Tundla Junction

As all of India looks forward to the long 3 day weekend, Kolkata has taken matters further and declared it a five day one. In addition to Republic Day (Monday the 26th), Kolkatans have already been celebrating Netaji’s Birthday (Friday the 23rd) and the SUCI Bandh (Thursday the 22nd). In all, this has been the perfect weekend.

“We realised that this was an especially busy weekend for everyone, and that four days might not be enough. So we decided to call a bandh on Thursday, to give people more time,” said SUCI state secretary Provas Ghosh.

“Ghosh Babu has got it spot on. This weekend I have 4 weddings to attend, a picnic at Victoria Memorial and a trip to Digha. And then there’s the all night Dover Lane Music Conference. There’s no way I could have done justice to all this in four days,” said a grateful Bholanath Sen.

“We didn’t need to debate this long within our party circles – everyone agreed this was a no-brainer. Besides, there have already been two major strikes in recent times, so the economic impact of this bandh would have marginal at best,” said Ghosh, referring to the public sector oil companies strike and the truckers strike of earlier this month.

However, SUCI’s ally Mamata Banerjee stayed away from the Bandh, saying “I am really concerned about industrial growth in this state.” This has been rubbished by Mamata watchers who said “Mamata has no interest in Hindustani classical music and will not be attending the Dover Lane Conference. She is just being a killjoy. In fact, this long weekend has provided a real boost to the economy – industry experts have forecast massive egg-roll and puchka sales over these five days. Not to mention massive earnings at the shaadi-badis, Victoria Memorial, Pantaloons, DVD rental shops etc.”

However, not all Kolkatans are using these days for recreation alone. A number of talented cricketers will be taking to the streets over the five days to enhance their chances of participation in the next edition of the Indian Premier League. “This is why I love Kolkata. There is massive support for talent in every way,” said Sambaran Samaddar, opening bowler for the Park Circus Dynamos. “We will be playing 6 home and 12 away matches in these five days. The home games will be at our stadium on Syed Amir Ali avenue, and tickets are available at extremely nominal rates,” said Treasury Manager Iqbal Khan.

“And lets not forget the great weather at this time of the year,” said Ghosh, concluding his convincing argument.

Tundla Trivia

Q. What does the acronym SUCI stand for?
A. Socialist Unity Centre of India

Q. What are SUCI’s demands for this Bandh?
A. We don’t know

Related Links

Kolkata Bandhs and the weekend
Recent National strikes
The Dover Lane Music Conference
SUCI website

Photo courtesy: dluxphoto2