2017

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This is an imaginary story of two lovers in the year 2017. Any resemblance to any person living or dead is purely coincidental.



On 31st December 2016, Rahul went to a New Year bash at his friend's place in Salt Lake. It turned out to be a lovely party and he had a blast there. The music was awesome and the food was yummilicious. There at the party he met Rajannya. They instantly hit it off. They exchanged numbers and became the best of friends immediately. Every 31st December Rahul usually goes to some Club or Hotel but this time he decided to go to this house party. It seemed like he and Rajannya were destined to meet there. The party was amazing. The alcohol flew freely. There was rocking music played on Bose speakers. Every one had their share of fun. Around midnight every one hugged every one else. Rahul gave Rajannya a very tight hug. She left the party around 3 a.m. Rahul stayed back in his friend's place. After all the guests left, Rahul and his friend had a post-party adda/analysis till around 4 a.m. Then he went to sleep. He thanked his lucky stars about helping him to take this decision to come to this house party and not going to any Club or Hotel. 

Next morning Rahul woke up around 10 a.m. He had his breakfast with his friend, took a shower and then took an Uber and went straight to The Royal Calcutta Turf Club. He goes there every year on the first day of the year. It has become like a tradition for him. The previous night Rahul had asked Rajannya to come to RCTC and she agreed after some initial hesitations. Rahul told her to wear a gown with a hat if possible. On 1st January and Derby, women generally wear long gowns and beautiful hats at RCTC. Rajannya came to RCTC but was an hour late. She wore a beautiful black gown with a black hat. Rahul wore the previous night's dress only which was black suit, black trousers, black shirt, black shoes and a yellow tie. It was a Yves Saint Laurent tie.  Anyways they had a lovely day at the races. The place was too crowded. But overall it was a nice experience. 

From 1st January to 6th January Rahul and Rajannya spoke almost every day over phone. On the night of 7th January, Rahul took Rajannya to the Shaktigarh ground near Jadavpur 8B to attend this year's Baul-Fakir Utsav. She had never been to this festival before. She liked the ambience very much and most of the Baul songs were simply heart touching. Though some of the songs were not up to the standard. Rahul was carrying a sling bag and in it he had a bottle of Sprite which had 75% Sprite and 25% Smirnoff vodka. He also had another bottle of ThumsUp which had 75% ThumsUp and 25% Old Monk rum. The vodka was for Rajannya and the rum was for him. There he also met some of his friends and they smoked some grass too. Rajannya also took a few puffs. Around 2 a.m. he brought her to his house at Lake Gardens. Since they were already under the influence of Baul music therefore he put on the album 'Real Sugar' by Paban Das Baul and Sam Mills on his laptop. Rahul and Rajannya looked deep into each other's eyes. On one hand Paban Das Baul's voice merged into Sam Mills' music and on the other hand Rahul's eager lips merged into Rajannya's waiting lips. They started smooching badly. They smooched for 5 minutes and 23 seconds which was the duration of the first song 'Dil Ki Doya' in that album. They made love till 4 a.m. obviously with intervals and finally they went to sleep. Its an amazing experience to make love under the influence to alcohol, weed and Baul songs!

The next morning was Sunday. Rahul woke up around 8 a.m. Rajannya was still sleeping. Her sleeping face was angelic. He gently kissed her lips and then switched on his TV and started watching 'Rangoli' on Doordarshan. Ever since his childhood, Rahul always watches 'Rangoli' on Sunday mornings. Its like a tradition for him. 'Rangoli' is one of the longest running shows in Doordarshan. Slowly Rajannya woke up with Kishore Kumar singing from the TV - 'Oh Mere Dil Ke Chain' from the film 'Mere Jivan Sathi'. Rahul made Chafi for both of them. Chafi, for people who don't know this, is tea and coffee made together. You just boil water and put tea, coffee, milk and sugar into it. Let it boil for around 2 minutes. Chafi is a heavenly drink. Rahul also made breakfast for Rajannya. Then they took a shower together and made love under the shower. After this they went to Rajannya's house. Rajannya changed her dress and then they went to the Royal Calcutta Turf Club for the Derby races. As usual the place was very crowded. Rajannya wore a beautiful white gown with a floral white hat. There were a lot of gorgeous women all around. Rahul wore a white suit, white trousers, black shirt, red tie and also wore white shoes. He generally does not wear white shoes. He only wears them when he wears this white suit of his. 


On 20th January, Rahul and Rajannya met in front of Au Bon Pain at Park Street around 7 pm. From there they went to St. Xavier's College to inquire about the availability of passes for the upcoming Farhan Akhtar concert. After that they went to Mocambo for dinner. They ordered Prawn Cocktail and Devilled Crab for starters. Then for the main course, Rahul ordered Irish Chateaubriand Beef Steak and Rajannya ordered a Chicken Sizzler. After dinner they went to Some-Place-Else at Park Hotel to watch D-Trio's performance. D-Trio is a band which consists of Anjan Dutta, Amyt Dutta and Neel Dutta. It was a fascinating performance. Since his childhood days Rahul was always a big fan of Anjan Dutta. 

On 21st January, Rahul and Rajannya went to the Shobhabazar Rajbari in the afternoon to attend the Food Festival organized by Hangla Magazine. This is a bengali food magazine and in recent times this magazine has made a place for itself in the hearts of the bongs. There were various food stalls. Rahul and Rajannya had biryani from a food stall. In the evening they went to Xavotsav at St. Xavier's College. Later that night they went to Some-Place-Else. 

On 22nd January, Rahul and Rajannya went to Eden Gardens for the 3rd One Day International between India and England. It was a wonderful day of cricket at Eden. Around 9 p.m. it was clear that India was going to lose this match therefore Rahul and Rajannya left the stadium and walked to Aminia restaurant at Esplanade to have biryani. The visitors made 321 runs and eventually the hosts lost the match by only 5 runs.      

On 29th January, Rahul and Rajannya went to the Book Fair at Milan Mela ground. Throughout the afternoon they roamed throughout the Book fair. In the evening they went to St. Xavier's College to attend Farhan Akhtar's concert. Rajannya was a huge fan of Farhan. The college ground was too crowded, especially with students. Most of the students were dancing near the stage and therefore there was a dust cloud. Rahul is allergic to dust therefore he and Rajannya were at the back of the crowd. 

On 5th February, Rahul and Rajannya went to the Book Fair again. This was the last day of the Book Fair. They roamed throughout the fair ground and visited a lot of book stalls. They also bought a few books. Rajannya bought a painting from the Montmarte area inside the Book Fair from a village woman. It was a very beautiful painting depicting village life. At 9 p.m. when the bell rang for nine times then everybody started clapping. Its an awesome thing which happens every year on the last day of the Book Fair. 

On 14th February, Rahul and Rajannya met at Park Street in the evening to celebrate Valentine's Day. They first went to Au Bon Pain and had coffee there. Then for dinner they went to Moulin Rouge and later they went to Roxy at Park Hotel. Roxy was having a gala Valentine's party. The DJs played rocking music. Rahul and Rajannya stayed inside Roxy will 1 a.m. 

On 3rd March, Rahul and Rajannya went to ICCR to attend Kabir Suman's concert on bangla kheyal. Rahul has been a huge fan of Kabir Suman since his childhood days. Rajannya did not like his songs that much but still she went because of Rahul. From ICCR they went to London Pub. The singer Subholina Sen was performing at London Pub. They stayed at London Pub till midnight. 

On 5th March, Rahul and Rajannya went to Kabir Suman's concert at Chandannagar Rabindra Bhavan. First they went to Howrah station and from there they took a train to Chandannagar. From Chandannagar they took a toto and went to Rabindra Bhavan. Before the concert they went to the river bank. A cool breeze was blowing and the scenery was awesome. A lot of couples were hanging out near the river. After an hour they went inside the auditorium. Kabir Suman did an amazing concert. After the concert they again took a toto and came to the station. From there they took a train and came back to Howrah. 

On 21st April, Rahul and Rajannya went to Eden Gardens for the IPL match between KKR and Gujarat Lions. The match started at 8 p.m. Every year Rahul goes to atleast three IPL matches. The stadium had an electrifying ambience. Rahul and Rajannya sat on the lower tier at the Club House. From there they had a clear and direct view of Shah Rukh Khan and Juhi Chawla. King Khan waved at his fans many times. Also little Abram Khan was there on his daddy's lap. Rahul and Rajannya left the stadium around 11 p.m. and went to Some-Place-Else. Gujarat Lions won this match by 4 wickets. 

On 22nd April, Rahul and Rajannya went to Kala Kunj to celebrate the silver jubilee of Kabir Suman's first album TOMAKE CHAI. This concert was basically a tribute to the maestro by his students. They performed his songs on stage in chorus. The maestro also joined his students and played the keyboards and sang a few songs too. It was a wonderful programme. 

On 23rd April, Rahul and Rajannya took part in the procession from Jadavpur 8B to Kabir Suman's house at Baishnabghata to celebrate the 25th anniversary of his first music album TOMAKE CHAI. This music album was released by HMV on 23rd April 1992. Calcutta has seen a lot of processions since her birth. But for the first time she saw a procession in the honour of a music album for completing its silver jubilee. This can happen only in Calcutta and nowhere else in this world. Kabir Suman's fans were not carrying any weapons. The songs in their lips and the guitar in their hands were the only arms and ammunitions. The procession started around 4:30 p.m. from Jadavpur 8B crossing and it reached Kabir Suman's house after more than an hour. The people who participated carried banners and posters with the lyrics from the music album written on them. A 407-tempo was hired which had a music system and loudspeakers. The album TOMAKE CHAI was continuously being played there. The tempo moved in front of the procession. Once the procession reached 19G Baishnabghata Bye-Lane, everybody started to sing the song 'Tomake Chai' together. After some time the legend Kabir Suman came out of his house with a smiling face. A chair and a stool was arranged. Kabir Suman sat on that chair. He was presented with a chocolate cake. After the cake ceremony he interacted with his fans and spoke for another hour. Some media-persons were there. They recorded everything in their cameras. Finally after more than an hour he went back into his house. The crowd started dispersing slowly. A few people were left back. At last these few people sang a few more songs together and then everybody went back to their respective homes. From there Rahul brought Rajannya to his house. They took a shower together and made love with TOMAKE CHAI playing in his laptop. 

On 9th May, Rahul and Rajannya went to Kala Mandir to attend the concert by Kabir Suman. In this concert the maestro only sang rabindrasangeet. This programme was a tribute to Rabindranath Tagore. A few people requested Kabir Suman to sing some of his own songs but the maestro rejected these requests firmly and sang only rabindrasangeet. 

On 30th May, Rahul and Rajannya went to Academy Of Fine Arts for the opening ceremony of the 6th International Bratyojon Theatre Festival. Theatre groups from Russia, France and some other countries came to participate in this festival. For the opening ceremony, Kabir Suman performed bangla kheyal. After the concert Rahul and Rajannya went to Nandan and spent some time there drinking lemon tea. 

On 10th June, Rahul and Rajannya went to the newly opened Milee Droog Cafe inisde Gorky Sadan. Some chess tournament in the Alekhine Club was going on. Inside Milee Droog Rahul and Rajannya had cheese chicken lasagna and blue lagoons. The food was simply yummilicious. Rahul loved this new restaurant very much.  

On 24th June, Rahul and Rajannya went to the Ram Krishna Mission Library. Kabir Suman performend bangla kheyal at Vivekanananda Hall. The maestro was accompanied by Hiranmoy Mitra on harmonium, Debasis Halder on esraj and Indrajit Pradhan on table. After the concert Rahul and Rajannya went inside Rabindra Sarobar for a walk. A lot of couples were making out in the dark. They also made out for some time. 

From 1st July, the Goods and Services Tax came into force in India. Rahul and Rajannya went to Ashoka Bar in Esplanade in the evening to have beer. He remembered Anjan Dutta's song, "Masher Prothom Dinta Ei Dhormotolar Morey, Lalchey Aalo Kalchey Hoye Jawa Ashoka Bar-ey". When the bill came it was an unique thing because the bill had CGST and SGST in it. 

On 12th July, Rahul and Rajannya went to Cha Bar inside Oxford Bookstore. They ordered coffee and non veg platter. They hung out for some time inside Oxford. Rahul bought a collection of short stories by Saki. Rajannya bought 'An Suitable Boy' by Karan Johar.  

On 22nd July, Rahul and Rajannya went to have dinner at Santa's Fantasea near Golpark. He ordered a smoked honey octopus and she ordered tribal mutton rice. This restaurant is famous for sea food and also for tribal food of north east India. This was the first time in his life that Rahul ate an octopus. It was delicious. 

On 29th July, Rahul and Rajannya went to Esplanade to buy a gramophone for his house. They bought it from Symphony Music Shop. It was worth 3000 rupees. They also bought a long-playing disc of Lata Mangeshkar and another one of Elvis Presley. 

On 30th July, Rahul and Rajannya went to the International Club at Shakespeare Sarani to attend an event of the Rotary Club of Belvedere. Rahul's friend was a member of this Club and he had invited them. There was a book launch which also took place there. Rahul's friend's grandfather had visited Germany as a student more than hundred years back and this book was about his experiences in Germany. 

On 6th August, Rahul and Rajannya went to the Whistling Kettle at Golpark to watch the performance of Anjan Dutta and Neel Dutta. It was a new coffee shop. The father and son duo gave an amazing performance. 

On 7th August, Rahul and Rajannya went to Rabindra Bhavan at Barasat to attend the concert of Kabir Suman. Here the maestro sang his own songs. Rahul and Rajannya had hired a car to go to Barasat and come back home. Rahul's friend has a travel-agency and he gave the car at a very nominal price.

On 10th September, Rahul and Rajannya went to Khardah Rabindra Bhavan to attend the bangla kheyal concert of Kabir Suman. They again hired the same car from the same friend. 

On 11th September, Rahul and Rajannya went to Calcutta Club for the Agomani programme. Calcutta Club organizes this programme every year to usher in Durga Puja. It was a wonderful programme filled with songs and classical dance. 

On 21st September, Rahul and Rajannya went to Eden Gardens for the 2nd ODI between India and Australia. The hosts won this match by 50 runs. The saddest part of the day was the moment when Virat Kohli got out at 92 runs. Rajannya was a huge fan of Virat Kohli and it broke her heart as the dashing Captain could not complete his century. 

On 24th September, Rahul and Rajannya went to Gyan Manch to attend Kabir Suman's bangla kheyal concert. Before the concert, the theatre group Hypokrites performed a short play titled "16 Pages". It was a nice witty play. Rahul loves Gyan Manch very much. The seating arrangements are nice and the acoustics are awesome. He told Rajannya that in the month of September in 2003, Kabir Suman and Anjan Dutta had performed together at Gyan Manch. But it was an unique concert because both the legends sang only their own English songs. Kabir Suman sang his English songs from his album 'REACHING OUT' and Anjan Dutta sang his English songs from his album 'BANDRA BLUES'. 

From 26th to 30th September, Rahul and Rajannya spent the whole Durga Puja together. They went pandal-hopping to a lot of places like Ballygunge Cultural, Samaj Sebi, Tridhara, Deshopriyo Park, Lake Gardens, Jodhpur Park, Selimpur, Ekdalia, Singhee Park, Mudiali, Shib Mandir, Kumartulli, Shobhabazar Rajbari, Bagbazar etc. And obviously they went to Maddox Square on Ashtami evening. 

On 3rd October, Rahul and Rajannya went to Gyan Manch again to attend the bangla kheyal concert of Kabir Suman and classical dance of Surangama. After the concert they went to the Phoenix Bar at Astor Hotel. 

On 28th October Rahul and Rajannya went to the final match of the FIFA Under-17 Football World Cup at Salt Lake Stadium. The old stadium was totally decked up for this event. England and Spain clashed for the trophy. It was a very interesting match. England won this match 5-2 and lifted the World Cup.

On 8th November, Rahul and Rajannya went to the Press Club to attend the bangla kheyal concert of Kabir Suman. After the concert they sat on one of the tables outside on the garden and drank beer and ate fish fingers and chicken pakoras. Rahul's friend was a journalist who was also present in this event. 

On 10th November, Rahul and Rajannya went to the Inaugural Ceremony of the Kolkata International Film Festival at Netaji Indoor Stadium. Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Mahesh Bhatt, Kamal Hasan, Kajol, Kumar Sanu and the British filmmaker Michael Winterbottom were all present there for the ceremony. 

On 11th November, Rahul and Rajannya went to the Calcutta Swimming Club to attend a party. From there they went to Floatel for coffee in the evening. They sat on the open deck. It was a wonderful ambience. Cool breeze from the Ganga was flowing. 

From 12th to 17th November, Rahul and Rajannya met every evening at Nandan and attended the Film Festival. They also saw a few films together. There was a time around ten years back when Rahul used to watch five films per day for seven days. But nowadays he has stopped doing that.  

On 19th November, Rahul and Rajannya went to the Eden Gardens to attend the 4th day of the 1st Test Match between India and Sri Lanka. Virat Kohli got a century in this match and Bhuvneshwar Kumar was adjudged as the Man of the Match. 

On 26th November, Rahul and Rajannya went to Chanda's Khaukswey restaurant near Golpark. This place is run by Anjan Dutta's wife Mrs. Chanda Dutta. This restaurant is probably the only restaurant in Calcutta which serves authentic Burmese food. The chicken khaukswey is a delicious dish. Anjan Dutta was present there and he also sang a few songs. In the evening Rahul and Rajannya went for a steamer ride on the Ganga organized by Vivada Cruises. It was a three hour ride with drinks and dinner over Ganga. 

On 3rd December, Rahul and Rajannya went to the Park Street Cemetery. They spent the entire winter afternoon inside the Cemetery. There were a lot of interesting tombstones. From there they went to Au Bon Pain at Park Street to have coffee. 

On 17th December, Rahul and Rajannya went to the Bakery Carnival at Calcutta Club. They had their lunch there. The Club was too crowded. A lot of parents were there with their children. A lot of fun activities were happening. Overall it was a nice experience. 

On 28th December, Rahul and Rajannya went to the Phoenix Bar at Astor Hotel to watch the performance of Lou Majaw. The legend Lou gave a breathtaking performance. This was the first time that Rahul had the opportunity to meet this legend. He had heard about this man so many times. He is also know as the 'Bob Dylan of Shillong'. 

On 29th December, Rahul and Rajannya went to St. Xavier's College to attend the annual dinner which was organized by the Alumni Association. Rahul is a member of the Alumni. The qawwali band 'Humsufi' performed a magical concert. All the songs that they sang were fabulous. The food was organized by the Tangerine restaurant. The food was good too. 

On 30th December, Rahul and Rajannya went to G.D. Birla Sabhaghar to attend Kabir Suman's concert of modern songs. The legend gave an awesome concert. He sang many of his very old songs after a long long long time. The entire auditorium was packed to capacity. 

On 31st December, Rahul and Rajannya went to the Cricket and Football Club to attend the New Year bash. It was an amazing party. Shayne Hyrapiet performed in his inimitable style. There was also another female singer from Bombay. The DJ was amazing too. Overall it was a rocking party. Rahul and Rajannya remembered they exactly a year ago they had first met at the New Year party at their friend's house in Salt Lake. It has been a very good year for both of them and together they looked forward to spend more such years in the coming future...

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