Pocket Garer Math

The Gorer Math or the Maidan as we call it, is the large and grassy expanse of open space right in the heart of the city of Kolkata.

We used to call it the Garer Math in our childhood or youth. I think the word Maidan came much later. 

The word must have been coined because it was and remains today the wide open field ( Math ) in front of a fort ( Gar ), the Fort Williams , which the British had established as their army headquarters to control their interests, later the empire.They had left a field wide and open in front in order to be able to spot and track any approaching army. The rear was protected by the river Ganges or Hoogly as it is called here.

The Maidan is not as grassy or green as we have seen it in our childhood , but dotted with trees, it still remains one of the few places in the city one can go for a walk in the morning or evening or even in the daytime in winter to have a breath of fresh air. One can spend idle time with the family sitting on a bench or on the grass and enjoy the sunset across the river Hoogly ( Ganges ) which flows by in the west. Or just savour the beauty of the Victoria Memorial in the south and the chaotic vibrancy of Kolkata life all around.

The press rightly termed it the ‘lungs of the city’ which continue to supply some much needed oxygen to a city which is being depleted of this basic and essential element everyday through the toxic emissions of a tottering transport system and the garbage and filth that the congested city fails to clear with any degree of efficiency.

 This patch of green, this lung of Kolkata, was under periodic invasion for a number of years by Fairs of all kinds and by occassional but large political assemblies and the consequent littering and rampage were starting to give early signals of pulmonary diseases which afflict  the rest of Kolkata.

Thanks to the pressures brought in by environmentalists, more so by the persistent crusade of Subhas Dutta and finally the intervention of the High Court, the Trade Fairs and Book Fairs held in the Maidan at regular intervals have now been shifted. The  political rallies have also moved away, though only a short distance, to choke Kolkata traffic and cause more immediate inconvenience to its people.

I do not know when Garer Math entered our vocabulary in a figurative sense in the expression 'pocket garer math' but whenever it was, it remains as meaningful today as it was then. The Bengalee pocket has always remained more or less 'garer math' i.e empty or without any money.( There are always exceptions ).

 Even if Garer Math becomes greener and more trees grow on it- I hope that happens- with things as they are, I do not see any prospect of money flowing into Bengalee pockets or for that matter in the State. But our heart will remain at the right place, both medically and otherwise.