Calcutta-ness

Plato, through Socrates, had spoken of things being mere images of a pure idea. The city of Calcutta is suffering from a Platonic dysfunction – the idea of Calcutta, Calcutta-ness, is enmeshed in refinement and finesse. The city, as it is today, is an imperfect expression of that pure idea.

Visitors to the city are told fables of cultural wealth, as if Calcutta was a cornucopia of abundant beauty. They are told of great wisdom, the grandeur of its political ferment, the old world charm of its heritage monuments.

And what they find, in large parts of the city, is air turned the colour of steel and industry, vehicular anarchy, urban arteries choked with monstrous buses, trams and other transportation in various stages of dilapidation; a city badly in need of repair.

Calcutta-ness stings. It isn’t as if imperfect manifestation has negated the latent. The idea of Calcutta is more than the pure idea of many cities of the world. It’s devastatingly charming. And this is what makes the word ‘potential’ so delectable.

It can be done.

Imagine this city brought out from the dust, rust and cobwebs of its unkempt endurance. The oldest buildings woken up to life with a touch of paint here, and a coat of varnish upon those hesitant, hiding balconies. The yellow and black markings of curbs shining out.

Imagine if the tiniest café and tea stall, with its singular bench and jars of biscuits was elbow-greased and made prosperous with the magic wand of planning and resolve. If a spell of initiative replaced pre-Mesozoic buses with more efficient and, there’s no better way to put it, prettier, public transport – like we truly deserve.

Imagine Calcutta becoming cosmopolitan – accommodating, inviting, even alluring. A city that begins to matter again, like it used to when Indians were battling Imperialism and Bengal was the valiant frontier of that battle.

I fear that to some vested interests, and precisely those that don’t allow such visions to materialize, the preceding words are no more than a superficial whim.

To them, I have nothing to say but this. Got a better idea?