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Bengal's Cat(astrophe) Connection

What is common in Bengalis’ with Cats? Sure you read me correct; but it is not the big cats which are being referred here, comparison with which often used metaphorically to glorify The Bengali ethnicity. What is being referred here is about their similarity to the characteristics of domestic pet cats. Both of them are very much fond of their homey comfort and hardly prefer to venture out, or lazy if someone wants to put it bluntly.  

This laziness is so much so that notwithstanding their persistent backtracking in every sphere of life, be it cultural, social, artistic or intellectual prowess, from the renaissance period (nineteenth century to early twentieth century), arguably the best period of Bengal’s history, Bengalis prefers to bask on the past glory with a feel of content.             

We often refer our predecessor’s days and belch ‘those were the days’, as if it was utopia then and every great soul had lived their life on bed of roses.  Every great act they have performed was under the best of circumstances that could be available on earth and without any hindrances.

Our being futile in present is because all possible odds are stacked against us, otherwise we could have done wonders on earth and everyone would have looked up to us with amazement!  Buses, trains, or any place where more than one Bengali turns-up; end up surmising that we are the neglected one. This whining attitude is putting Bengal behind. The great souls of the soil, who have stood up against all odds and made their presence felt to the world shown us the path. It is up to us whether we pay our homage to them by carrying forward the mantle of work ethics they have bestowed upon us or keep on whining as a pretext of our incapability. We must understand that the world is leaping forward with every passing moment and we should keep up or else we are bound to fall back. Post independence, we have not done justice to our potential and Bengal have always been a struggler with respect to rest of the states. Not undermining the political game of chess between central and state, and acknowledging the fact of central governments (irrespective of ruling party) predisposition towards other states over Bengal, we have ourselves to blame for our present state. Joblessness with consequential brain drain, increase in crime rate is reaching alarming proportion. The ‘gray matter’, on which Bengalis were proud of, has faded into oblivion, which is evident from the fact of our non-performance in national and international level. Sporadic spurt of brilliance is not going to symbolize consistency as a race, which we must understand.


New year 2018 is in the corner, I am an optimist and truly believe that Bengal will rise and rise to prove a point or two.

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