Auto Ban – Breathe Fresh

The sudden surge of the anti auto-rickshaw campaign, courtesy, Kolkata High Court, has given the city and its denizens another new issue to talk about. This subject, however, connects to the endangered welfare of the ecosystem and so deserves special mention and discussion as well.

Surprisingly, it took unexpectedly long to enforce the law of taking illegally running autos off from the city roads. Amidst clouds of polluted black air spewing out from the tailpipe of the three wheelers, thanks to the kaata tel funda, I feel my metabolic system being nastily overturned whenever I encounter one of those monster vehicles and what with older people of my parents' age! Myopics are gifted with several more layers of smoky dust, weak-hearts get blood pressure surges, chronic lung patients and dust allergies cough a lot more and even the most robust of mortals see a marked decline in their overall health system.

Had the West Bengal Government been a bit more cautious about their duties and responsibilities, there could have been much cleaner air to breathe in this city. Having abetted the plying of illegal autos (be it two stroke or five sitters or kaata tel feeders) for over two decades, the ruling party has encouraged outlawry, air pollution and a rise in physical maladies. This is an earnest plea to the government : wake up and take the blame on yourself and act accordingly to make the already dying city a better place to breathe in. Now!

Interview – Shivers?

Not that this blog deals with a very recent happening but nevertheless, I must pen it down for your pleasure and my satisfaction. Two months back when I was undergoing the agony of job hunt and rejections and job hunts again, I landed up at one of the interview scenes here in Kolkata that was more than just scare and fear.

As directed by the person at the venue, I took an auto to the place from where I had to take a rickshaw. Started off with a greeting of non stop drizzle and the inadequate conveyance options, I edged on to my destination. Having boarded the rickshaw I found myself amid heaps and piles of dirt, trash and rubble on both sides of the road as the vehicle moved along. I was just beginning to wonder where was the awful stench coming from and was soon enlightened – there were pig sties on both sides of the road with clusters of pigs, piglets and sows ambling along the sidewalks. At long last I was there at my address, in front of a building in shambles, almost.

To add more woe to my already acquired anxiety, there were these two bespectacled interviewers volleying questions at me followed by the written test which required me to scribble an article on 'Qutab Minar and Lollypop'. But to my utter amazement and joy, I thoroughly enjoyed writing the piece. Did somebody say 'assigned works turn out more interesting than the spontaneous ones'? I enjoyed my interview! Tough tests are not all that bad anyways!