The Marxists are out of power, the young continue to go abroad for jobs and higher studies. Calcutta, or Kolkata, has changed since the Sixties and Seventies.
Those were the years of the Vietnam war. While countries close to the war zone like Singapore actually thanked the Americans for fighting the communists, Indians — far removed, unthreatened by the war – could indulge in moral indignation. So did many Americans, of course. It was Americans who taunted President Lyndon Johnson, chanting: “Hey hey hey, LBJ, how many kids did you kill today?”
Some of the most popular English songs of that era were anti-war: Blowin’ in the Wind, Where Have All the Flowers Gone, Universal Soldier, If I Had a Hammer, I Feel Like I’m Fixin’ to Die, Give Peace a Chance.Continue Reading
