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Wednesday, September 24, 2008

The bite of the Durga Puja


A group of hoodlums descended on a helpless family in Durgapur to put the bite and extract a forcible donation of Rs 20,000 in the name of Durga Puja. The TV crew was in tow, and it boiled down to an exhibition of brute strength and destruction..

DURGAPUR EXPRESSWAY was in the news due to the disturbances in Singur and now it is the turn of the main city. A group of hoodlums descended on a helpless family in Durgapur to put the bite and extract a forcible donation of Rs 20,000 in the name of Durga Puja. The TV crew was in tow and it boiled down to an exhibition of brute strength and destruction of property.Whether the gains are petty or substantial is not disclosed, but the rampage is recorded on video – but, everyone knows that when it comes to identifying the trouble makers, no one would come forward, neither would any of the local leaders know their whereabouts. Such incidents are not uncommon in Kolkata city, but to learn that it has penetrated distant areas like Durgapur sounds the warning bells.

There was an instance of a person who had decided to settle in Kolkata, post retirement. Having stayed out of Kolkata all his life, he longed for the rapidly losing food habits of Bengalis; he gave first preference to Kolkata. That his better half was not too keen is not important. He being the head of the family had his way. He used the influence of his close relatives and managed to book a flat in a reasonably good locality.

In due course of time, he arrived in Kolkata to occupy his new flat – his luggage followed after a couple of weeks. As he unpacked his belongings, he was happy – in the evenings, he and his wife would go shopping or visiting relatives. By the time he had settled in, the first of the local festivals came along – the Saraswati Puja. There was a pandal under construction right below his flat – the youth of the locality gathered there in the evenings and discussed, at times the discussions got out of control. However, when one evening a delegation of the youth came to meet him, he had no idea if what it would end up in.

The boys were collecting donations for performing the pujas and had earmarked a sum in his name that was astronomical, to him at least. His pleadings fell on deaf ears and when he tried to make a statement that he was a retired person with meager savings, the boys stopped him short. ‘Look dada,’ the leader was blunt and to the point, ‘when your items were being unloaded from the truck, we have noted your possessions. You have all the luxuries one can afford. Therefore, we believe that it is within your capability to meet our demands.’

He tried to argue, but the delegation was firm. ‘If you do not meet our demands, you will have to face the music.’ The gentleman wanted his relatives to find a solution but in such cases, there is no solution except to accept the dictates. When he wanted to sell off the flat, he discovered that no buyers came and whosoever did was not willing to pay even the cost price. To these boys, festivals are golden opportunities to earn money. Political affiliations prove useful in their ventures.
source: http://www.merinews.com/catFull.jsp?articleID=141344

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