First of all, I mean here by ‘A Study ‘, an observation. Secondly, I do not intend any metaphor or simile when i say ‘Bong Crows ‘, and Thirdly all the observations of the Bong Crows is based on the black crows of Kolkata – the capital of West Bengal.
During my 3-day stay at the the Bong – capital this DP, I was troubled and bugged not only by the incessant crows of Pandal hoppers that ‘littered’ the streets but also ( and perhaps even more so) by the jet-black crows that dominate the skies of the city. I mean when I went to sleep, I slept amongst the kaws and whenever I woke up it was again amongst the same harsh cacophony of the crows. At first, I thought that the enormous lighting arrangement of the Pandals (of DP) must be causing this, and then I thought perhaps I was sleeping too less ( incidentally all my relatives around at the same juncture thought so too!!), but how can the same thing happen two nights in a row? I mean, if anything happens continuously, it can’t be random can it?
I decided to stay awake the last night of my Kolkata stay just inorder to confirm – either my theory or their (relatives’) convictions, and believe me the result seemed ominous. I was tense, as everyone else around me started falling asleep in a row, and still there wasn’t a single kaw around! I felt bad (strangely!) I felt like someone ( or rather some-kaw) was going to confirm that i had become an insomniac and a delirious person. I felt like…Suddenly I heard a kaw, just in the adjoining terrace; my heart leaped! I listened. That one kaw was followed by a tumult of other kaws and then some more. The first crow continued kawing, the others didn’t stop either.
I felt joy (obviously!). I felt like something (or rather some-kaw) just lifted a heavy sack off my shoulders. i felt like…everything suddenly went silent again. Every single crow had stopped kawing. Even before I could feel anything they started yet again, and this this went one for more than a hour at a stretch!
It was then that I realised. The crows were celebrating. Celebrating what? Well, I guess that it was Id and Durga Puja at the same time. It was like they were having a musical concert or something! ( at least for them ,ha!) and that the first crow must have been the invited singer! ( I thought I saw a cap on his head!!! jus kiddin’). Moreover, the kaws of the singer (say HR) started to fade as the day began to unfold. Just at dawn, HR flw away from the terrarce (the dias!) to his very own star-wagon!! (the leafless tree just infront) and the kaws gegan to lessen and my ears and eyes ( i dont like black much) started to feel better .
I went out to stand at the terrace, to welcome the rising sun, and to celebrate the observation that I had made with a lungful drought of air so fresh and cold that is seldom found in Kolkata. What I saw was many crows were sitting on the nearby mosque ( i thought of them as Musilms) and many were sitting on the adjoining Shiva temple ( i thought them to be Hindus), and that many of them intercahnged places frequently, silently, gracefully and eloquently. No hard feelings amongst them. Why can’t this happen amongst us humans too? Why can’t we see each other as humans before we see each other as hindus and muslims? Why can’t we see that brotherhood is more a religion than Hinduism or Islam ?? Well that is what we have experts for, to brood and brood and then discuss and then brood some more. I felt like shouting at the full of my voice the couplet that my father often recites :
” Kya banne aye the, kya kya bana baithe kaheen mandir bana baithe to kahin masjid bana baithe. Hamse to acchi parindo ki jaat hai, kabhi mandir pe jaa baithe to kabhi masjid pe jaa baithe.”
which translates to :
” we came here to make something of ourselves, but ended up making things, erecting temples and mosques around us, creating differences amongst us. The birds are loads better than us, who sit atop the mosques and temples or the temples or the mosques, yet causing no loss of the equality that they have!“
Well what do I care? I am happy that I succeeded in ‘My experiment with the strange !” and that I came to the conclusion that, bong-crows aren’t nocturnal after all! They just like to party, sing and dance when the festive season is around. Well who doesn’t? Ha!
The Vidyarthi 
The basic issue is socio-economic. Caused by mass scale and uncontrolled migration of unskilled or skilled labor from one place to another. Migrants will always take jobs from locals simply because they will work for less, live in temporary or shared shanties and work 24 hours. Their costs in their hometowns are much lower than in urban cities. This is exactly what needs to be addressed. Average Maharashtrian cannot afford to work for less because he stays with his family and sends kids to school and pays for higher costs in Maharahstra. It is simply not true that the North Indian workers are getting jobs because they are better, what is true is they are willing to work for much less and much longer because essentially things are much worse where they come from.
Maharahstra has been highly industrialised for decades because the locals have always been disciplined, skilled and highly dedicated workers. To ignore this fact and say they are not good enough and cannot compete is insulting to Maharashtrians.
Some pople are quick to compare the situation with migrants in the USA, convenienty forgetting that any visa based migration is basically a controlled one and aimed at filling the vacancies. What is happening is Maharashtra is simply unacceptable to Maharashtrians.
To simply view the violent situation from a law and order or communal point of view is ridiculous. These are just the symptoms.
Let there be no mistaking the fact that an average Maharashtrian does not care whether Jaya Bhaduri can speak Marathi or not. They are also not bothered whether the shop signs are in English or Marathi or Hindi. This has been one state where people speak Hindi to outsiders on their own. People who have lived here long enough would know this very well. They are more concerned about losing their incomes and about not being able to keep their kids in schools. They are being driven into a corner and into an impossible situation which threatens their livelihood.
People in Maharahstra are not communal, if they were then Shiv Sena would have ruled for more than 5 years out of 60 years post-independence. But the anger and frustration in Maharahstra is rising as they are being equated en-masse with MNS and labelled as, good-for-nothing, fascists and making un-fair demands. Their contribution to Mumbai is being rubbished with typical Indian arrogance. Gun toting mad men are being hailed as martyrs. Leaders in the North are ganging up and talking of punishing Maharahstra. The national media has resorted to a completely one sided reporting dictated by commercial compulsions. the entire country in general is up against Maharashtra.