When I got married three decades ago, the south Kolkata neighbourhood of Jadavpur, with the eponymous university, came into my life along with a lot else. My wife's extended family lived there and my father-in-law was a retired professor of the university. Initially, I looked down upon the locality a bit. Its defining noise was of cycle-rickshaw horns that dragged late into the night; making it so different from the khandani ambiance of Harish Mukherjee Road in Bhowanipore where I had grown up.
The main streets of Jadavpur, then already crowded, are today worse - hugely overburdened by an incredible mix of cars, auto rickshaws, cycle rickshaws and, of course, people. Many attempts, only partially successful, have been made to bring some order into this chaos. During important festivals, even as the traffic increases, a part of the already inadequate carriageway is taken over by temporary stalls selling stuff for the occasion. But things actually get a little better then, as local volunteers try to keep different bits of traffic to their allotted space. It is a remarkable rationing of public space that goes down to haggling over inches.
Traffic snarls apart, the roads are narrow, the inner lanes narrower; pavements have mostly been taken over by hawkers; there is no greenery; and little garbage dumps defiantly linger along roadsides. But within this scenario, there has been one permanent improvement. The jams at the main intersection, with buses going in and out of the adjoining depot, are now better managed by the Kolkata Police who have taken over the task from their country cousins, the West Bengal Police.
This apart, something more subtle has happened. Notions of what kind of city development works have changed in recent times and, for myself, I have realised functionality matters more than smart looks. Unsurprisingly, Jadavpur has gone up the urban pecking order, with property prices going way beyond what a visually unimpressive and unglamorous surrounding, not at all posh, would command. Today, it is a standing tribute to Jane Jacob's idea of "dense living", one that is far removed from what emerges from the drawing boards of city planners.
My ideas have also changed as over time I have discovered the incredible range of shops and wares to be found around the main market and on the road to the suburban railway station. Once on a mission to locate a reliable watch repair shop I eventually discovered one authorised to handle Titan pieces. In 45 minutes I not only got the job done with a sense of comfort but also at a highly affordable cost.
My ultimate experience in this was when after searching high and low, including at drug stores in far better known shopping areas, I was finally able to locate one that stocked the ayurvedic paste for gum massage that I had given up hope of using once I left Bangalore. The area also offers a huge range of internet and software service at incredibly cheap rates, driven no doubt by the needs and pockets of the university students.
What is also distinctive about the neighbourhood is its lively sense of public articulation. A part of the street in front of the main market entrance seems permanently set aside for public meetings and community pujas in season. Earlier it was Left Front events which dominated. Today, it is the Trinamool Congress dos - but the former have not been banished. Sometimes it is fringe groups that bravely blast away despite the non-existent audience. It is a veritable Hyde Park Speakers' Corner.
Old-timers repeat familiar laments about overcrowding and the way the independent houses with courtyards and even their own ponds are gone. But as the city, like a lot of the rest of the country, has in recent times turned unsafe for women, I have come to realise what is perhaps the greatest asset of the neighbourhood. The constant bustle on the streets that lasts till late at night makes Jadavpur as safe as you can imagine for women. This has been certified to me by our daughter who stayed for a time at her mama bari when she enrolled for a course at the university.
Of course, it is the milling groups of educated young people from the university that makes a difference. But by how much I got to realise when on returning to the city a couple of years ago I found the area full of young people from the northeast. And on late summer evenings there will be quite a few young girls who will not think twice before venturing out in very short shorts, moving around without a hint of wariness. This, in an area which is not by any means anglicised.
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