Complaint
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| Thu, 02-26-2004 - 12:30am |
I am a frequent iVillage visitor, and I often browse through the advice columns. I was reading through "Long Distance Love: Making it Work" where Sherry Amatenstein replied to Terri's question. I did not like Sherry's reference to Calcutta in her response:
"Try to think of this period of your life, not as the equivalent of dropping into the black hole of Calcutta, but rather as if you're embarking on a great adventure."
BLACK HOLE of Calcutta? Calcutta is my hometown. Calcutta is not a black hole. This is the third nasty reference to my city that i have come across this week (the other two were from American TV shows). Calcutta is known to many as the City of Joy. Calcutta has a prestigious history. Calcutta is an amazing place to live in today as well. Calcutta is not a freaking black hole. WHERE did you get such a naive idea? Do not tell me it is a figure of speech because it Should Not Be one. I am extremely disappointed with such narrow views. I doubt you have even lived in Calcutta long enough to pass such judgement.
Please do not do this again.
Thank you,
Anindita Hom-Choudhury

Hello aninditah, welcome to the board!
While I can understand that you may not like the term, please try to understand that the term originated long before any of us were here...
Here is the dictionary definition...
black hole
\Black" hole`\ A dungeon or dark cell in a prison; a military lock-up or guardroom; -- now commonly with allusion to the cell (the Black Hole) in a fort at Calcutta, into which 146 English prisoners were thrust by the nabob Suraja Dowla on the night of June 20, 1756, and in which 123 of the prisoners died before morning from lack of air.
So, even though I can understand your distaste for the term and that you may feel that it should not be a figure of speech, it is, and has been for almost 250 years. I doubt that using the term reflects on anyone's views of Calcutta itself or of the people who live there but rather was used as a term indicative of it's origin.
tg