KKR's victory lap or Bengal's victory lapse?

Roughly a year back, 13 May being the definitive date around which this happened, Kolkata erupted into the sort of frenzy that the Bengali psyche associates more with half-finished Durga Puja pandals than a state government swearing in. Tonnes of chrysanthemums, a few more tonnes of green gulal (abir in Bengali) and curiously non-violating smell of inexpensive alcohol simmered at Hazra crossing in the heart of south Kolkata. Mamata Banerjee had just felled the graying-around-the-ears CPI(M) government. And today Hazra crossing reclaimed its 15 minutes of glory on national television thanks to the KKR victory rally that took off from there. Kolkata, probably wanted to peek out from under the Left-induced quilt of dismissal and cynicism and look forward. One year down, in Presidency College huddles of bidi smoking TMC cadres have elbowed their CPM counterparts out of college union rooms and there’s a Metro Railway that has turned into every city office-goers’ nightmare-come-true. [caption id=“attachment_324539” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“A victory rally after Mamata Banerjee’s victory in West Bengal state elections. Reuters”]  [/caption] The Telegraph, Kolkata’s go-to paper has published the picture of an exultant Shah Rukh Khan showing off his washboard tummy, declaring the KKR win the equivalent of ‘hope’ in the Bengali consciousness now. And national television channels are feasting on purple sporting Kolkatans going berserk over the KKR win on a weekday morning, interestingly the same bunch of people who had gloriously thrashed KKR down the couple of matches Sourav Ganguly won for Pune-warriors. The two lakh jobs Mamata Banerjee had promised are yet to appear, the state coffers rest precariously on Banerjee’s wobbly guns trained on the UPA government and yet another flock of students will heave a sigh of relief and leave for the Delhis, Bangalores and Mumbais for college. While Kolkata is busy trading ‘hope’ for kicks and the possibility of an amply-liked Facebook profile picture, Banerjee once more blinds reason with showmanship.