There was an old woman tossed up in a blanket,
Seventeen times as high as the moon;
Where she was going I could not but ask it,
For in her hand she carried a broom.
“Old woman, old woman, old woman,” quoth I;
“O whither, O whither, O whither so high?”
“To sweep the cobwebs from the sky,
And I’ll be with you by-and-by!”
Mamata Bannerjee swept into power as the Chief Minister of West Bengal earlier this year, ending 34 years of oppressive Left Front Rule. Within hours she had rolled her sleeves up and buckled down to sweeping the cobwebs from the hearts and minds of the West Bengal people, most especially the Government workers. She also declared that rather than have the roll on effect of pollution that industrialisation would bring to the state, tourism was going to be her baby, she declared a massive clean up of the city that she planned to bring onto par with London, right down to copying the massive Eye of London for her city of Kolkata.
I have a lot of faith in the woman, her capabilities and her vision. There is certainly a sense of optimism in the city, wherever Mamata has gone on her tours of inspection change has occurred or lists of Things to Do have been made and you can be sure she will follow up on them. Babus literally quiver in her wake but you can mince around the city and see quite easily where Mamata has been. Bus stops, swept clean streets and policemen on duty in control of the usual anarchy of transport as well as traffic island plantings signal her intention to clean up the city. She has also decided to focus on tourism rather than industrialisation as a money and employment focus for her government and declared that Kolkata will be the London of the East before too long.
More recently she toured Tollywood, the movie production area of the city and came away with lists of Things To Do that will bring the studios up to par with the expectations of star struck tourists. While most of the systems are in place in terms of the infrastructure of the city, what is required is a massive wake up call and good management. Kolkata actually has the finest infrastructure of any Indian city. Options for getting around the city include a Metro (not found in Mumbai), local trains (not found in Delhi), taxis (not found in Bangalore), trams (not found anywhere in India) and hand-pulled rickshaws (not found anywhere in the world).
One day Mamata will turn her steely eye to the steel framed, rattle trap trams that ply the streets of Kolkata and realise their tourism potential, hopefully select the tram that plies the 24/29 Route between Ballygunge and Tollygunge. In the meantime its one of the cheapest thrills in the city to jump a tram and shake rattle and roll along the roads that are hopefully also high on her list of things to do. I am sure she will get to it by and by.