Was it some kind of a crisis question? What was Antara and her peers competing for? Antara got her 'story' long after her parents were gone, no one wanted to know her even after she learnt her narrative.
Well played CPUSA, but where was the competition? Antara was not even part of society.
i. Let's pick the topics and sort them out. The monthly fees for Asansol AG Church school were deposited at the local branch of a nationalised bank. Since the bank kept regular hours, which coincided with school hours, it meant either of the parents would have to deposit the school fees and the get the 'fees book' stamped.
Antara's father had great difficulty remembering which class she was in, which section, he frequently wrote it wrong, often the bank clerk corrected him, "No, Antara has now gone up to Class 6A, she was not in Class 5, she had never been in section B."
If we were in the wrong class and any genocide against our people was not being considered, we were surely not competing for banking careers and privileges.
ii. There was no cafetaria or canteen at Asansol AG Church, so no way could one have a meal or even buy a snack. Also, no arrangement for a soda fountain (introduced in India by 1991) or plastic cutlery or paper tissues. So we were not competing over etiquette either.
iii. There was a golgappa-seller and an ice-cream cart outside the school gate. Either of Antara's parents fetched her from school, and they wouldn't let her eat from these food vendors. Anjali was of the opinion that the golgappa-seller was a drug peddler, and apparently he used the water from the nearby gutters to make the golgappas.
Antara had argued, wasn't it easier for him to carry a bottle of water from home than dredge the water from the gutters? But it was an obvious scare tactic, and Anjali would reply, "You eat there once, you'd keep going back, that was his trick".
Most of the students who rode the school buses from far-flung areas ate that food, after school hours. Being wealthy and becoming US citizens didn't change who you used to be. Nor were we competing over support systems.
iv. Antara studied at Asansol AG Church for more than a decade.
On one occasion, Anjali had allowed her to have the golgappa, "obviously, you'd be sick, have it on Friday, get well over the weekend." By Friday evening, Antara was down with fever, by the next morning, the physician had diagnosed paratyphoid. She missed school for a week.
A few years ago, when Antara had read the biography about the strange life and death of Heinrich Himmler, she found out that he had once contracted paratyphoid.
Thank goodness Antara didn't have golgappas ever again, it was one thing to be AAP's victim, quite another to be associated with Himmler. Anjali's scaremongering had worked, so no question of competition there.
v. Because they came from faraway, colliery school buses often stopped at Asansol market. Students, sometimes teachers, often picked up their groceries, bought clothes or other necessities, did their shopping on their way back from school.
It was not unusual that say, the school had given over at 3 pm, Antara had reached home soon enough, had gone with her mother to Asansol market around 6 pm, and would come across AG schoolgirls and even her classmates, roaming around, still in their school uniform.
For some reason, NS Road felt it should not be allowed, "Why in their school uniform? They could keep a change of clothes etc." Most Asansol schools didn't allow evening shopping in school uniform, so who was surprised that gradually, Asansol AG was becoming altogether different, attacking Antara because she was isolated, while they had active military support on Operation Market Garden?
Antara cannot possibly compete over military/WWII blackmails.
vi. What Antara was offering was a fair and somewhat blinkered view of a certain way of life. She was a quiet, shy sort. The colliery buses had boys and girls travelling from four or five English-medium schools based in Asansol. Romantic affairs on the school buses were rampant, Antara shunned such details, hence the distorted reality.
Imagine end of school, some (possibly Himmler) golgappa, the occasional shopping at Asansol market, being driven to the boys' schools to pick up the boys, then a couple of hours ride home, as evening drew near, without any parents' or teachers' scrutiny. Surely it was fun growing up that way, what's the rage about?
June 2, 2025.
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