Smoking at Writers’
Even though the Writers’ Buildings has been declared a no-smoking zone and its walls are adorned with warnings against smoking and spitting, nobody seems to pay any heed to it and smoking goes unchallenged, as the police look the other way even when they see an offender. In fact, the police can hardly do anything since many of the ministers and bureaucrats including Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjees take puffs inside their cabins. “The prohibitory warnings are useless. It’s simply a farce,” said one police officer the other day.

After the bandh break
The CPM-sponsored 12-hour bandh on June 5, the World Environment Day, poured water on the State Pollution Control Board’s plans to conduct programmes to celebrate the environment day. Overzealous city-based clubs organised film shows and panel discussions to drive home the perils of global warming. The screening began with Al Gore’s film- An Inconvenient Truth. Within minutes after it began, organisers announced a tea break and all the spectators left the auditorium for their cup of tea. Al Gore was left to address his concerns to only three persons left in the empty auditorium.

Kolkata savours its bandh
One major factor that makes bandhs in Kolkata so successful is the attitude of its denizens. While the bandh culture is almost non-existent in other metros, three decades of bandhs seem to have led citizens to associate the closures with holidays more than the loss of working hours and salary. On the eve of the consecutive bandhs, a mad rush was seen at the local markets as the public resorted to a buying frenzy. Youngsters dusted down their cricket gear and football boots. People lined up to purchase meat and fish for elaborate feasts at home. Several liquor stores were open well after the 10 pm closing time, as long queues slithered down the pavements. After all, what good is food without drink?