a bad streak

I thought that my invincible power would hold the world captive, leaving me in a freedom undisturbed. Thus night and day I worked at the chain with huge fires and cruel hard strokes. When at last the work was done and the links were complete and unbreakable, I found that it held me in its grip
Rabindranath Tagore, Gitanjali

There might always have been a bit of self-destructive streak about the Bengalis. “We were always conscious of status. When Calcutta was the capital of India and the British were developing its industries, they had to bring in labour from the Indian states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, while the Bengali intelligentsia soaked up the language and customs of the educated classes. When I joined the State Bank of India in the late Sixties, only one per cent of peons – Class Four workers – were Bengalis. But that ratio changed dramatically by the time I retired in 2001. It has taken us a lot of time, but Bengalis have realised that one needs to work to survive in today’s world. They would rather have died hungry in the Fifties and Sixties. They have paid dearly."

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