I was shocked when my son’s voice pierced through the live music and equally devoted honking
“They came and broke the cars, glasses and doors. And the gate. And they beat the guards.” My day started with a shock when my five-year-old son told me this on the phone, from Kolkata. “I am scared Papa!”
Walking early morning in Kathmandu, you have to adjust a lot. After around a week of arriving back here, I had even stopped wearing a pollution mask. But once adjusted, it offers many things that no other place in the world can. And I was enjoying the live Kirtan Mandal on the streets.
But I was shocked when my son’s voice pierced through the live music and equally devoted honking. I quickly requested my wife to explain what the matter was. After all, Sid had one morning also told me on the phone, equally convincingly, and evocatively, that the Spiderman had visited the building at night.
“Yes. There has been an outbreak, a riot. Mob broke into the ‘society’ and vandalized the cars and the reception lobby. Property is damaged but things are under control now. There is police all around. Many of them.” Her explanation was to the point, like a military debrief. As an ex-military man, I was proud. “Situation under control now. But, it feels scary how precarious this thing is. Right in the middle of the city and we have to live in a fortress”.
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Not exactly a fortress, although it is called Fort Oasis, I had always felt the ‘Society’ was literally like an island of opulence in the midst of poverty in South Kolkata, surrounded by ghettos. I felt the contrast most when I saw, on the day of Holi, a stage prepared for rain dance in the middle of the ground inside the complex had five showers running continuously the whole day.
Almost after ten days of the incident, I am here. And the police still guard the housing society heavily. The ecosystem—the people inside are dependent for services and household jobs on the people living just outside—has resumed functioning.
The description ‘High Rise’ fits aptly not only because it’s occupied by mostly rich and connected businessmen, expats, government officials and politicians of Kolkata, but also because it has a 23-storey structure, from the top of which one can actually view the whole Kolkata, the vast ocean of concrete it is, being one of the densest cities in the world.
“There was an accident on the road in front. A Mercedes, driven by a lady, banged into a scooter, and one boy died on the spot. The lady fled leaving the Mercedes on the road right next to these apartments.” My wife had added in her situation report, “The mob was angry. They could not find out who was responsible. And so they attacked us”.
By ‘us’, she meant the housing society, and not the class. Once I was relieved of the immediate concern of safety and security of my family, I could not help see the issue from the ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’ perspective. And I remembered the book written on India’s unequal growth: An Uncertain Glory, by Jean Drèze and Amartya Sen.
The book shows that, despite an impressive growth in per capita income, India is actually falling behind its neighbors in South Asia—never mind America, Europe and China—in many social indicators, from literacy to child malnutrition to access to toilets.
“The lady who was driving, and the car, did not even belong to our society,” tells a resident, a highly successful business woman in her thirties, “It’s difficult to understand. It’s maddening”.
Was this a result of the deep-rooted grudge and anger among the people? Do they feel jealous of the privileged? Has envy taken demonic forms?May be.
It must be such a pain to see so much in excess, so near yet so out of reach. It must be difficult to live on the fringe, knowing there is no way to get in, knowing they and their next generation will strive and struggle and still remain outside that circle.
It actually must be scary for the parents to think that about their children. But one thing is certain. If India looks for glory in islands like this, the flames of burning grudges all around will not let it shine.
Twitter: @dn_ktm
