The story of Shovon Chakraborty should make every one of us angry. Very angry.
He worked as a security guard at a corporate office in Sector V, Salt Lake. From childhood, he had trained in Rabindra Sangeet. He loved Tagore’s songs and continued to sing them, not because it made him money, but because it was part of who he was. Financial circumstances never allowed him to make music his profession. He taught music to children instead.
After Covid, when the number of his students dwindled, he took up a job as a security guard.
Recently, a video of him singing a Rabindra Sangeet went viral.
And apparently, that was his crime. The company fired him. Their logic, reportedly, was that he could not sing while working as a security guard.
Yes, you read it right.
A man who works as a security guard, who happens to be a trained singer, sings a Rabindra Sangeet. Someone records it. The video becomes popular. And instead of feeling embarrassed that a talented human being is forced to stand guard at their office because he cannot make a living from his art, the company decides that his singing is an offence worthy of dismissal.
Is this our Kolkata?
The Kolkata that congratulates itself on being cultured. The Kolkata that invokes Tagore at every conceivable opportunity. The Kolkata that loves telling the rest of the country how progressive, intellectual and artistic it is.
We love Tagore’s songs when they are performed on a stage with expensive lighting or when someone sings them in his living room with expensive scotch in his hand. But when the same song comes from the throat of a security guard, suddenly there are rules.
Shame on us.
And no, I don’t mean just the company. I mean all of us. Because this is not really about one security guard. It is about the grotesque hierarchy we have quietly accepted, where a person’s job determines the value we assign to his humanity.
If you are a CEO, you are allowed to have passions. If you are a doctor, you are allowed to sing. If you are an actor, you are allowed to paint. If you are a corporate executive, you are allowed to write poetry.
But if you are a security guard?
Stand there. Be silent. Do your shift. Collect your salary. Don’t remind us that you might actually possess a talent, a dream, a life beyond the uniform.
Who gave anyone the right to decide that?
Shovon Babu himself has reportedly said that he does not want financial assistance. He wants to teach music to children.
So if you can help him find students, please do.
Shovon Chakraborty: 9874562353
I will also try to help find students for him.
And let’s demand an explanation from the company. Employers need to understand that their employees are human beings, not programmable furniture. A salary does not purchase someone’s dignity. A uniform does not erase someone’s identity.
And a security guard does not stop being a musician simply because he has been forced to earn his living standing at the gate of a corporate office.
The story of Shovon Chakraborty should make every one of us angry. Very angry.
He worked as a security guard at a corporate office in Sector V, Salt Lake. From childhood, he had trained in Rabindra Sangeet. He loved Tagore’s songs and continued to sing them, not because it made him money, but because it was part of who he was. Financial circumstances never allowed him to make music his profession. He taught music to children instead.
After Covid, when the number of his students dwindled, he took up a job as a security guard.
Recently, a video of him singing a Rabindra Sangeet went viral.
And apparently, that was his crime. The company fired him. Their logic, reportedly, was that he could not sing while working as a security guard.
Yes, you read it right.
A man who works as a security guard, who happens to be a trained singer, sings a Rabindra Sangeet. Someone records it. The video becomes popular. And instead of feeling embarrassed that a talented human being is forced to stand guard at their office because he cannot make a living from his art, the company decides that his singing is an offence worthy of dismissal.
Is this our Kolkata?
The Kolkata that congratulates itself on being cultured. The Kolkata that invokes Tagore at every conceivable opportunity. The Kolkata that loves telling the rest of the country how progressive, intellectual and artistic it is.
We love Tagore’s songs when they are performed on a stage with expensive lighting or when someone sings them in his living room with expensive scotch in his hand. But when the same song comes from the throat of a security guard, suddenly there are rules.
Shame on us.
And no, I don’t mean just the company. I mean all of us. Because this is not really about one security guard. It is about the grotesque hierarchy we have quietly accepted, where a person’s job determines the value we assign to his humanity.
If you are a CEO, you are allowed to have passions. If you are a doctor, you are allowed to sing. If you are an actor, you are allowed to paint. If you are a corporate executive, you are allowed to write poetry.
But if you are a security guard?
Stand there. Be silent. Do your shift. Collect your salary. Don’t remind us that you might actually possess a talent, a dream, a life beyond the uniform.
Who gave anyone the right to decide that?
Shovon Babu himself has reportedly said that he does not want financial assistance. He wants to teach music to children.
So if you can help him find students, please do.
Shovon Chakraborty: 9874562353
I will also try to help find students for him.
And let’s demand an explanation from the company. Employers need to understand that their employees are human beings, not programmable furniture. A salary does not purchase someone’s dignity. A uniform does not erase someone’s identity.
And a security guard does not stop being a musician simply because he has been forced to earn his living standing at the gate of a corporate office.
@khurpenchh ब्रो के धागे खोल दिए आपने सबके सामने
खुल गए चिट्ठे तो ब्रो लगा काँपने
स्ट्राइक मार के सोचता है ब्रो कि छुपा लेगा ख़ुद को
पर बैक-टू-बैक ट्वीट देख के खुरपेंच के ब्रो लगा हाँफने
Her name is Vijayalakshmi. She is playing 'Gayathiri Veena" which was made by her father and it has only one string. She recently won a Guinness World Record for playing the Gayathiri Veena for 24 hours continuously. She played 64 songs at a time.
Surprising factor - she is blind.
@Airaasayss If Red is the right answer, then what is the sense of the riddle?
Right answer is White.
How? The answer is- we have to search the smallest one. For that you find in letter A in word Black. See carefully, in the upper side of letter A, you find a White triangle.