once the visva bharati university meekly handed over the reins to the state government, for conducting the dol-utsav, the state government went to work with crusading zeal and a budget of 10 million rupees. in recent years a few hundred thousand tourists descend on the place for this one day event. like most extravaganzas in the entertainment industry the producer (the wb government) busied itself with the marketing and the logistics of getting everything together physically while the director – vb –was providing the content, free of cost, with young students (artists).
depredation, like never before witnessed, in the mela-r math was unleashed. zillions of holes were dug to plant bamboo poles for erecting snaking barricades and lighting arrangements as well as to accommodate loudspeakers. a few thousand bamboos were unloaded and work went on round the clock till the whole place was looking like an aggregation of holding pens. the place looked like a hastily put together ghastly maze of sorts. rows of indian style toilets with gleaming tin roofs were dribbles of ugliness carelessly strewn all around the grounds.
one section in santiniketan (the older and the geriatric lot) was with breath bated while the business community out of bolpur were sand papering their fingertips (all the better to count the cash, my dear!). residents living around the area of the grounds were bewildered with the barricades all around which were going to prevent them from getting out of their houses in any vehicle, the alternative being walking a couple of kilometres for hailing a toto.
on being asked whether there would be ‘passes’ for the residents, the in-charge of the local police station said there was no such provision. she added with a smile ‘you will not be able to get out of your house for that day!’
news came in just then – evening of the 6th march– that the ministry of health had issued a circular against assemblage of persons in the university effective immediately. the university administration gleefully grabbed this ‘get-out-of-jail’ card provided by COVID-19 and cancelled the festivities, rescuing santiniketan from a fate too frightening to imagine.
