Shukhobrishti Handover Ceremony

The West Bengal government and HIDCO are making every effort possible to give New Town an image makeover. They are trying every arrow in their quiver to hit the target. In the same vein an elaborate arrangement had been done for a ceremonial hand over of 1500 apartments at Shukhobrishti the mass housing project in Action Area III.

SP Shukhobrishti is one of a kind mass housing project which by the end of it will have 20,000 dwelling units and by that effect about 100,000 people living under it's shelter.

The entire political glitterati were to be present at this symbolic event where a chosen few would get the keys to their dream home personally by the esteemed guests.  To bring into focus the corporate - state partnership, they even decided to fly down the SP, CEO of Shapoorji Pallonji's real estate ventures - Kekoo Colah, a very well spoken individual.

Despite the housing minister - Gautam Deb's multiple offers to the Ms. Mamata B., some even bordering on insanity; to which she never did warm up. Ms. Big B has this unflinching faith in her abilities, her unwavering philosophy and her continued stance of non-cooperation which could even do a Mahatma Gandhi proud !

All road this on this rainy afternoon led to Shukhobrishti, as you can see in the pictures below ...

Tailgating a police jeep ...

Dark clouds over New Town, quite literally so !

Welcoming Shapoorji Pallonji ...

Bridge on the river kwai ...

गाय हमारी माता है, हमको कुछ नहीं आता है :)

The last stretch of the short drive to Shukhobrishti, is rather rocky and puts the suspension of your car to some test. The SP site wore a festive look ready to welcome the HIDCO and political big wigs.The main entrance was decorated with cloth pillars and banners, a huge tent had been put up, a couple of hundred red plastic chairs were thrown in. And you think the color of the chairs was a mere coincidence, think again my friend. Red is THE color even if for only a few months more ;-)

Rows of red chairs ...

Guests pouring in ...

The Shukhobrishti buildings in the background ...

We walked in through a makeshift metal detector frame (sorry no pictures of that) and took couple of seats and made ourselves comfortable. We were welcome by a Rabindrasangeet singer. The extra loud Peavey speakers (Designed in USA - What about down with imperialism ? Changing face of communism ? May be so !) . The loud speakers were making sure, the songs were heard even a few miles down the road.

The clock struck four and the countdown started to the CM's arrival. The Rabindrasangeet singer picked up pace. Buddha babu showed up bang on time, lead by a North Patrol Car 1.  Along with him came the rest of the babus and sahebs - Gautam Deb Babu, Abdur Razzak Mollah Saheb, Abdus Sattar Saheb, Rabindranath Mondal Babu, Saurabh Kumar Das, MD, HIDCO and last but not the least the corporate face of event Mr. Kekoo Colah.

The stage was set for the dignitaries with high back chairs  and tables covered with spotless white sheets, neatly lined awaited their hosts.

I have to admit, I was impressed by the clock work precision with which the events unfolded. The CM drove in his chariot of white ambassador cars. A lady from the TV circuit, whose name I do not know, was the compere for  the afternoon. She spoke both English and Bengali with equal elan. She introduced the eminent guests. The Rabindrasangeet singer was done for the day and was NOT even introduced to the audience. It was now the turn of the HIDCO officials and the politicians to sing their song, and so they did.

First to take the stage was Saurabh Das, Managing Director, HIDCO. Mr. Das spoke in an accent very uncharacteristic of Kolkata and/or Bengal. He spoke about the philosophy of New Town, the ethos behind it. He positioned SP Shukhobrishti as a New Town landmark similar to Great Indian Mall in Ghaziabad (I think he misspoke here though, this should be Noida),  Ansals Plaza in Greater Noida and few other examples. His speech was a smattering of Hindi, English, Bengali and some buzzwords like mass housing, malls, fly overs, philosophy, ethos and such ...

Then came, Robindronath Mondol; M.L.A - who spoke like a politician,  Mr. Kekoo Coolah- suave, well meaning, smooth talking corporate citizen who did highlight the fact even if very politely, that HIDCO and the government do need to step up the ante and speed up the development process in New Town to make the place truly liveable,  Abdur Rezzak Mollah was the Mr. 'Smarty Pants', kept his speech short and sweet, made a jab at Ms. B, succinctly though, Abdus Sattar again spoke like a politician, the housing minister Gautam Deb started slow, but made an aggressive comeback and turned fire brand, started with New Town and how the political opposition is killing it, and ended by playing to the galleries by playing the Hindu vs. Muslim card. Lastly came the CM. It was starting to get dark and the audience which mainly comprised of the construction workers from the area was starting to get restless and tired of clapping at intervals.

We guessed that waiting till the end of CM's speech might not be a great idea as there is going to be a mass exodus of nearly a 1000 people, which would clog the exits and the roads out of the venue. The CM was not going to be revealing anything earth shattering anyhow, he would have reiterated pretty much the same talking points that were made by all the speakers before him. Clearly from TRP standpoint, they should have let the CM speak earlier, but what do I know ?

Following are some videos I captured at the event (please excuse the grainy quality and lack of close ups of speakers, due to not being seated at a vantage point, however the very crisp and clear audio makes up for it to a certain extent).

SP Shukhobrishti - Ceremonial Handover - Introduction

Kekoo Colah, CEO Shapoorji Pallonji - Real Estate



Saurabh Kumar Das, MD, HIDCO