At 56, Mamata's personal care comes of age

Didis makeover

But long before the winds of change sweep over an impoverished Bengal, Mamata has made a near-complete make-over of herself.

What with a touch of facials, properly pedicured and manicured feet and hands, and some hair dye, Bengal’s 56-year-old stormy petrel, out to topple one of the most efficient and entrenched political machines in the country, has transformed the way she appears.

According to some of her trusted aides, who preferred to remain anonymous, Didi began consulting the cosmetic division of Keya Seth’s Ayurvedic Solution, a north Calcutta-based beauty salon three years back when she took charge of the Railway ministry. Sources disclosed, Keya Seth’s beauticians visit Mamata’s humble Kalighat residence at regular intervals to offer beauty solutions and healthcare treatments.

“It has been quite a transformation for Mamata. Time was when she would simply tie her unkempt hair in a bun, don her rubber sandals, pick up her shell glasses and leave for a political programme,” said a senior party functionary.

Of late, though, Mamata has become more “careful” about the way she presents herself. She still drapes herself in crisp Tangail saris, but before she leaves for a political rally or a meeting “she dabs some make-up on her face”, the amused Trinamool source said, unable to muffle a chuckle.

The toe and finger nails are immaculately shaped and filed (courtesy, beauticians at Keya Seth), they carry a dash of light-coloured nail polish, the hair is carefully tied in plaits and the shell glasses have been replaced with an elegant steel-framed spectacle. The once-calloused fingers now appear to be more elegant.

The personal image make-over is quite against expectation, especially because for years she led an austere lifestyle in a simple house in Kalighat. The almost imperceptible change has also brought to fore her sense of aesthetics: her inclination to paint abstracts, “whatever they might be worth”, as some of Kolkata’s painters preferred to describe her work on canvas.

“She colours, does not paint,” said an artist making light of her paintings that recently fetched nearly Rs 1 crore, dished out mainly by some of Kolkata’s Marwari businessmen.