The iconic transport system is bound for the same fate as bookstores and cinema halls that have become rubble
The iconic transport system is bound for the same fate as bookstores and cinema halls that have become rubble
Sometimes we wait for things to be erased from our lives so that we can mourn them, because mourning them is more fashionable than celebrating them, because the emotes we compose seem to care for us – even if in reality We are not.
What better example than a bookstore? From time to time we shed tears at their disappearance from the landscape of our lives; We shoulder each other during this collective mourning; We remind, we remember. Emotional pieces are written — and shared widely — every time a legendary bookstore closes. Such fragments evoke sadness and anger, and while trying to find the villain behind such closure, it is not realized that the villain is none other than us. If bookstores are closing, it is because we have stopped going there. A once busy bookstore owner will not run his business just to maintain continuity in your life; He also has family and living expenses to support him.
The bookstore – and its closure – is quickly forgotten as something else takes over our hearts; It could be the demolition of the ever popular cinema hall. Suddenly, again, there is a mass outpouring of sadness and anger. How did your parents watch your first movie together after marriage, how did you grow up watching movies in that hall yourself. What you didn’t mention is that one day you stopped going to this cinema hall – instead opted to go to the multiplex – and that’s why it’s closing.
Kolkata’s iconic tram is bound for the same fate as bookstores and cinema halls that were once a household name but turned into rubble to make way for malls or housing complexes.
The Tram Art Gallery has been started in Kolkata so that artists can rent a tram and use it to display their works as it travels around the city. photo credit: Debashish Bhaduri
The tram is almost gone; Barely two routes are functional today. And think about it, only until that day, Kolkata and tram were synonymous, in the sense that it was almost impossible to imagine one without the other.
The Kolkata Tram is running since 1880. It was driven first by horses and then by steam; And by the end of 1905 it was being run on electricity. Its popularity as a means of transportation peaked in the 1970s, when the city had more than 50 tram routes, before beginning a slow and steady decline with the construction of the Underground Railway and the pace of life faster than the tram. It was done But till a decade ago, the sight of tram was common in Kolkata. What a reassuring sight it was, carrying the telescopes of the past into the present, making this city unique in the whole country.
Today, when you need a tram-like system more than ever, it has become rare to see a tram as a rainbow in Kolkata. Here, it is not just the citizens, even the planners are equally to blame. Integrating suburban railways, metro rail and trams into an effective transport network would not have required much imagination – just some willpower – that would have rid Kolkata of vehicular pollution, traffic congestion and parking problems. But no – we need something to shed tears. Especially Kolkata, which loves its past so much. He won’t get much love until the tram rolls past. You have to die to live.