A handful of Calcuttans resisted the temptation to extract a midweek holiday out of Wednesday's trade union bandh, showing lakhs of others who lolled around at home what it takes to have a productive day at work or play, strike or no strike.

Tamaghna Banerjee, Rith Basu, Subhajoy Roy and Chandreyee Ghose spoke to a few of the faces that braved the pandemic of bandh lethargy

Rajarshi Dutta

This young civil engineer employed with a private construction company walked around a kilometre from his home in Jadubabur Bazar, Bhowanipore, till the Hazra crossing to find transport. When a minibus on the Mominpur route came along around 8.40am, Rajarshi was happy to hop on and hopeful of reaching his office on time, as usual.

"I don't support sitting at home on a bandh day, smug in the belief that it is like a holiday. I know many others in my office won't turn up but I choose not to be in that brigade," he said.

On a normal day, the 20-something engineer catches a direct bus to Mominpur from near his home. He had stepped out half an hour earlier than usual on Wednesday, just in case finding a bus to his destination would be difficult.

"Although plenty of government buses were plying, I couldn't find a direct bus on my route. I began walking and thought of taking an auto from Hazra. But I finally managed to get my usual bus," he smiled.

Pratik Mitra

Around 11am, on Southern Avenue, Pratik Mitra was the lone passenger on an air-conditioned bus. A resident of Chandernagore, across the Hooghly, Pratik had started from home around 9am, taken a train to Howrah and then boarded the bus to reach his office on Fern Road, off Gariahat.

"I make it a point to be in office on every bandh day. I remember there was a disruption in train services during a bandh three years ago and I took out my motorbike and reached office on time," said Pratik, who works for a courier company.

On Wednesday, the reward for his toil was a far more comfortable journey to work than on a normal day. "On other days, it is difficult to get a seat even on an AC bus. Today, I feel like I own the bus!" quipped the dedicated executive in his 30s.

Gautam Dey

The CSTC bus conductor stepped out of home at 6am, cycled around 4km to reach Garia and boarded a bus to reach Kasba by 7.15am. He didn't want to be even a minute late for work on Wednesday, let alone skip duty. After all, the order to report for duty on time had come from the chief minister, no less.

The air-conditioned bus AC 24 was out of the depot at 7.30am with eight passengers, besides conductor Gautam and the driver. "Till our last stop in Howrah, the maximum passengers we had on board was 17. On the return journey, we started with 12 passengers, 16 fewer than the total number of seats," he said.

Gautam doesn't mind coming to work on a bandh day and appreciates that the government arranges pick-up and night stay for employees living far away from Calcutta. What he fails to understand is the lack of passengers despite the administration ensuring that transport is available.

"We have so many buses on the road today. None of the transport workers in our depot is absent. But our buses won't generate enough revenue to even cover the fuel costs," he said, pointing to the lone passenger on AC 24 as it passed Gariahat.

The passenger was a transport department employee headed for his office.

Garima Bengani

The software company Garima, 23, works for had offered her a pick-up at 5am but she chose to reach her office in Sector V, Salt Lake, on her own.

"My shift starts at 8am. To catch that office car, I would have had to wake up at 4am, which I thought was pointless," said Garima, an alumna of Mahadevi Birla Girls' Higher Secondary School.

She had to pay the taxi Rs 200 - "a few bucks extra" - for a ride from the Ruby rotary to Sector V but the journey was uneventful. "I think people get scared too easily these days. I know political parties go out of their way to prove their point. But still you can't let them get away with things like bandhs that inconvenience so many people," Garima said.

Attendance on bandh days is mandatory at Garima's office, but she would have reported for work anyway. "I have been working for four years and I have always attended office. Earlier, my parents would ask me not to venture out (during a bandh) but they no longer do so," said the resident of Kasba.

When Garima had started from home at 7.30am on Wednesday, there were few autorickshaws on the road. She had to wait five minutes "instead of a few seconds" for an auto to Ruby and the rest was a breeze, except for the extra charge.

Moumita Saha

Her daughter Samriddhi, a student of Class II at Welland Gouldsmith School in Baishnabghata, Patuli, couldn't understand why mommy's office was open when her school was closed. Further confusing the child, her father would be working from home.

At the Institute of Child Health, Park Circus, where Moumita is a part of the hospital administration, attendance wasn't compulsory on Wednesday. The lure of skipping office and spending a midweek day off with the family was strong, but Moumita said she didn't even give it a second thought.

"On principle, everyone should go to work on bandh days. Only if that happens will political parties realise how the common man hates such bandhs," said Moumita, whose roots are in Jiaganj, Murshidabad.

Moumita had to wait longer than usual at the Ajaynagar bus stop on the Bypass before a bus on the Patuli-Howrah route came along. By 3pm, when she left office for home, the number of buses had thinned. "After a long wait, I got a bus to Science City. But the entire area around the Parama rotary was near-empty. It was almost scary because the sight was strange for a weekday afternoon," she said.

After a 10-minute wait, she found an S9 bus with only a couple of passengers apart from her. "You just have to put all your fears at rest and venture out. Everything else falls into place," said Moumita of a day well spent at work.

Nitin Banthia

He didn't need to work on Wednesday but he ensured that wife Preksha, an HR professional at ILS Hospital in Salt Lake, reached her workplace on time. Chartered accountant Nitin Banthia, who lives near Howrah Maidan, dropped off his wife in Salt Lake and hung around with some friends till her lunch break.

"We plan to catch a show of Phantom before heading home in the evening. We usually get to spend only weekends together. Today was a bonus. It's good that my wife's workplace is near a mall," said Nitin in between a quick lunch of burgers at City Centre, Salt Lake.

Saurabh Halder

The BSNL engineer's day started at 6.45am, when he and his wife left their home in Sonarpur for Sodepur, the other end of town.

Saurabh's wife is a state government employee whose office is in Sodepur while his workplace is in Jadavpur. "I escorted my wife all the way to Sodepur just to be sure. I didn't want to take a risk," he said.

Metro met Halder at Sealdah station around 9.30pm. He had just returned from Sodepur and was walking towards the Sealdah (South) section to take a train to Jadavpur.

So, why didn't he choose to stay at home on Wednesday like most of Calcutta did. "Why waste a day's leave by taking it on a day I don't need it?" he shot back with a smile.

Rohan Poddar

He had taken leave from work on Wednesday before the bandh was announced. "I am travelling tomorrow. So I wanted to spend some fun time with friends today. In any case, a bandh can never kill my spirit," said Rohan, a lawyer.

Rohan, accompanied by friend and researcher Sneha Ghosh, was at South City Mall for a 1.15pm show of Phantom. "Most people are scared to venture out. I couldn't book tickets online as the service was shut for the day. But nothing would deter us. The only difference is that I chose to hire an Uber cab rather than drive to the mall. Nowhere else does a city come to a standstill this way during a bandh," he said.

Rohan said he would attend a business meeting in the evening. "A bandh is no reason to skip work even when you are on leave!" he said.

How did you beat the bandh? Tell ttmetro@abpmail.com