“Exciting! I have attended such occasions many times. But, never before, I could see such spontaneous participation of people,” was all what noted Bengali writer Mr Sunil Ganguly could tell, just out of the North Gate of the Governor's House, before he was nearly swept away by a wave of humanity rushing on to have a glimpse of Ms Mamata Banerjee.

It was 2-30 p.m. She had already taken oath as the Chief Minister. Thousands of people, waiting for hours outside the Governor's House, had expect “ Didi ” to make an exception — as she always did — and walk down the one kilometre stretch to the seat power at the Writers' Building.

Inside, Ms Banerjee was attending the customary tea party thrown by the Governor, Mr M.K. Narayanan, where people from all walks of life, especially a host of industry leaders, were awaiting her on the first day in the Government.

“She has promised to bring winds of ‘change' to the State's economy. And, considering her mass appeal, I am positive that she can do it,” said Mr Sumit Mazumder, Vice-Chairman and Managing Director of TIL Ltd.

Having spent nearly two hours in amidst dignitaries at the Raj Bhavan, ‘Didi' finally hit the street from the West Gate at around 4-15 p.m.

As expected, she walked down the road.

Crowd, on both sides of the road, on rooftop, office balconies greeted her on the entire stretch of the Council House Street and N S Bose Road — between the Governor's House and the Secretariat.

All along there was hardly any space for her to walk through. On occasions, police barely managed to avert a stampede.

Impatient crowd took over every inch in front of the Writers' Buildings, swayed in thousands with every passing minute. Perhaps, they wanted to witness the beginning of the ‘ Paribartan ' (Change).

“She does what she says,” said one aloud, who was waiting to take a glimpse of the moment. May be, on any other day he would be found selling cheap ice-cream candies on the city streets. But, this hot Friday was dedicated to Mamata.

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