Didi Dum Dum Didi Dum Dum

On the day that results were to be announced I didn't bother to wake up early and station myself in front of the television because I had no great hopes. It was only when I went downstairs and found a Bengali channel in the sitting room announcing a spectacular lead for the Trinamul-Congress combine that I realized something major was happening. As the day wore on the extent of people's anger against the Left started becoming delightfully clear. Then at 4:10 pm or so, our Prime Minister Manmohan Singh (how can I not be proud of this self-effacing, soft-spoken, extremely well-behaved man?) and Congress President Sonia Gandhi (who for me personifies quiet dignity and good taste) appeared in front of live television cameras to acknowledge the fact that the nation had given a clear verdict in their favour. I had to take a picture of that moment, not only for the image but also for the extraordinary ticker under it: "Mamata, Congress Beat Left in West Bengal"! Didi had not only taken Kolkata North (my Constituency), but Kolkata South, Jadavpur, DumDum, Barrackpore and fourteen other constituencies! Congress had taken some too, bringing the total to a spectacular 26! So how far were these figures from the ones bandied about my various exit polls? According to the CPI(M)-funded channel Chobbish Ghonta the Left was to win 28 seats and the Trinamul-Congress combine an unthreatening 13. (Their figures were the almost exact reverse of the actual results!!) NDTV gave the Left 22 and Trinamul-Congress, 19. Some other channels had given TMC-Congress between 19 and 20 seats and the Left between 22 to 23. Nobody had foreseen the Left being cut down to size with a victory in a measly 15 constituencies. This only means that most people surveyed had lied about who they would vote for. Good for them!! I always believed lying is underrated!:-)

The next morning when I went out to buy the papers, not ONE Bengali paper was available. Thank God my father had bought an Anandabazar Patrika, or I would have NO Bengali paper to save as souvenir of that historic morning.