hi mike,
i am sending in a write. not exactly what you asked for (will mail you the survey of contemporary art in Bengal by tonight or this next morning).
sending you a write that combines contemporary culture of Bengal with socio-political concerns. (the kind of writing i had proposed when we we chatted in your office).
this one is on KKR IPL and neo liberalism in Bengal.
a writeup sent to The Statesman in 2010 which they never published.
‘What do you do when you are stuck on an island with a candle and no matches?
You toss that candle and catch it. Catches win matches.’
An old joke making a comeback over text messaging
In a lot of ways the Kolkata knight riders symbolize the aspirations of a so called new Bengal. It is not so much what a neo liberal Bengal can be…it is more of what an aspirational Bengal wants to be. Lead by Saurav Ganguly) the person who is responsible for giving hope to an entire generation of post Mithun Chakravarty Bengali youth), the success and failure of KKR might matter little to the lady standing all (k) night outside a government hospital waiting for the her turn to meet the doctor in the morning, but it matters a lot to those aspiring to make a mark on the new cosmopolitan nation-scape. Maybe by god’s grace, or maybe through direct partnership with her, they managed to recruit Wasim Akram as the bowling coach…but can you win matches if you can’t score or save runs?
It will be unfair to blame it on Sharukh Khan, still it seems that the team plays more for the camera than for the scoreboard. Over the years, on an average KKR (k)night we are treated to perfect dives, perfects run out attempts, aesthetic lofted drives: and very poor results. As with most of the state, they play with/for pride which is either too far in the past or yet untouched in the future. The lost-found-lost matches against an array of opponents exemplified the KKR attitude of doing everything right for the camera and being the best looking team.
Before Nandigram unfolded, Buddadeb Bhattacharya was widely praised lavishly, rated as the number two chief minister in the country and we had the best looking economic turn around agenda. Even the team looked excellent. Corruption free politicians, neo liberal economists and a no nonsense leadership seemed poised to deliver the goods. Then it all happened. This highly rated good looking team failed to deliver a practical, effective economic turn around. All their demons came back to haunt them, and in two years they lost absolute credibility.
In the first league match against the Mumbai Indian, having failed to score an out right winning total, Mr Ganguly unleashed all his charisma on the field being the busy captain in a manner that only he can be. It was a tad sad to see that this gentleman (who is the first Indian to win the Dada lifetime achievement award) has come to a point when he would rather have god help him rather than he help him self. (This is a bit of an oxymoron considering in the realms of memory and imagination and hope he is still the god of the off side). However he was up against the god of winning easy games, and when it comes to an easy pitch and a friendly bowling attack, Sachin Tendulkar can do no wrong. Then in the last match against Kings of Punjab, a miracle happened. The Knight Riders scored two hundred runs. One watched in hope and wistfulness as Ganguly da moved his field around, changed the bowling attack and caused a couple of wickets to fall. He even ran a bit and stopped some runs. Still the match was lost in another good looking toothless effort.
One cannot really soothsay. Maybe Mr. Bhattacharya will win the elections and give us a developmental road map that understands demographics and real politics of Bengal better. Maybe Dada will get a chance to go topless again. That’s not the point, what we all miss out is that both Mr. Ganguly, and Mr. Bhattacharya are but a reflection of West Bengal’s troubled attempts at being ‘cool’ and ‘happening’.
Outside Mumbai, Kolkata can boast of the most cut throat street cricket culture, yet we are at a loss at a game like 20-20 which has strong roots in the streets. With one of the highest density of graduates and post graduates the state was one of the best placed in harnessing the economic growth riding on information technology and service industries, yet we seem to have missed the bus. Is it time for us to interpret progress in our terms,rather than cheer our Don Quixotes and then fault them for fighting windmills.
