Articles by Flibbertigibbet

CALCUTTA DIARY Come November: Or Don't Flibbertigibbet BENGALI intellectuals have long prided themselves, with only limited factual basis, that their city, Calcutta, resembles Paris in its argumentative fervour and artistic vigour. Then came the recent student and workers' riots in Paris and other French cities. A Bengali intellectual happened to be in London at the time; and he lost no time at all in suggesting that students in Paris were only emulating the students of Calcutta. Another writer in Calcutta gave the palm to the students of Djakarta. "Sir", as Dr Johnson said, "there is no point of precedency between a louse and a flea". While in West Bengal today, in spite of the imminence of the November midterm poll, that about sums up the electorate's attitude towards the Congress and the United Front, the two main contestants, if the United Front does not disintegrate and the Congress maintains its facade of unity, there are many other straws in the wind which resemble conditions in Paris in the last few gasping months of the Fourth Republic

CALCUTTA DIARY The Long Harm of the Law Flibbertigibbet ITS all over. Or, has it just begun? On November 29 the West Bengal Assembly met

CALCUTTA DIARY The Nanda of Notting Hill Flibbertigibbet RECENTLY I spoke of Edward VII as not being the ruler of West Bengal todayThis week a newspaper has brought in Shakespeare's 'Henry V without quoting this marvellous piece:

A Show, A Visits An Assault Flibbertigibbet ON SEPTEMBER 18 the West Ben. gal Congress took out its first procession against the United Front Government; and an impressive show it was. Some 25,000 people participated in it; the crowd was fairly well disciplined, despite provocations; and the party seems pleased as Punch, A notable absentee among the leaders was Atulya Ghosh; another, Prafulia Sen, the former Chief Minister. And thereby hang several tales. It is said that Atulya Ghosh and Prafulia Sen are not quite getting on. That attempts are afoot to remove Ghosh and his friends from the leadership of the State Congress is a secret no more. Whether these efforts enjoy the support of Prafulia Sen seems less clear; and the descent of Gulzarilal Nanda from Delhi makes the picture clear as mud.

September 16, 1967 with Hindi? This, too, is shortsighted. It can be justified only if English is to be the sole link language of the Indian Union. If there is to be an indefinite co-existence of two link languages, then every Indian who wishes to go places in India will have to have a smattering at least of both these languages. It is just good luck for the Hindi-speaking peoples that their mother-tongue happens to be one of these languages. They might be compelled to learn some other modern Indian language but they need not. But the non-Hindi peoples have to learn the necessary amount of Hindi for comprehension and limited communication. This is not much of a burden. Indeed, the many Tamilians outside Tamilnad have easily taken it in their stride. It is certainly wrong of the Hindi chauvinists to go about attempting to compel a rapid transition to Hindi as the sole link language. But an anti-Hindi backlash will not help either. Hindi is far easier for the Indian peoples to learn than English, even for the vast majority of the Tamils.