"It's impossible to reach Mamata's dharna manch at Singur, the entire Durgapur Expressway (the principle highway connecting Singur with Kolkata) is blocked," warned a friend. "Three-hours' journey will take you at least 6 to 7 hours and try and avoid the Expressway," he advised.
To beat the situation, we left Kolkata before dawn. Keeping in mind the friendly words of caution, we did not take the Expressway and instead took a not-so-impressive detour, only to discover an hour later that we were lost.
After struggling through numerous lanes and bylanes, we finally found a road that leads to Singur and reached the manch around 12.30 pm, just in time to catch Trinamool activists distributing brunch -- a queer concoction of muri and tarkari (puffed rice and curry) -- among the people gathered there.
When we arrived there, Banerjee was busy talking on her cell in a corner of the 20-foot tall manch. A group of men and women were guarding the flight of stairs leading to the dias to prevent any unwanted entry.
"Didi is extremely irked by a section of the media for their systematic misreporting. In fact, she has banned the entire ABP group and another local television channel from the area surrounding the dharna manch," Purnrndu Bose told rediff.com.
Image: Farmers and supporters being served brunch
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