What does one make of the present generation of time-serving Bengali intellectuals, quack literati and their culturally half-baked political patrons? The most prominent specimen of the latter is Mamata Banerjee, whose rise in West Bengal politics is a sign of the bankruptcy of the traditional Bengali left, as well as the political cul-de-sac that the intelligentsia are facing. As for the latter, it is a combination of naivety among a few, a knee-jerk support for an opposition political leader by some, and a calculated bid by others to make hay under her patronage, that has paved the way for Mamata's success in the Bengali cultural scene.