POLITICIAN LAUNCHES JEWELLERY LINE

Calcutta, Sept 17: This feat Didi is unlikely to pull off.

Perhaps losing is a good thing. Being attached to a party that is not up to much can also help. It frees time for other things.

Deepa Das Munshi, Mamata Banerjee's political rival from the Congress, or Boudi, who lost Bhowanipore to Didi in the Assembly elections, launched her own line of big, bold, statement-making silver jewellery today at a city store, translating her trademark style into designer items. It is called Fiddah.

Didi and Boudi, called so because she is the wife of veteran Congress leader Priya Ranjan Das Munshi, have not seen eye-to-eye from Banerjee's days in the Congress, neither politically nor sartorially. Among other things, Didi, of the bare white sari, has certainly shown no taste for chunky silver jewellery.

So this is a new role? "No, no," says Das Munshi, the former Union minister of state for urban development, always draped in the finest handloom saris of the brightest shades.

Didi and Boudi throw their voices differently too. "It is an old role in a new way," Das Munshi says softly. She has always been into making silver jewellery, which, she thinks, needs to be elevated to a higher status.

In a silver-grey sari, she is, as always, wearing big silver pieces on her neck, ears and wrist. The big bindi is in place too. But it is a little odd to watch Das Munshi, otherwise seen mostly in election campaigns surrounded by crowds, checking out her jewellery pieces in the display cases at Weavers Studio, an exclusive store selling hand-woven textiles that is a destination for the well-heeled.

She is being assisted by a young man. The staircase leading to the store is decorated with flowers; Das Munshi has bought juin, bel and shiuli flowers herself to liven up the store area.

The jewellery she is wearing has also been made by her. On her neck is an antique piece, a silver figurine of Krishna she bought from Tamil Nadu. This she has fitted with other smaller silver pieces, above and below, given Krishna a flute to hold and attached the assembled pendant to a rope of bead-strings.

Unlike her politics, Das Munshi's jewellery is not for everyone. The Krishna pendant costs Rs 45,000.

A woman comes rushing into the store, one of the first buyers (the first 10 will get a 5 per cent discount). The visitor wants the neckpiece Das Munshi is wearing, but a smaller version. "I saw it in the paper and came running first thing in the morning," she says.

An intricate silver bangle inlaid with ivory with costs Rs 13,000. A pair of bangles inlaid with a green stone the colour of jade costs Rs11,000. Das Munshi proudly displays a giant pendant, constituted with a peacock statue, attached to other silver pieces. It costs Rs 75,000. "Jewellery can be a sculpture," she says.

"I had to mark the price up," says Das Munshi, keeping the cost of production in mind. She has always been making silver jewellery, she says, for herself and for friends. Now at the insistence of Darshan Shah of Weavers Studio, a friend, she is exhibiting her creations for the first time.

Since it is Puja time, many of the pieces have little figures of deities in them; jhumkas come with trishuls attached. "This exhibition is to see if people will like it. If they do, we will think of other things," Das Munshi says.

Is it goodbye to politics, then? Not at all, says Das Munshi, who divides her time between Delhi, where her husband has remained hospitalised since 2008 following a stroke and paralysis, and North Dinajpur, which was first Priya Ranjan's, and then her, constituency. She also visits Bhowanipore, where she crossed swords with Didi last.

Das Munshi strongly resents the "horse-trading" in current Bengal politics, from the parent Congress party into Didi's Trinamul. But what she finds most troubling, she says, is the fear in people's minds. No one can ignore that Didi got an overwhelming mandate, she says, but would like to know the level of fear that led to the mandate.

And come election time, she will be back on the turf, fighting, Boudi promises.

With Didi and Boudi likely to go on wearing their white and colourful saris, respectively, and have their own views on accessories, not to mention politics, the future of Bengal looks like a study of contrasts.

But is it really? Didi is indeed unlikely to go for silver jewellery, but on second thoughts, she is not averse to clothes or design. She has backed Biswa Bangla, which has its own fashion and jewellery component. Didi has also exhibited her own talent, through art exhibitions, books of poetry and singing of Tagore and inspirational songs.

Your rivals, or ex-rivals, tell a lot about you.