The Hindu Business Line : Ushering in 2007

In Kolkata, the crowds on New Year's Day at tourist spots like the zoo, the Victoria Memorial Hall, the Indian Museum, the Millennium Park on the banks of the Hooghly were chock-a-block with people, one taxi-driver's comment being that every year the queues seem to be getting longer.

Whether true or not, the fact remains that the day continues to hold a special place in the hearts and minds of the people at large, impelling them to pack up their bag and enjoy the outdoors.

In Kolkata, at least, the weather at this time of the year turns the most pleasant, which adds greatly to the fun that on can indulge in during the course of the day.

This writer, on his way to work on Monday morning, was struck by the length of the queues waiting to get into the Victoria Memorial Hall — queues that were not silent and staid but were fun-filled and wreathed with animation and liveliness, with both the young and the old quite plainly having the time of the lives just waiting for their chance to get into the sprawling gardens of the Hall.

Nearly every group carried a lunch hamper and the proverbial sheet of cloth, which was to be spread out on the lawns for the picnic.

Pursuing unattainable causes

A sight to remember was the large number of people doing just this on the sprawling Maidan, spreading the message loud and clear that Kolkata was out in the glorious winter sun having the time of its life!

This was really comforting, especially at a time when some politicians have been working overtime to pursue unattainable causes — in the process making life nothing short of miserable for the average denizen of the metropolis. This apart, what struck one was the number of cars that were out on the road, indicating among other thing that they have become a necessary appendage of city-life for what economists and sociologists choose to describe as the middle-income group.

However, this was a different Kolkata out in the sun compared to the one which had ushered in the New Year the night before in the restaurants on and off Park Street.

True, boisterous, fun-filled revelry marked the evening of the last day of the year (which, incidentally, has just become a part of mankind's history), but the point to note is that the circumstances were vastly different from what was happening the morning after, which too was a day of celebration.

Those who ushered in the New Year at midnight did so amidst the play of lights and to stirring music and song, conditions which were so different from the open air and the blue sky which had beckoned thousands of families on New Year's Day.

Same driving spirit

There is no doubt that the driving spirit behind the quest for fun of the two sets of people was one and the same, the form of the celebration however being different depending on the variations in mentality.

Certainly, there were aberrations, the headline-hogger in Kolkata being the unfortunate incident involving some Army personnel who were probably unwinding themselves a bit too much after a particularly tough spell of duty on the frontier. But of course this is not the main point of this piece. The focus is on the ritual of the celebrations marking the advent of a new year and the passing of the old, a conjunction of events that has always held a special place in the mind of man although it means precious little otherwise.

Ranabir Ray Choudhury

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