Category Archives: Politics

Many moons ago, when our sweet little dupleix in Dover Lane was enlarged into a three storey house to make space for a tenant, our first tenant was an Indian Airline pilot. Similarly, many modern condominiums in our locality were … Continue reading →

The murder of Rajeeb Das, a teenager in a Kolkata suburb has Bengal all shaken up once again. Rajeeb Das was escorting his sister back from her work when some drunken lumpens in the street corner in a Kolkata suburb … Continue reading →

There has been a usual enthusiasm about the mass uprising in Egypt over Mubarak’s “misrule”. Most of my friends from India (I do not have foreign friends) were hugely exuberant about what appeared to them as a Freedom Movement totally … Continue reading →

Mamata’s Politics – Reign of Terror Or The French Revolution? susmita.dasgupta@hotmail.com On a rain lashed morning, hemmed in by a garbage strewn muddy road of a colony in a NCR suburb and marooned by water logged stretches of the posh … Continue reading →

New Delhi. 18th October 2008 Dear Mr Ratan Tata, This letter to you is in response to Mr Modi’s letter to the Buddhababu and yours to the youth of Bengal written over the past week. Sometime back I saw full … Continue reading →

Surajkund NCR, Haryana 7th January 2009 The Honorable Home Minister Government of India New Delhi Respected Shri Chidambaramji, I am writing this letter to you in a state of extreme grief and shock. This morning (7.1.09) at 3.44 am I … Continue reading →

I love February in Kolkata. The air is free from the dull smog of winter; sunshine is in the hue of pale gold, the sky is floroscent blue and everything around me is sprightly. The evenings come with mauve sunsets … Continue reading →

Mamata Banerjee is the image that till recently no Bengali wanted. She was plain, undecorated, unrefined and unchaperoned. She had almost no social background, hailed from a family of East Bengal refugees, stayed in a hutment off Kalighat, unmarried with … Continue reading →

The word khyapa in Bengali means eccentric. It does not mean insane for that is a strong word. The khyapa is more unpredictable, given to mood swings and varying responses to familiar stimuli. For a long time I used to … Continue reading →