Nineties become Tendulkar

Sir — No matter how much he covets records, the most number of one-day dismissals at scores of 90-odd is one that Sachin Tendulkar surely didn’t run after. But such is life — with the best also comes one’s share of the not-so-good. Sanath Jayasuria has the most ducks and lbw dismissals to his (dis)credit. But that does not take anything away from his greatness. Ditto for Tendulkar, though a little more care in the nineties would have added another 100 — total number of centuries in Tests and ODIs — against his name by now.

Yours faithfully,
Shirsha Roy, Calcutta

Seize the day

Sir — I am almost 80 years old. Every morning I go for a walk, and November 12 — the day a number of parties had called a bandh on the issue of Nandigram — was no exception. When I was near 6 Ballygunge Place, the restaurant, a fruit-seller approached me and requested that I buy some of his fruits; else, they would rot since sales dip to almost zero on bandh days — and his family would be deprived of a day’s meal. I had only ten rupees on me, so I offered that and asked him to have a cup of tea with me. He politely refused.

I also asked him to get together a hundred or so of his comrades and sit in a dharna in front of the houses of our MPs, MLAs and councillors and demand food for their families from those who are responsible for bringing cities and states to a standstill with their bandhs. Many of these netas play golf in the morning, give speeches and indulge in jejune polemics during the day and visit five-star hotels and clubs in the evening to have their daily dose of single malt. Of course, they only travel in first-class or business-class comfort. No surprise that their bandhs mean ‘no-meal’ days for many people. Civil society must rise in protest and make these heartless politicians see sense.

Yours faithfully,
K.S.B. Sanyal, Calcutta

Sir — I am a student of class eleven and I want to protest on behalf of all the people of West Bengal who are suffering at the hands of whimsical politicians and their bandh calls. I do not have much political knowledge, but I do realize that bandh is not the right language of protest; it is in fact an insult to the basic concept of democracy. If we do not have the right to stop politicians from calling bandhs, they too have no right to stop us from disregarding bandhs. It is no secret that bandhs are imposed on people by force. As far as Nandigram is concerned, a bandh cannot possibly stop the bloodshed there; it can only spread the violence to the rest of the state. There are hundreds of ways to protest besides strike. I want all the political parties, who still think that bandhs are the answer to all the problems of the state, to know that we, the so-called GenNext, are ashamed of them.

Yours faithfully,
Debasmita Sen, Calcutta

Sir — I am a Central government employee and have been working in Calcutta for the last three years. I had heard about the city’s pathetic work culture. But I am surprised to find that even with extremely competent staff, almost all offices (private and government alike) are crippled by frequent bandhs. Most people just enjoy these illegal holidays — that too because this is how they have seen life for last two decades.

It is no use blaming Mamata Banerjee or the communists — they are remarkably similar when it comes to calling bandhs. Last Tuesday, when Central government employees went on a strike, it did not affect work in government offices around the country. But here in Calcutta, most of my colleagues were not allowed entry into their offices by the ‘association dadas’. Where are the people who care about Calcutta’s image in the global arena?

Yours faithfully,
A. Sinha, Calcutta