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This is an imaginary story. Any resemblance to any person living or dead is purely coincidental.
Rahul is usually sad, depressed and melancholic throughout the year because of some unknown reasons or because of some past life karma. I guess that is just his basic nature. But only during Durga Puja his whole body, mind and soul gets filled with great joy, happiness and positive energy by some unknown divine magic force. This euphoria starts from Mahalaya and ends on Dashami.
On 23rd September, Friday, Rahul went, after office, to Some-Place-Else at Park Hotel to watch Somlata Acharya's performance. The concert started around 10 p.m. and went on till midnight. The place was very crowded. People were boozing and enjoying the live performance. Rahul was standing near the bar with a glass of Caldera beer in his hands. He also had a bowl full of cheeselets. He was video recording the concert on his phone. Suddenly a beautiful girl came and stood beside him. Rahul's eyes immediately shifted from Somlata Acharya to this beautiful girl. It was love at first sight. She also was video recording the concert on her phone. After some time she casually looked at Rahul. He immediately smiled at her. She immediately removed her eyes from Rahul's eyes and looked towards the stage. After two more songs she again looked at Rahul. He smiled at her again but this time a bit hesitatingly. As luck would have it, this time she smiled back. Rahul immediately offered her his bowl of cheeselets. She initially rejected his offer but then after Rahul's insistence she finally took some cheeselets from the bowl, thanked him and started eating them. As the concert went on both of them finished off the bowl of cheeselets. After the concert Rahul asked her name. She told him that her name was Bonhishikha. Rahul told her that he would just call her Bonhi and then he asked her for her phone number. She refused to give him her number but instead asked him to follow her on Instagram. Rahul immediately did that. Her Instagram profile was locked. Then she told him that she needed to get back home.
The next morning Bonhi accepted Rahul's request on Instagram and also followed him back. They started chatting on Instagram. Rahul asked her to meet him for coffee that evening at 5 p.m. She declined his coffee offer. Then he asked her to meet him for tea that evening at 6 p.m. She declined his tea offer. Then he asked her to meet him for hard drinks that evening at 7 p.m. She declined his hard drinks offer too.
The next day, 25th September, was Mahalaya. It was a Sunday. The previous night Rahul was partying at Roxy at Park Hotel. He left Roxy at around 3:30 a.m. and came back home at around 4 a.m. Then he switched on the FM radio on his old Sony double deck music system and started listening to the broadcast of Mahishasur-Mardini. He messaged Bonhi on Instagram. She was also listening to the radio at the same time. They messaged each other for some time and then Rahul went to sleep at around 6:30 a.m.
That Sunday morning Rahul woke up at around 11 a.m. He asked Bonhi to meet him for lunch. This time miraculously she agreed. May be Goddess Durga must have done some magic on her. Anyways they met for lunch at Sholo Aana Bangali restaurant at Patuli because this place was near her home. They ordered the non veg Mahalaya special thali. They had a lovely adda over lunch. She told him that she was a divorcee. They really bonded well over lunch and had a great time. Rahul impressed her with his unique sense of humour and his happy-go-lucky attitude. She gave him her phone number. That night they talked over phone from around 11 p.m. to around 4 a.m.
Over the next few days Rahul and Bonhi really became very good friends. She developed a soft corner for him in her heart. Maybe she also fell in love with him without realizing it. Rahul asked her to meet him on all six days of Durga Puja, from Panchami to Dashami. She happily agreed.
On Panchami, 30th September, Rahul took Bonhi to Kala Mandir for Kabir Suman's concert. It was an amazing concert. The whole auditorium was packed. Not even a single seat was empty. Kabir Suman was in a fantastic mood throughout the whole duration of his performance. Rahul has been going to Kabir Suman's concerts since 2003. In the last twenty years he has missed only approximately four or five concerts of Kabir Suman in and around Calcutta. But this was Bonhi's first concert of Kabir Suman. She really enjoyed the great maestro's performance. Rahul has observed that over all these years generally in concerts Kabir Suman gets really angry and agitated by the audience's behaviour, like late arrivals or the ringing of mobile phones, but this time by some strange miracle Kabir Suman was in a very good mood throughout the whole concert. Anyways during the concert Rahul proposed to Bonhi when Kabir Suman was singing the song "Sararaat Jwolechhey Nibir". She accepted with a smile. As the song was ending Rahul gently kissed Bonhi's lips in the darkness of the auditorium. He touched her soul with this kiss. This kiss would forever stay in her body, mind and soul engulfed in Kabir Suman's heart touching song.
Anyways after the concert Rahul and Bonhi went to Some-Place-Else at Park Hotel. It was very crowded there. Rahul ordered Caldera for both of them. Some band was playing there. They left Some-Place-Else around 1 a.m. and went to Roxy. After dancing for some time on the dance floor, they went upstairs and smooched each other very hard. They left Roxy around 3 a.m. and went to Rahul's place. They made love for one hour and then he took a cab and first dropped Bonhi to her house and then he went back to his house in the same cab.
On Sasthi, 1st October, Rahul took Bonhi to JW Marriott for Lucky Ali's concert. Bonhi could not meet Rahul during the day time because she had some family engagements. Rahul had asked her to meet him for lunch but she could not. She told him that she would be able to meet him at 8 p.m. So Rahul took a cab and went to her place at 8 p.m. and picked her up and then they went to JW Marriott around 9 p.m. There were some opening acts. Lucky Ali came on stage at 11 p.m. and sang for an hour. After that there was DJ music. Rahul and Bonhi had dinner at Marriott and they left the hotel around 3 a.m. They again went to Rahul's house and made love for one hour.
On Saptami, 2nd October, Rahul and Bonhi met at Maddox Square in the evening. The whole park was crowded. Couples were there almost every where. School boys, school girls, college boys, college girls, middle aged men, middle aged women, old men, old women and obviously children were there throughout the park. Maddox Square is indeed a magical place during Durga Puja. Anyways Rahul and Bonhi walked hand in hand throughout the park. They ate fuchkas and papri chats. They shot at balloons with toy rifles. From Maddox Square they took a cab and went to Some-Place-Else at Park Hotel. After spending an hour inside Some-Place-Else they went to have dinner at Wow Momo at Park Street because that was the only place where they could find an empty table. All other restaurants were full and had almost one hour waiting time. At Wow Momo they ordered non veg combo meals. From there they went to Netaji Indoor Stadium for the Dandiya party. Rahul had bought online two passes for the Dandiya party. Inside Netaji Indoor Stadium the whole floor was full of people, mostly non-bengalis. Rahul bought two sets of Dandiya sticks and then they started dancing. It was fun. There was a big stage where there were many singers. Mostly the songs were in hindi and gujrati. There were also songs from nineties Bollywood films. Rahul just loves the nineties. Everything associated with the nineties makes him happy. The nineties bring tears of happiness to his eyes. He especially loves the nineties Bollywood movies and the songs. Anyways Rahul and Bonhi left Netaji Indoor Stadium around 3 a.m. and went to his home and made love for an hour.
On Ashtami, 3rd October, Rahul took Bonhi to the Durga Puja at Ramdulal Nivas popularly known as Chhatu Babu Latu Babu's house. One member of this family is a friend of Rahul so she took him and Bonhi upstairs and showed them most of the rooms. The rooms of this old heritage house were beautifully decorated with paintings and sculptures. There was also a Durga Puja inside this house. From this place Rahul and Bonhi went to eat at Barkaas Arabic Restaurant near Park Circus. They ordered Laham Mandi. The food was delicious. After dinner they went to Maddox Square. After spending an hour at Maddox Square they went to his place and made love for an hour.
On Nabami, 4th October, Rahul and Bonhi first went to Rabindra Sarobar in the evening. There they walked hand in hand throughout the length and breadth of the lake. A cool breeze was blowing. They sat on a bench and smooched each other like there was no tomorrow. From there they went to the Durga Puja at Ballygunge Cultural and Samaj Sebi. Then they went for dinner at Kurry Patta on Lake Road. After dinner they walked hand in hand throughout the area around Southern Avenue, Sarat Bose Road, Keyatala, Hindustan Park, Golpark, Gariahat etc. They drank cold drinks and also ate ice-creams. Then they went back to Rahul's home and made love for an hour.
On Dashami, 5th October, Rahul took Bonhi to The Rajbari Bawali. Its an old Zamindar house which has been converted into a resort. He had booked a day's outing at this resort which also included their Durga Puja special non veg lunch thali. He also had booked a car for the whole day. They went to Bawali Rajbari around noon. They first roamed throughout the place and clicked a lot of pictures and videos. Then they boozed sitting beside the swimming pool. Rahul drank whiskey while Bonhi had vodka. After an hour of boozing they went to have lunch. The food was yummilicious. Especially the mutton was simply divine. The mutton pieces simply melted inside their mouths. After lunch they again went near the swimming pool and took rest there on the comfortable long lounge chairs. In the evening they had tea and snacks there and also went to see the Durga Puja inside the campus. Rahul clicked some pictures of himself with the Dhak. There were four Dhakis who were playing beautiful music. Around 7 p.m. Rahul and Bonhi left Bawali Rajbari and then they came to his house and again made love for an hour. That day's lunch was so heavy that both of them did not feel like eating anything for dinner. They just took rest on Rahul's bed and watched Woody Allen's "Crisis In Six Scenes" on Netflix. Around 2 a.m. Rahul took an Uber and dropped Bonhi home and then came back to his home in the same Uber...
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