Sunday funday after busy month

KOLKATA: As civic elections in the city got over on Saturday, candidates and star campaigners seized the first available opportunity to chill out on Sunday after nearly a month of hectic campaigning and a tension-ridden poll day.
Though a few did head to the districts to campaign for the civic elections due there later this month, most chose to take the day off and unwind.
Rupa Bagchi, CPM candidate from ward 32, had a much-awaited chat with her mother and video-called her seven-month-old nephew before heading out for a family get-together. “I had all my favourite dishes like masoor dal with gondhoraaj lebu, chingri curry and sweets for lunch. Unlike during the run-up to the elections when I would leave home with just a cup of tea, I had cornflakes for breakfast this morning,” she said
Atin Ghosh, the Trinamool candidate from ward 11, had a sumptuous lunch that his wife had cooked. The rice meal included three fish preparations followed by mango chutney.
Congress candidate from ward no. 29, Prakash Upadhyay, was delighted to go shopping for fish and vegetable after a month. “I had prawn malai curry and mutton for lunch, a pleasant break from the vegetarian fare my wife was giving me during the campaign season. In the evening, I will indulge in an ‘adda’ session with friends from the neighbourhood and my wife will join me because I have not been able to spend any time with her in the last few days,” he said.
Sunita Jhawar, BJP’s candidate for ward 42, also had the luxury of time on Sunday. She spent much of the day with her children. “My kids made sure I didn’t spend time in the kitchen. They didn’t even demand a Sunday-special lunch and were happy to have me around them after so many days,” she said.
CPM candidate Sudhangshu Seal didn’t have much on his itinerary. But poll-day experience continued to haunt him. Mayor Sovan Chatterjee who contested from ward no. 131 and Debasish Kumar of ward no. 85 had no such nightmare to contend with. The elections had gone the way they wanted and they expected Trinamool Congress to sweep the polls in Kolkata. But they didn’t have time to rest on the laurels.
“There are five more civic elections to go and I have to stay focused,” said Chatterjee who spent the day campaigning in the Maheshtala-Budge Budge belt.
BJP star-campaigner Roopa Ganguly, too, had no time to put her feet up on Sunday. “I will relax after the 23rd when I will be done with my duty as a campaigner. I will sleep a lot, listen to good music and spend time with my son with whom I can only manage to speak for five minutes in the morning or at night these days,” said Roopa.