Page 64 - seniors today november 2020
P. 64

Rabindranath Tagore is the ultimate secret weapon of the Bengali
         will be implacable enemies. All Commies,           and talent and generosity. But he belongs
         all highly intellectual (ahem) and all on          to us. You know who I mean. Rabindranath
         different sides of the Left field.                 Tagore. Beat that! Have another ro-sho-go-llo
          The Bengali trump card is, you know it,           on me!
         kalchaar. We have more kalchaar than
         anyone else, sometimes more than everyone
         else put together. We are supremely clever
         with our “culture”. Many parts of the rest of
         India have classical traditions in music and
         dance and language far older and of higher
         levels than in Bengal. Heh. But no one has
         marketed the idea of being cultured better
         than Bengal. Art and arty, that’s how the
         Non-Bengali world sees us. And who are we
         to complain? Just hide the uncultured goons
         when anyone comes to visit and pull out the
         artistic hand gestures, handloom silk saris
         and flowing dhotis, no?
          But we have one secret weapon that
         completely determines our Bengaliness.
         And separates the Non-Bengalis from us.            The Coffee House on Kolkata’s College Street, where political
         Many may lay claim and share in his vision         discussions flow as freely as the beverage


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