Kolkata Kolkata

This videos been doing the rounds on Facebook. Here for posterity. It must be framed on the ad for MP tourism, but it is influence well used. Anyone who calls it a rip off, does not know what they are talking about. Its creative, its well thought, its touching... all thats required for a great ad or video. Way to go producers.

And truly its not just about Kolkata. The Bengal tiger represents Sunderbans, still a great tourist attraction. I wish some more were there. We know about the Himalayan foothills of Darjeeling, the sea of Digha or Mandarmani, the jungles of Sunderban and Dooars, but what about heritage in Murshidabad or Malda, not to mention Kolkata itself, and historical pilgrimage sites of Nabadwip, Dakshineshwar, Tarapith etc. And what exactly is Shantiniketan, a university town, or a heritage site.

I wish the video said more, but it has to portray the most recognizable for everyone, and so it does a good job even on the recall factor.

"Ma Maati Manush" running out of steam?

After threatening to pull out of the Govt after rising petrol prices, and successfully being part of the voices against FDI in retail, one would think Mamata is sticking to her core ideology of being people- friendly. (Though why FDI is not people friendly is not clear to me yet). But there must be a can of worms lurking somewhere when it is politics, innit?

It seems farmers in Bengal are now complaining that the ruling party is no longer receptive to their woes. Point to be noted, Trinamool and Mamata didi's Ma Maati Maanush campaign against the then ruling party is what won them the state and her the chief minister-ship. The Tata factory fiasco in Singur is just one of the instances of the stalling of industrialization that Mamata's party believed in before they came to power. It was an ideology for sure, that cant be denied. The farmer's land is gold. Land acquisition cant be haphazard by any standard. And even those of us who cursed Mamata and her party for taking the jobs away from the state, still believed, maybe, there was a point in what she was doing. That farming land should be protected, that farmers should get their due. And it was time she won to bring that elusive balance between Maati and Maanush, Maanush here meaning the jobs, the industries which would bring in those jobs and perhaps the reversal of brain drain which had happened for decades.

Now latest is that the balance has again toppled. The land given to Infosys in Rajarhat (note here that this land was acquired by the previous govt coming under fire for coercion that time) is in jeopardy. 50 farmers with 20 acres are refusing to part with their land for the Infosys Development Centre. Now Infosys has been shopping for many years for a viable option in WB/ Calcutta. Will this be the last straw and will they take the Tata Nano route? Out of WB and in to the next welcoming state?

Has the Ma Maati Maanush mantra fizzled out? Is Mamata realising you cant keep everyone happy? Or is this another of her wily games, just for the sake of it. When will she, her party and the state, grow up?