History in the Making
Kolkata, 1:01 PM.
Today history was created when Mamata Banerjee became the first woman Chief Minister of West Bengal. Probably the first to walk from the Raj Bhavan to the Writers Building too, instead of commandeering a convoy. Maybe we will see more firsts in the coming days.
But it remains to be seen whether the spirit of all the rhetoric percolates down to the grassroot level. It is a long, long way from the ivory tower of the CM's office to the common workers who have actually forgotten what an honest day's work is. Today at the local post office, the clerk at the counter was certain that his duty lay in watching TV rather than attending to the people standing in front of his counter window. After some angry exchange of words, he did update the savings passbook but thats about all he could be persuaded to do. What about the interest that had not been shown in the pass book? He said that we could come back a month or so later and maybe then he will be in a position to answer our queries. For now, TV exerted an irresistible attraction that his conscience could not overrule. Neither could we or any other customer. After all, neither the money in the savings account was his nor the time that was spent in a futile pursuit was his to account for.
Perhaps this demonstrates the adage that the more things change, more they remain the same.
But on this historic occasion, I want to believe that this is not true. I only pray that today's swearing-in is a harbinger of real, meaningful and lasting change for the better.
Today history was created when Mamata Banerjee became the first woman Chief Minister of West Bengal. Probably the first to walk from the Raj Bhavan to the Writers Building too, instead of commandeering a convoy. Maybe we will see more firsts in the coming days.
But it remains to be seen whether the spirit of all the rhetoric percolates down to the grassroot level. It is a long, long way from the ivory tower of the CM's office to the common workers who have actually forgotten what an honest day's work is. Today at the local post office, the clerk at the counter was certain that his duty lay in watching TV rather than attending to the people standing in front of his counter window. After some angry exchange of words, he did update the savings passbook but thats about all he could be persuaded to do. What about the interest that had not been shown in the pass book? He said that we could come back a month or so later and maybe then he will be in a position to answer our queries. For now, TV exerted an irresistible attraction that his conscience could not overrule. Neither could we or any other customer. After all, neither the money in the savings account was his nor the time that was spent in a futile pursuit was his to account for.
Perhaps this demonstrates the adage that the more things change, more they remain the same.
But on this historic occasion, I want to believe that this is not true. I only pray that today's swearing-in is a harbinger of real, meaningful and lasting change for the better.
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