The Hindu Business Line : Seeking saviours

I wonder what Mr Chandrababu Naidu is doing these days. He looms in my thoughts every time I wade across slushy cratered roads on my long trudge to the Internet centre, if you could call it that.

All I can do at the lone computer at the `centre' is type a few lines on `Word' and then log onto the Net. If only I were a smoker then I would finish a whole packet before there was even a sign of the e-mail site I wanted.

But, again, I cannot see my mail, for who knows when the link will break. So I go straightway to `compose', copy-paste the lines typed earlier, and `send,' praying the mail goes. That's it; the link is delinked.

An ordeal enough to think of the crying need for the likes of Mr Chandrababu Naidu in Bengal's villages. Why villages? Even cities could do with a Chandrababu Naidu.

Mr Buddhadev Bhattacharjee comforts the IT industry and builds flyovers and modern roads in Kolkata to attract investors. But there are pockets, such as Howrah, across the Hooghly river, that are waiting desperately for a saviour.

Of course, this is true of almost all States. Craters the size of nothing I can think of abound in the winding roads, and only the sturdy `Ambassador' can pass unscathed in the competition for swerving space.

The once famous Grand Trunk Road feels like a throat choking with fish bones. Ask Sher Shah.

If the Malaysians are looking for a training school to further hone their road-making skills, they should adopt Howrah, like the Tatas are offering to promote steel towns.

Mr Buddhadev Bhattacharjee's plans cater to the babus of Kolkata, not to the proletariat of Howrah or the villages.

No harm, then, asking another Babu. Perhaps, he should plump for an `outside' tie-up with the UPA. Taking the Bengal route.

Karunamoy

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