moment, I prayed to the deities to give her strength in the years ahead."