Keya Sarkar: Sensitivity towards the elderly

As in the rest of the country, winter seems to be late in coming to Santiniketan this year. But unlike other years when at every meeting people discussed the temperature, this year it has been the decibel level. "How was last night?" is the oft-repeated greeting. Durga Puja followed Kali Puja, and strangely enough a little known puja in these parts earlier, Jagaddhatri Puja, has kept all of us residents indoors the last one month or so.

A friend of mine, who recently shifted back to Kolkata after working for 20 years in Delhi, said to me, "Don't you think the puja celebrations in Kolkata have increased manifold since we left in the mid 1980s?" I informed her that it was the case not only in Kolkata but also the rest of the state. Even in Santiniketan, where in Tagore's time and vision there was to be no idol worship, there is now a puja in every galli.

The present state government has a programme of giving grants to local clubs (euphemism for hangouts of unemployed youth) in order to encourage indoor and outdoor sports, the grant money ostensibly to be used for buying equipment. Like the past two years, this year too, more than 10,000 clubs got the state government's donation. While 4,000 clubs were gifted Rs 2 lakh each, 6,000 clubs got Rs 1 lakh each. While the intention is noble, the suspicion is that a lot of this money finds its way into the puja or the boom box fund.

With each club trying to outdo the other in decibel levels and doing the rounds of the entire town with their idols and boom boxes with the immersion procession, residents are left with little option but to shut all windows and hide inside. Because the mad drunken dancing that passes of as immersion procession is not safe for riders of cars, bikes or bicycles. And since there does not seem to be any regulation regarding how long these clubs can keep their idols before they have to immerse them, this immersion season stretches for almost a month starting with Durga Puja and ending with Jagaddhatri (not to mention Chhat Puja that adds to the cacophony somewhere in between). Also the law of the land that bars loudspeakers between 10pm and 6am is ignored, with the boom box noise thundering inside our hearts through the closed windows almost till midnight and starting again before sunrise.

In the midst of these celebrations a few of us in the neighbourhood got a call from the police station in our area seeking suggestions on what the police could do for senior citizens. I must admit we were surprised at this new-found enthusiasm. The police outpost in our locality was recently upgraded into a full-fledged thana. So we thought this initiative must be to justify their existence as well as to help underscore the police forces' friendly face.

To what they could do for senior citizens my suggestion would have been obvious: Stop this racket! Or gift earplugs! But I held myself back, thinking the police might have some better ideas. After a few ideas like buying an ambulance (or a hearse!) were bandied about, the police officials suggested a unique initiative: They along with the women constables would visit the elderly on Bhai Duj.

Pretty neat I thought. All those hearts battered by thunderous "Lungi dance" or "Selfie le le re" would be soothed by the Bhai Duj offerings. The elderly would definitely look forward to rocking the next year.