Bengal's sons-in-law

It is not unusual in West Bengal to refer to government employees as "sarkari jamais" or sons-in-law of the government. True to the spirit of these sinecure offices, the West Bengal government on Friday decided to gift its jamais a half-day holiday - through a "priority notice" on its website, no less - on the occasion of Jamai Sasthi, the Bengali festival dedicated to sons-in-law. That left no one in doubt that these sons-in-law are more pampered than non-government ones.