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Pujo Pandals & Fasting Medics

Pujo Pandals & Fasting Medics

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Dive into the satirical chaos of Kolkata’s Durga Pujo, where Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee juggles pandal inaugurations while junior doctors embark on a dramatic hunger strike for justice.

The glorious festival season is upon us in Kolkata! The sound of dhak fills the air, fairy lights are draped across every lamppost, and the city prepares for its grandest celebration – Durga Pujo. Amidst the hustle and bustle, our very own Mamata Banerjee, Bengal’s eternal matriarch and resident pujo-in-chief, has taken on the strenuous task of inaugurating as many pandals as humanly possible, possibly vying for a Guinness World Record. All in a day’s work, you see.

One can only imagine the sheer determination it takes to hop from pandal to pandal, smiling for the cameras, cutting ribbons with such precision, sometimes singing and delivering impassioned speeches about the cultural pride of Bengal. “Ei, pujo toh maayer maati’r shwabhimaan!” (This festival is our motherland’s pride!) she might declare, before swiftly hopping onto the next pandal ride like a Durga Pujo superhero. It’s hard work, you know – but someone’s got to do it.

Meanwhile, just a hop, skip, and a Durga idol away, we have another group of Bengal’s finest, the junior doctors, staging a little festival of their own. Only, instead of gobbling down khichuri bhog and roshogullas, they’ve decided to go on a fast unto death. Yes, while Didi is busy waving at crowds from the top of rickety scaffolding, these junior medics have chosen not to eat anything until the government gives a satisfactory response to the horrific incident at RG Kar Medical College.

One might say that Bengal is a land of contrasts – on one hand, there are pandals adorned with chandeliers and wax figures, on the other, we have doctors fasting in front of CCTV cameras for the sake of “transparency.” How very Bengali of them, installing cameras as if they’re running a reality show for the starving for justice. Perhaps the next step is a public vote on whether they should receive some food or continue their ascetic protest. You can almost hear the announcer, “Doctors of Bengal, you are live on Channel Hunger Strike – please do not eat!”

Now, in between inaugurating 83 pandals and planning her next “khela hobe” moment, our Didi has seemingly lost sight of those tiresome junior doctors who are demanding justice for a 31-year-old colleague, tragically raped and murdered. One imagines she’s still mulling over her response – possibly caught between lighting another ceremonial lamp or getting the ‘prashad’ distribution timings just right. After all, how is one expected to manage the small matter of state governance when there are more important things like tacky pandal decorations to worry about?

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But let us not get carried away with all this pesky protesting business. The doctors, in their righteous hunger strike, have demanded immediate action – and here’s the twist – they actually set a 24-hour deadline! Oh, bless! They seem to believe Bengal operates on a strict timetable. Of course, the Bengal government, which has always prided itself on punctuality and promptness, surely didn’t need more than a few months to think things over, did they? Perhaps they’re still planning to form a committee to consider establishing a sub-committee to eventually look into forming a task force to investigate the issue. Bureaucracy, you see, is a finely-tuned machine that takes time, like a slow-cooking biryani, except this one’s been left on simmer since the British Raj.

In the meantime, Didi will continue with her ceremonial duties. Who cares if a few doctors keel over from starvation while fighting for justice? The real emergency is finding out which pandal is the most ‘aesthetically pleasing’ this year. After all, priorities, right?

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