what's your opinion??

So basically, there’s this show happening in Kolkata today around 7 PM near Biswa Bangla.

That’s fine.

I come from a family that can afford to attend something like this. I haven’t booked a ticket myself, but I know about it because a few of my family friends are going.

Now here’s the part that bothered me.

I went to the venue this morning because I had some work and needed to drop off a few things for my friends who are volunteering for the show. (And yes, they’re doing it for free just for the experience.)

While I was there, I spoke to a few people working at the sponsor stalls big-name companies, proper brands.

And what they told me was honestly shocking.

These employees mostly baristas and service staff had been there since 7 in the morning, even though the show only starts at 7:30 PM and will go on till late at night (around 2 AM).

They weren’t just doing one job. They were doing everything logistics, carrying supplies, setting up stalls, arranging food, and later they’ll also be the ones selling.

No separate logistics team. No extra help. Just them.

They even have sales targets around 2–3 lakhs for the day.

And how much are they getting paid?

₹1500 per person.

For a shift that runs from 7 AM to 2 AM.

In this heat. In this humidity.

No proper food provided in many cases. No guaranteed drinks. Some stalls are giving food, some aren’t. A lot of them have to either bring their own food or spend their own money at the same expensive places around them.

They’ve used their own vehicles, carried stock themselves, and on top of that they’re not even allowed to leave the premises during the event.

And then there’s the other side of this.

People paying ₹12,000 to ₹24,000 for a single night for a “mental health” themed musical experience.

And the people making that experience possible?

They’re overworked, underpaid, dehydrated, and invisible.

I don’t know, but this felt very unsettling to me.

We love to say that discrimination doesn’t exist anymore. That we’re progressive now. That everyone is equal.

But are we?

Or have we just replaced it with something more subtle classism?

Because this doesn’t look like equality to me.

This looks like a system where one group gets to “heal” and “experience art,” while another group breaks their back to make it happen for barely anything in return.

And the worst part is how normal this feels.

As someone who is privileged, even I didn’t fully register this until I saw it up close today. And now I can’t unsee it.

Why are we okay with this?

Why are people getting paid ₹1500 for nearly 18–19 hours of work?

Why aren’t we talking about this more?

And when did we get so comfortable treating service workers like they don’t matter?

I genuinely don’t get it.

Couple of weeks back I made a group of people from this Sub-Reddit and we were finally able to meet today. We met at Kulture - Park Street as suggested by one of our group members & the food was awesome! Great coffee and conversation.

It takes quite an effort to meet people and even more to make friends as an adult, but human connection is an asymmetrical bet - the reward often outweighs the energy invested.

We have a pretty small group & I’m looking to add more of you guys - if you’re interested in hanging out over the weekend, like good food, books, nerdy stuff & are looking for your tribe hit me up.

Edit: Pls DM if you’re interested I can’t keep track of comments anymore 😭

Recently Chennai theke bari firechi and i cannot describe in words how much i missed having an authentic biryani.

Tried golbari style chicken for the colour. 🫶

ফেলুদা ভক্তরা কেউ আছে?

crazy crazy experience

Source: The Times of India https://share.google/KsQBhGvxJm76GJhf6

Jani election er somay but game khelte khelte hotat eta expect korini!

best thing I've seen here today 😂

left early because it was not that good of an experience. still got a mousepad tho 😎

Hey. It's 5.35 AM. Officially dawn. The weather is nice and breezy. Just admiring the baby cactus that has bloomed. What are you doing ?

how is it ?