Deep down, I am a bong
I just realized how Bong I am when I was discussing with Nirmal about Racist attacks on Indians in Australia. We both agreed on this statement of Shobhaa De, found here:
Both the governments should work together more cohesively, and the Australians in particular must reassure the community that the safety of students is of paramount importance to them. Our student numbers contribute a sizeable chunk to the Aussie economy. Their lives must be protected and their status respected. On our part, desi students cannot treat the host country as their filthy backyard and abuse local customs.
What Nirmal said was if you are doing illegal work there, you should be ready to face the consequences like these attacks. In reply, I said that, how-much-ever illegal it is, physical violence is not the way to show your displeasure. You should do strikes, road blockades, marches, candle light vigils and what not.
It looks like the word fell off from some Trinamool Congress 101 course. But yes, I do think that is the way things should work, though in the reverse order of the actions stated above. Well, I think that is the attitude of all Bongs. We want a peaceful solution with no physical harm, however monetary/public annoyance it may create. First and foremost priority is to be physically safe. I think that is the key to Kolkata not being a place of any Violence inspite such a large ratio of muslims and hindus.
Take a few examples. What is MNS doing? It is beating up people and sending them home whoever it feels unfit. Though we all agree it is not right, we have different opinions on what is right. My view is that if I feel endangered by foreign entities in my state, I should take it to the law. I should file a case to the court that I feel threatened in my own land by outsiders and I am not feeling secure. As law takes its own course, the next most daring thing I can think of is a protest march. What will a typical bong do? He will probably think the same as me, but then as we all know how slow law is, it would just end up being a coffee table discussion that look how Marwaris have virtually taken up all our businesses. (Well that's what is happening, though I have heard slight dissatisfaction over Marwaris taking up local businesses, I have not seen any efforts from Bengalis to be entrepreneurs. Exceptions exist).
Jayalalitha does not like something and she sends troops inside Karunanidhi's house at the dead of the night who drag him to jail. What will Mamatadi do? She will stand in the middle of Esplanade, block two hours of traffic in the middle of the day and give speeches as to how bad Budhdhababu is.
Well, I think this is the way I am and all the Bongs are. I believe in a ideal society. In this society, a candle vigil will be taken as seriously as probably the Gujarat riots. There would be reason behind everything and everybody would be well educated. As all are educated, crimes would be momentary reactions and would be corrected by a term in jail. There would be no forced confessions by the police or no crime should result in capital punishments.
Don't all the Bongs think this way? Wasn't Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose a fluke case amongst Bengalis and Gandhiji more a symbol of Bong ideologies?
5 comments:
Are you a communist too, like most bongs?
:D
Mahesh
More like a Gandhian, Mr Soccer fan :)
You are definitely a bong babu and your post is a result of the long expected realization. Who else would put sugar in everything? Do you know that sugar has absolutely no useful nutritional value? Just calories.
To clarify, attacks of any form are completely condemnable. What I meant by facing consequences, is that when one is ready to do illegal things, one must also realize that s/he is 'creating' the situation where s/he puts oneself in harm's way. This in my opinion completely negates the whole point of doing that illegal thing. Of course, illegality of things are subjective, relative and interpretable.
I like what you are saying, Sandi. I live in Cape Town, well in a little coastal village south of Cape Town, and of course here in South Africa we have had our fair share of racism. And the fact that we now have a democratically elected government doesn't mean that racism has evaporated overnight. And it is from all sides. I suppose that all of us have to learn to listen to one another, and understand that there are more views of the world than just our own.
Best wishes
Sandy Dowling
Hi Sandy,
That's true. All of us should have an open heart and we should listen to anything with absolutely no prejudice. Only then can we get a true perspective.
Sandipan
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