Class XI and XII

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I got admitted to Class XI in St. Xavier's College in the year 2000. I did my Class X from The Future Foundation School. It was affiliated to the ICSE Board. After our Class X exams there was a holiday for around three months. During that holiday I used to watch TV for almost the whole day. I used to watch mainly English movies and TV serials. In those days Xena - Warrior Princess was my most favourite show. I loved how the makers of Xena weaved elements of Greek, Roman, Norse and other mythologies and historical events into their story lines. My second most favourite show was The Simpsons. It is the greatest intellectual TV show ever created by mankind. My third favourite show was Friends. My fourth favourite show was Ally Mcbeal. And my fifth favourite show was X-Files. Loved the title songs of Ally Mcbeal and Friends.

The year 2000 belonged to Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai. It was a huge phenomenal hit. In our cable channel it used to be shown almost every day. I instantly became a fan of Hrithik Roshan. Still today I am his fan and I prefer him over all the other actors of Bollywood. The film did such enormous business that even Rakesh Roshan was shot by hitmen because he didn't want to handover the foreign rights of the film to the Bombay underworld.

The year 2000 also belonged to the mother of all quiz shows - Kaun Banega Crorepati? It was Amitabh Bachchan's debut on the small screen. Big B was going through a very rough patch throughout the nineties and through KBC he again rose like a phoenix from the ashes. KBC was aired on Star Plus. The show became so popular that the streets would run empty. Cinema halls reported almost zero attendance for the night shows. The last time such a thing had happened in India was during the telecast of Mahabharat on Sunday mornings. The first Crorepati on KBC was a man named Harshvardhan Navathe. The charisma of Big B in the show was stupendous. This show was not only about money. It was about ordinary citizens encountering extraordinary situations and sitting in front of the one and only Amitabh Bachchan.

After my Class X exams were over, I saw the film Hey Ram thrice at Priya Cinema. I was madly in love with the film and used to listen to its soundtrack day in and day out. I even got hold of the tamil versions of the songs and used to listen to them religiously. This film is indeed one of Kamal Hasan's all time masterpieces. And the music by the maestro Ilaiyaraaja was simply divine.

After Class X, I did not try for admission in any other school. I only tried at St. Xavier's. I convinced myself that if I did not get admission in Xavier's then I would leave studies forever. My parents were very unhappy with my decision but I was an adamant and stubborn child. Nobody could influence me to change my decision. All my close relatives tried their best to convince me to play it safe and also apply in other schools but I refused them flatly.

I still remember the first day I went to St. Xavier's. I took the Metro train from our Rabindra Sarobar station and got down at Park Street. In those days the fare was most probably six rupees. The fare till Maidan was four rupees. Anyways I got down at Park Street and asked a kind looking man for directions to Xavier's. He kindly showed me the way. I walked from the Metro station to Xavier's. Once I entered Xavier's, I was amazed to see the huge building and the huge playground. The place was full with cool dudes and hot babes. I saw a guy who had a green coloured streak in his hair. I went inside the Office and started talking to the friendly man who was sitting in the Enquiry Counter. He told me that admission forms would be given out on such and such dates. His name was Ratan and I started calling him Ratan da. Today sixteen years have passed since that day and I am still in touch and friends with Ratan da. 

Anyways once the admission forms were out, I went there again and collected it and filled it out and submitted it back. Then came the day when the first list of selected candidates was to be declared. From morning I was very nervous though I did not reveal that in my face in front of my parents. I acted as if everything was cool and calm. The list was to come out at 3 p.m. I went to Xavier's around noon and made a couple of friends there who were all candidates. We all went inside the canteen and had tea and adda. We saw boys and girls were smoking inside the canteen. We also felt like smoking but we didn't.

Suddenly I met an old friend of mine there who was from my school. I told him that if I see my name on the first list then I would take him for lunch at Peter Cat to celebrate. At exactly 3 p.m. the list came out. Luckily my name was there. I was so happy. I was on top of the world. Ratan da congratulated me. After spending some more time inside Xavier's, I went to Peter Cat with that friend. Fortunately I had enough money in my pocket. We ordered chicken sizzlers there and indulged in a lovely adda. After coming out of Peter Cat we decided to have a couple of beers at Olypub. Therefore we went to Olypub and ordered Kalyani Black Label beers. This was my first visit to Olypub. After boozing we took the Metro trains and came back home. My parents were very happy to hear the news about my admission to St. Xavier's.

Class XI started. We were under the H.S. Board. Ours was an only boys section. My subjects were English (first language), Bengali (second language), Political Science, Economics, Accountancy and my sixth subject was Computers. St. Xavier's had an old world charm. I loved the huge classrooms and the long corridors. I loved spending time at the fourth floor balcony from where we had a lovely view. In school we had to wear an uniform but here we could wear casual clothes. I mainly used to wear jeans and a full sleeved shirt. Initially I had very good attendance but after a few months we all started bunking classes. It became a fashionable and cool thing to bunk classes. Attending all classes meant that you were a nerd and therefore a loser. Bunking classes meant that you were a cool dude.

In those days smoking was allowed inside the college canteen. I started smoking there daily. Smoking inside the College canteen was a cool thing to do. We used to have grand adda sessions there and check out the senior college girls over cups of hot tea and cigarettes. The canteen was the best place inside the College campus. The canteen was managed by the grand old man of Xavier's named Arun da. He was a kind hearted man and his stern affection was legendary. Sadly he passed away on 17th January 2015. He managed our canteen for more than four decades. There was a canteen staff-member named Srikanto da and he was my most favourite person. Here is a photo of Arun da:

Smoking in St. Xavier's College was banned around 2002. Sadly today my Xaverian brothers and sisters are greeted with the following sign inside the College canteen:

There was a place near the College back gate known as the Green Benches which was like an adda zone for Xaverians. The place had a lot of green coloured benches and a few tables. I used to spend more time inside the canteen or at Green Benches than inside classrooms. Our favourite past-time was to sit at Green Benches and rate anyone who entered from the back-gate in terms of hotness on a scale of zero to ten.

Our English, Bengali and Political Science classes were good and bearable. The Professors were really good and I liked them. Economics and Accountancy classes were horrible and unbearable. We had two Professors who used to teach us Economics and I really hated one of them very much. He was a horrible Professor. The Computers class was total fun-riot. It always used to be the last class of the day. By then we were all tired to attend that class. We were taught pre-historic languages like BASIC and PASCAL. I used to sit near the door and after giving the attendance I used to quietly slip out of the classroom. A lot of other boys also used to do the same. Sometimes I used to tell a trusted friend to give my proxy.

Here is a list of my Professors. English was taught by Mrs. C. Biswas. Bengali was taught by Mrs. M. Bhattacharya Roy and Mr. R. Choudhury. Economics was taught by Mr. B. Das and Mr. P.P. Ghosh. Political Science was taught by Mrs. S. Mozumdar and Mr. S. Ghosh. Accountancy was taught by Mr. S. Gomes. Computer Science was taught by Mr. S. Das.

In Class XI luckily I fell in love and got my first girlfriend. She was a very sweet, beautiful and a nice hearted girl. She was like the Amelie Poulain of Calcutta. She used to find joy and happiness in the simple things of life. I was madly in love with her. In those days landline phones were very much in use. I didn't have a mobile phone back then. I got her landline number from a mutual friend and called her up and asked her for friendship. Initially she played a bit hard to get but later on we became phone-friends. We used to talk to each other daily over our landline phones. Over time this friendship blossomed into love.

After coming out of the Xaverian campus I always used to go to Music World. In those days Music World was the hippest place in Park Street. I used to go there almost everyday and I knew each and every staff member there by name. The concept of listening to 'free-music' was new to Calcutta and me and my friends made the most out of it, as in those days words like limewire, bittorrent, piratebay and Youtube were alien to us. We used to listen to all the cds in those free listening-posts. Inside Music World everything was arranged properly in a systematic manner. The place was beautiful, elegant and majestic. Yet there was warmth in the atmosphere. We could browse through those endless cassettes and cds at our own comfortable pace, which many times was even slower than a snail's. On so many days we spent like more than an hour inside and left without buying anything. Also Music World always provided us with a cool ambience, free of cost, during those hot summer afternoons.

Then back in those days Music World had these 'lucky-drop-boxes' where names were picked randomly and gifts were announced every hour. Keeping in mind Probability Theorem and remembering the quote, "If you want to be successful then double your failure-rate", I was lucky enough to win the various items at Music World : a t-shirt, a mouse-pad, a friendship-band, discount coupons as high as 50%, free cds/cassettes etc. Once even I received a call from Music World on my home landline phone informing me that I had won a gift. The next day I went there and collected my gift.

Back then cassettes were still very much in use. In the 90's I used to buy my audio cassettes from Rashbehari's 'Melody' and Esplanade's 'Symphony'. But since 2000 I only bought cassettes from Music World and no where else. Even today I still have the 2002 A.R. Rahman album "Bombay Dreams", which my first girlfriend had bought for me from Music World. When we were dating, we went to Music World quite a few times together. Once I was busy listening to Nachiketa Chakraborty's new song "Ekla Choltey Hoi" in one of those free listening-boxes in the bengali section, and she wanted to leave but I wanted to stay back for some more time and listen to that song again and again. She got a bit pissed off. It took me some time to comfort her again. On another day there was this gorgeous woman inside Music World who looked somewhat like Amisha Patel, and I was involuntarily staring at her, and then my girlfriend noticed it and got very very very angry.

Inside Music World, in those days, we also got Baazee.com coupons which allowed free internet surfing for one full hour at Junction Cybercafes. In those days I didn't have a computer at home so these coupons were prized items. Junction Cybercafes were spread in many parts of the city but my favourite one was at Ballyunge-phari. Mind you, in those ancient times there were no Orkut, Facebook or Twitter. To meet new people (read girls), what we had were Yahoo Messenger Chatrooms and a pre-historic chat-site strangely named MIRC32.

Usually on Saturdays, after classes got over, me and my friends used to go to Olypub. On Saturdays our classes used to get over around 2:50 p.m. It became like a regular ritual. Sometimes I even used to go alone and booze at Olypub. Beer and beef steaks were our favourite combos there. I loved the decor of Olypub. The waiters were friendly. The place had a home-like feel to it. It was neither too fancy nor too expensive. Still today whenever I feel like boozing at Park Street, my first choice is always Olypub. I have an emotional bond to that place. Nowadays whenever I go there I feel so nostalgic and I really start missing those golden days.

Sometimes in the evenings we used to go and sit at Allen Park and check out the women who used to come there for evening-walks and jogging. If we were hungry then we used to go and eat chicken/mutton rolls at Kusum's and later on drink Thums Up. I only went to Kusum's and never went to Hot Kati Roll or other roll shops at Park Street. Kusum's was my favourite roll shop. On Valentine's Day and other occasions we used to buy cards from Giggles.

I used to spend a lot of time at Oxford Bookstore too though I seldom bought books from there. It felt very nice to spend hot summer afternoons inside the air conditioned environment of Oxford and browse through innumerable books and magazines. The staff never forced anyone directly or indirectly to buy anything. We could go upstairs and sit and read books for hours.

  


Outside Xavier's back-gate was the food-shop called Delights. I used to go there to eat masala dhosa and drink soft drinks. In winters we used to have coffee there. We used to hang out in front of this shop. Even today whenever I go to Delights the people there recognise me and it feels so nice to have soft-drinks or coffee there after so many years.

Just ten seconds walk from Delights there used to be a cigarette shop named Classic. We all used to buy our cigarettes from there. In those days I used to smoke Gold Flake. Nowadays that shop no longer exists there. But back in those days that shop used to do great business by selling cigarettes and other things to us Xaverians. 

Near Park Street, there is the Dreamland Restaurant, at the mouth of Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Road. I have been going to this restaurant since 2000. I always sit on the balcony. The prices are reasonable and the food is good. I have always preferred sitting at the corner spot on their Balcony for the last sixteen years. So many years have passed but the charm of this corner chair is still the same. And whenever I go there most of the time I order mixed gravy noodles.

On Middleton Row, near Sikkim House, there was a cyber cafe and the place also had a few pool tables. Sadly the place no longer exists today. My friends used to go there to play pool. I also played pool there a few times but I didn't like playing pool that much. I used to go there mainly to surf the net. Surfing in those days meant checking your email and chatting with strangers in Yahoo Messenger Chat Rooms and MIRC32. My favourite website for sending e-cards was lakecards.com. I loved their java-enabled moving water images. Back then 123india.com was very popular but later it became a paid site and thus lost its popularity. Another site called indya.com became popular for a while but then lost its popularity after some months.

I first created my email address at Rediff in the year 2000. I had no idea how to create an email id. So a friend of mine helped me to do so. One afternoon after our classes got over, we went to the cyber cafe at Middleton Row. In those days the Rediff website layout was damn good. I really liked their yellow and orange colour combination. These days the Rediff page is pathetic where there is too much information cramped into too little space. Anyways there my friend helped me to create my first email. I still use my first email address just for the sake of nostalgia. And I will keep using it till the day I die, or till the day Rediff dies. Then after some months I created my second email id at Yahoo on my own. In those days I used to play a lot of online Chess at Yahoo Games. But the best thing about Yahoo was its Messenger and especially the Chat Room named Calcutta Global Chat Room Number One.

From Xavier's if I came out from the front gate then I used to take the Park Street Metro to come back home and if I came out from the back gate then I used to take the Maidan Metro. While going to the Maidan Metro we had to cross Vardan Market and there used to be a lot of chana-wallahs there. Most of the time I used to buy chana-chips worth Rs. 5 from them on my way to Maidan Metro.

In those days there used to be a Cyber Cafe on Park Street, where today the M3 Music Shop stands. It consisted of two floors. One afternoon, around 2001, I went upstairs to surf the net and found that no one was there. Everyone was surfing below on the ground floor. Since no one was around, it gave me the confidence to open desibaba.com for the first time in my life. I had heard a lot about this site from my friends but had never visited it before. It consisted of some naked pictures of women. I don't remember whether any porn video was uploaded in that site. Anyways fearing that someone might come upstairs any moment, I closed it.

In those days I used to tell my girlfriend everything and I was always very honest with her. Later that evening I told her about the desibaba site over landline phone in an apologetic tone of voice. I confessed to her that I had opened a porn site. She got offended a bit but later on forgave me. I promised her that I would never again open porn sites in my life. I obviously did not stick to my promise!

The annual exams came in due time. I never used to study throughout the year. I only started studying just three days before the exams. The strategy was to commit to memory and then vomit on the answer sheets. I somehow managed to pass with good marks. I got promoted to Class XII. I continued with my carefree and happy-go-lucky lifestyle.

I used to walk up and down the entire length and breadth of Park Street, sometimes with friends or sometimes even alone. Park Street has changed so much over the years. New shops have come up in place of old shops. The street constantly keeps changing. I really miss some of the old shops. More than a decade back there was a nice cosy coffee joint named Nescafe, where today the VIP shop stands. It was divided into two floors. Mostly couples used to go there and sit on the upper floor. If I remember correctly, the price of the coffee was just sixteen rupees per cup. They used to pour the coffee from a vending machine into a paper cup. It was not expensive like the Baristas or the CCDs. When Nescafe closed down in Park Street, I really felt very sad.

In the year 2000 I saw the following hindi films in cinema halls : Fiza, Hey Ram, Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai, Mohabbatein and Tera Jadoo Chal Gaya.

In the year 2001 I saw the following hindi films in cinema halls : Aks, Asoka, Dil Chahta Hai, Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham, Lagaan and One 2 Ka 4.

In the year 2002 I saw the following hindi films in cinema halls : Company, Devdas and Road. I saw Devdas twice, once with my cousins and the second time with my girlfriend at Priya Cinema. In those days I had huge posters of Aishwarya Rai pasted on my bedroom walls. Most of the posters were from the film Devdas. My girlfriend used to come to my room and get very jealous. A few times she also tried to tear down the posters. With much difficulty I succeeded in stopping her. I used to buy the posters from Esplanade. In those days one poster was around twenty rupees.  

In those days we used to go to a lot of school fests. School fests were very popular back then and was full of fun and joy. School fests were a nice place to meet new people (read girls). I had gone to the fests of La Martiniere for Girls, Ashoka Hall, Carmel, Loreto, Modern High etc. Loved seeing the western dance competitions there. Some of the student dancers were really awesome. And also the quiz contests. In those days quizzing was my hobby and I was massively interested in quiz contests of all kinds. Our very own Xavotsav was a hugely popular event. I first attended Xavotsav in 2000. Sadly in 2001 because of some unwanted reasons Xavotsav was cancelled for that year. Again it was held the next year. In 2002, me and my girlfriend went to Xavotsav together and had a lovely time there. Clicked some pictures of us together. For clicking pictures at Xavotsav I had bought a Kodak KB-10 camera from a shop in Park Street. As far as I remember the price was most probably Rs. 999. Here are three photos from the 2002 Xavotsav:

In January 2003 we went to the fest of Jadavpur University. It was called Sanskriti. Krosswindz performed that evening at O.A.T. inside J.U. There also we clicked some photos in my Kodak KB-10 camera. Here are two of those photos:

Back in those days my girlfriend used to come over to my place and we used to make out in my bedroom. I still remember the first day I kissed her on her left cheek inside a taxi. She was sitting on my right side. We had gone to the school fest of Ballygunge Shiksha Sadan and while returning from there I kissed her for the first time. The first time I kissed her on her lips was inside my bedroom. It was my first lip kiss too. That was a magical moment. Once in 2002 on my birthday she was supposed to come to my place in the afternoon but it started raining not cats and dogs but rhinoceroses and hippopotamuses from the morning. Inspite of all the rainfall and all the water-logging all over Calcutta, she still came over to my place in the afternoon to wish me Happy Birthday. She used to love me tremendously back in those days. That day she had also prepared a special birthday card for me. I loved walking with her hand in hand in Rabindra Sarobar and also in Park Street. In those days there was a coffee shop near Golpark called Caffeine and we used to go there a lot. That coffee shop no longer exists today. We used to speak to each other everyday over the landline phone. In those days we both didn't have mobile phones. We both used to give each other greetings cards on birthdays and Valentine's Days and on other occasions. I still have all her greetings cards. Even today whenever I miss her, I go through her old cards and emails. And I guess I still love her the same way. My love for her has not diminished in the last sixteen years.

In 2002 our H.S. exams came. I got very good marks in the exam. Infact I was the topper in my class. A few Professors had predicted that I would not do well in the exams and when I showed them my results then they had to eat their own words. I really miss my life from 2000 to 2002. If today I have a Time Machine then I would definitely want to go back to the year 2000 and start Class XI all over again. Those were the best days of my life...

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Zulfiqar

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*** Spoiler Alert ***


Firstly hats off to Srijit Mukherji for attempting to make a bengali film based on Shakespeare's Julius Caesar and Antony and Cleopatra. Also this film is like a tribute to The Godfather. This Durga Pujo Srijit da gave a tribute to Mario Puzo! Interestingly there were references to Julius Caesar in Srijit Mukherji's very first film "Autograph" too.

Secondly hats off to Srijit Mukherji for shooting in the dock area of Calcutta consisting of places like Kidderpore, Garden Reach and Metiaburuz. I don't remember when was the last time that a bengali film was shot in these places. The locations have brought an uniqueness to the film. The locations behave like vibrant and lively characters in the film. Without these locations the film would have been just like any other ordinary film.

Thirdly hats off to Srijit Mukherji for bringing together such a star-cast comprising of the very best of Tollywood. Getting the required dates of all these actors and actresses at the same time must have been a himalayan endeavour. All these actors and actresses are very busy people and are involved in various projects throughout the year. Getting all of them together in the same film must have been a herculean task. Also shooting for this film started in winter when actors and actresses are very busy with various shows and events throughout Bengal.

Whenever I think of underworld films, the first thing that comes to my mind is Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather trilogy, then I think about Martin Scorsese's films like Mean Streets, Goodfellas, Casino and The Departed, Brian De Palma's Scarface, Carlito's Way and The Untouchables, and lastly I think about Ram Gopal Verma's films like Satya and Company. Also the TV series The Sopranos comes to my mind.

Zulfiqar is the first true underworld bengali film in the history of bengali cinema. It portrays a vivid picture of the dark underbelly of Calcutta. However the film only portrays a slice of Calcutta's underworld. The real Calcutta underworld is much more violent and there are certain evil aspects which cannot be shown on the screen. In this film organised crime functions mainly in the dock area in a corporate way with various layers in its hierarchy and is known as the Syndicate. The Syndicate behaves like a wolf-pack and if any one wolf tries to become greater than the pack then he is immediately eradicated for the greater good of the Syndicate.

Last year Srijit Mukherji met with an unfortunate accident in Delhi and his leg was badly damaged. As he lay on the hospital bed with a plastered leg, he conceived the idea of Zulfiqar. Interestingly the first scene of the film begins with a shot of the plastered leg of Parambrata Chattopadhyay as he is lying on the hospital bed.

At the very beginning of the film the director gives us a detailed history about the crime syndicate which functions in and around the dockyard and about its mode of operations throughout the years. The audience must know the background of the area before it can proceed with the story. The protagonists of this film mostly belong to a particular community and this film is mainly about love, friendship and brotherhood within that community.

Loved Kaushik Sen's (Brutus/Basheer Khan) acting the most. He had a lean-mean look in the film. Also loved his unique accent. Loved the scene where Sachin Tendulkar gets out at 98 in the India-Pakistan match during the 2003 Cricket World Cup. Jisshu Sengupta (Cassius/Kashinath Kundu) looked convincing in the role of an evil conspiring man. Parambrata Chattopadhyay (one half of Mark Antony/Tony Braganza) looked cool and smart and his English dialogue delivery was too good. Also loved his Rastafarian wig and he carried it off quite well. Prasenjit Chattopadhyay (Julius Caesar/Zulfiqar Ahmed) was as usual at his very best in a calm and composed way. 

Nusrat Jahan (Cleopatra/Rani Talapatra) looked beautiful and sensuous and delivered her lines quite well. Loved the tattoo of an asp on her neck. What Egypt was to Cleopatra, the Blue Nile Bar was to her. Loved the decor of the Bar too. Ankush Hazra (Octavius/Akhtar Ahmed) was okay, nothing extraordinary. Rahul Banerjee (Lepidus/Laltu Das) was good. But I however felt that Sabyasachi Chakraborty would have been a better choice for this role. Paoli Dam (Calphurnia/Karishma Ahmed) was again okay. Loved that scene where she was walking on the ledge, where she was walking in snowfall and also that scene where she was hallucinating and the walls of her room were closing in on her. Kyra Dutt (Octavia/Albeena Ahmed) looked cute and promising. Kanchan Mullick (Enobarbus/Chheno Bablu) was good. June Malia (Portia/Pariza Khan) and Sujan Mukherjee (Cinna/Kaushik) were okay. Bharat Kaul (Parvez) was fascinating. Interestingly the poet Srijato (Tribhuban Gupta) looked extremely natural in his role and was quite good.

We all make fun of Dev's (the other half of Mark Antony/Markaz Ali) dialogue delivery and his acting skills. Facebook is full of memes which ridicule Dev. However in this film we all must appreciate Dev's effort to first learn sign-language within a short span of time and then to beautifully enact it on screen. Dev was fantastic in the film. His physique, his body language and his charisma helped him to carry this film on his shoulders. Dev deserves full marks for this film.

Also loved Srijit Mukherji's brilliant idea to split the character of Mark Antony between Tony Braganza and Markaz Ali. (In an unrelated topic, there is a music shop at Marquis Street in Calcutta named Braganza and its owner's name is Tony Braganza. There was a time a decade back when I used to play the guitar and I used to go to this shop regularly to buy my guitar strings and various other things).

The dialogues in this film are good and sharp. The audience inside the cinema hall also loved the use of profanities in the film. The aerial camera shots were great. The action sequences were as good as any Bollywood film. The motorbike race sequence was gripping. The costume and make-up department did a good job too. The editing was crisp. I however didn't like it that the scene where Ankush and Kanchan are walking and talking was put inside Kaushik Sen's dream sequence. The dream sequence begins in an interesting way but then suddenly it cuts to Ankush and Kanchan's scene and then again cuts back to the dream scene. The dream sequence should have continued as one continuous scene.

The famous "Et Tu, Brute" became "Tu Bhi" in this film. The Roman Senate became the Syndicate. The "Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ears" scene was good but it could have been better. Srijit Mukherji's cameo was good and the audience inside the cinema hall loved it. Loved Kalyan Ray as the soothsayer. The "Ides of March" became Eid. The shayari used in the film is not extraordinary. Dev commits suicide inside the bathroom and falls into the bathtub. Nusrat Jahan had a personal liking for bathtubs in the film and she ultimately commits suicide not with the bite of an asp but electrocutes herself inside her bathtub. I loved the name of the nurse "Niyoti Dey" who poisons Parambrata Chattopadhyay. In the very last scene of the film Rahul Banerjee is killed by Ankush Hazra and he makes it look like an accident.

The songs are okay, nothing great about them. Only 'Qatl E Zulfiqar' is fascinating. 'Aami Aajkal Bhalo Aachi' is typical Anupam Roy. 'Ek Purono Masjidey' is quite ordinary and falls flat. 'Ghawrbari' is sweet. However I didn't like the inclusion of the song 'Katakuti Khela' in such a crucial and tense moment in the film. I loved the background score of the film by Indradip Dasgupta.

This Durga Puja it was strangely fashionable and the "in" thing to lambast Zulfiqar. Facebook and various Blogs were full of bad reviews of the film. Just as Brutus and Company enjoyed stabbing Julius Caesar, some people also ganged up to stab this film and bitch about it on social media. I however liked the film though Zulfiqar will never be ranked among Srijit Mukherji's best films. It could have been better obviously but we have to keep in mind that there were some pre-release controversies surrounding this film and reports suggest that the director had to succumb to several cuts in the film...

P.S. : I have not read the two Shakespearean tragedies in their original texts. Before going to watch the film, I thoroughly read about them in Wikipedia. Many years back in school we first studied Shakespeare through Charles and Mary Lamb's book named "Tales from Shakespeare". I still have that book. It still reminds me of my childhood days...   

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The Beauty of Durga Puja

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The beauty of Durga Puja starts much before the festival itself. The beauty lies in the anticipation of the coming festival. The beauty lies in the smell of chhatim and shiuli in the air. The beauty lies when the sky gets coloured with an unique shade of blue. The beauty lies when cotton like clouds start floating in the sky. The beauty lies when you first see the new Pujabarshikis hitting the news-stands. The beauty lies in the moment when the pandals start getting erected throughout the city. The beauty lies when the first group of young boys come to your doorstep asking for puja chanda/donations. The beauty lies at 4 a.m. on Mahalaya. The beauty lies in going to Kumortulli on Mahalaya morning and witnessing Chokkhu-Daan and clicking pictures there and later posting them of Facebook. 

The beauty of Durga Puja lies in the eyes of little children who go for pandal hopping with their parents. The joy these little angels feel when they see a Mickey Mouse or a Donald Duck in a puja pandal or when they see a mechanical dinosaur puffing fire from its mouth is priceless. The children experience a sense of awe and amazement in all the decorations all around the city. 

The children are also counting the number of puja pandals that they are visiting because when school reopens after the puja vacations then they will have to compare their figures with their friends. They indulge in an invisible competition with their friends and who ever has visited the most number of pandals wins this competition.

Sometimes the parents dress their little boys in panjabi-dhotis and their little girls in sarees. They look so cute in them. Sometimes they run around in puja pandals in these panjabi-dhotis and sarees and it is such a sweet sight. At night when they go for pandal hopping with their parents, they love to see all the bright decorative lights all around the city. They love to see their favourite cartoon characters becoming alive in these lights and illuminations throughout the city. These days the kids love to see Doraemon and Chhota Bheem everywhere. 

The children also love to eat outside at the puja pandals. They love to eat egg/chicken/mutton rolls, chowmein, papri-chats, cotton-candy, ice-creams etc. and love to drink soft-drinks and fruit juices. During Durga Puja the children love to eat lunch and dinner outside. They don't want to eat at home. They love to eat at restaurants. Even street food is fine with them. Women also don't feel like cooking at home during Durga Puja. These days we all visit restaurants and our initial intention is to click pictures of the food and put up Facebook updates. 

When I was a child, I loved seeing all the Chandernagore styled lightings all around the city. We used to go for pandal hopping in our Ambassador car at night. I always used to sit in the front seat. I loved sitting in the front seat. As far as I remember, it never rained during Durga Puja in my childhood days. Infact around late night and dawn I used to feel a bit cold. My mom used to keep a jacket or sweater in our car just in case if I needed it. In 1998 we all went to see the Titanic pandal at FD Block Salt Lake. Our family and all our relatives went together. We all went there in four cars. I really loved that drive to Salt Lake and back. In my childhood days Durga Puja also meant not studying at all and watching Chhuti-Chhuti on bangla Doordarshan. And I also loved bursting those cap-pistols. As a child I used to feel like a Texan cowboy or even Gun-Master G9. And I hated those irritating loud bhepus and whistles and I still do. 

The beauty of Durga Puja lies in the eyes of teenagers who are going for pandal hopping for the first time with their friends. They enjoy complete freedom for the first time. No parents or elder relatives are allowed. The boys go out in their groups and the girls go out in theirs. The girls are probably wearing sarees and are finding it a bit difficult to walk in them. The boys are wearing their new clothes. The boys generally wear western outfits but they wear panjabis on Ashtami. There is an unwritten rule somewhere for boys to wear panjabis on Ashtami. They all go for pandal hopping and eat outside food.

The beauty of Durga Puja lies in that nano-second when the eyes of a teenage boy meet the eyes of a teenage girl for the first time. Nothing happens further but an entire romantic balled gets composed in that nano-second. And that teenage boy becomes a hero in the eyes of his male friends when he actually shows the courage to walk up to a girl and talk to her confidently. And that girl feels like a heroine in the eyes of her female friends and the fact that a boy has tried to come up to her and had tried to talk to her gives a huge boost to her ego and self esteem. 

When I was around sixteen or seventeen years old, I once went to a puja pandal in our neighbourhood in the evening and there I saw a very beautiful girl in a pink saree. She had long hair and it was flowing down her back. She looked like she was around my age only. She was there with her two friends. I just kept on stealing glances at her. Unfortunately I could not gather the courage to go up to her and talk to her. I don't think she noticed me at all. After some time she left the pandal with her friends and I just stood there like a smitten dumb fool. After that day I never saw her again in our locality. Around eighteen years have passed since then but I still remember her face clearly. It seems as if it was only yesterday. The beauty of Durga Puja lies in the fact that once you see an angelic face in a puja pandal then that face will be embedded in your brain for the rest of your life. 

Fourteen years back I had spent Durga Puja with my first girlfriend at Maddox Square. It was such a divine pleasure to hold her hand and walk throughout Maddox and eat fuchkas, papri-chats, cotton-candy etc. There were a lot of children at Maddox and we both used to salivate at cute babies. It was so nice to spend all those hours with her. She used to wear a saree and I used to wear a panjabi. I used to meet her around noon and spend the entire day with her. Most probably on Ashtami I met her and she was wearing a blue saree and was looking very beautiful. I however forgot to mention to her that she was looking very beautiful. Our conversation went somewhat like this:


She : Ek baar-o bolley naa aamakey kemon dekhachhey...

Me : Shona, You are looking like the most beautiful girl in this universe... 

She : Naaaa, ekhon aar bolley hobey naa...

Me : Shona, I love you naaaa...

She : Naaaa, I know you don't love me anymore... I hate you... I hate you very much...


We used to have our little meaningless fights and quarrels during Durga Puja, but always ended up loving each other back and ended up whispering sweet nothings into each other's ears and ended up coochie-cooing openly in a public place. The beauty of Durga Puja lies in the fact that today I feel like travelling back in time to the 2002 Durga Puja at Maddox Square.

The beauty of Durga Puja lies in shopping which generally starts around Vishwakarma Puja. Even in this age of online shopping, people flock to places like Gariahat and Esplanade to buy that killer outfit. Haggling with shop-keepers is an art which bengali women have mastered over the years and over generations. There is no fun in online shopping for Durga Puja. The real fun lies in visiting a number of shops before finally buying something. I really love all these buying and selling activities all around. Throughout the year many times I have seen shop-keepers at Gariahat or Esplanade sitting at their shops with blank empty depressed faces on days when they did not even receive a single customer. On those days I really feel sorry for them.  

The beauty of Durga Puja lies in pandal-hopping, going from one pandal to another with unbridled enthusiasm. People who are single or romantically challenged hope against hope to bump into their soulmates in these pandal-hopping sessions. And if they can't find their soulmates any where else then they atleast hope to find them at Maddox Square. Pandal-hopping can lead to serious leg-aches later on but we Bongs don't bother about that. Pandal-hopping can stretch from south to north Calcutta, or vice versa, and sometimes can even stretch to faraway kingdoms like Salt Lake. Eating various kinds of food and drinking various kinds of fluids during pandal-hopping are a common feature. We Bongs have a natural inborn talent for pandal-hopping since birth and we don't need any energy boosters for that.

These days pandal hopping generally starts from around Tritiya. Everybody stupidly thinks that it will be less crowded on Tritiya and Choturthi. But it is not. Previously Durga Puja was celebrated for five days, from Sasthi to Dashami. Nowadays it is celebrated for eight days, from Tritiya to Dashami. I absolutely believe that a few years down the line Durga Puja will be celebrated for ten full days and pandal hopping will start from Mahalaya itself.

The beauty of Durga Puja lies in checking out beautiful women of all ages. There is also this stupidity and foolhardiness of following a beautiful woman for miles throughout Calcutta while pandal hopping. After a certain point of time she realizes the presence of her Stalker/Secret Admirer. I personally believe that one woman's Stalker is another woman's Secret Admirer. Its how you look at things which are looking back at you! I have always believed that the pleasure of the hunt is not in the kill but lies in the chase. Anyways so many times I myself have fallen in love with a woman while pandal hopping and have followed her for hours. Generally I failed to summon up the courage to walk up to her and talk to her. But only on rare occasions I managed to perform the seemingly impossible feat and those interactions blossomed into lovely affairs later. Whenever I see a beautiful woman, these lines by Joy Goswami from his poem AMAAR DOTAARA keep playing in a continuous loop inside my head:


AaNdhar Korechhey Baairey,
Naari tey Douriye Morey Mon,
Khodaar Emon Sristi,
Khodaa Nijey Dekhben Kokhon?


The beauty of Durga Puja also lies in Adam-teasing. Sometimes girls in groups who go out for pandal hopping also indulge in a bit of Adam-teasing. Whenever they see a cute handsome boy, they pass remarks and sometimes also whistle at him. The innocent boy generally feels embarrassed and tries to walk away. The girls have fun and masti among themselves with certain levels of Adam-teasing. 

The beauty of Durga Puja lies in going to Maddox Square on an Ashtami evening. On Ashtami evenings, practically all roads in Calcutta lead to Maddox. That is the place to be and be seen in. Maddox feels like the seventh heaven and cloud nine combined together during that time. Maddox is like the biblical Garden of Eden for Calcutta's Romeos and Juliets. One gets to see the most beautiful women ever seen by mankind. When the Gods come to earth, they bring these ethereal heavenly angels of flesh and blood with them and this makes Calcutta a much better place to live in. Every testosterone driven hot-blooded male desires for something like the Wild Stone Durga Puja ad to happen in his life. One's life is worthless if he or she hasn't visited Maddox on an Ashtami evening. Another feature of Maddox is that this is the place where one accidentally sees one's ex-girlfriends or ex-boyfriends walking hand in hand with someone else. Again here one also sees one's ex-crushes and ex-flames, either single or happily mingling with their special someones. And those ravishing boudis of Maddox. Someone once said that in Bengal we don't have MILFs, but we have BILFs. Maddox is the paradise where one sees young boys and girls sitting in groups and even after two decades still singing Ranjana, Mary Anne, 2441139, Nilanjana, Phiriye Dao, Shei Tumi, Bhebey Dekhechho Ki and ofcourse the anthem Telephone. In the pre-mobile phone era, friends in groups used to get lost, wander off and again miraculously find each other inside Maddox.

The beauty of Durga Puja lies in the fact that still today at some medium or small sized puja pandals one can hear hindi songs from the late eighties and early nineties playing in loudspeakers. I really love to hear songs from films like Maine Pyaar Kiya, Chandni, Lamhe, Aashique 1, Sir, Phir Teri Kahani Yaad Aayi, Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak, Baazigar, Darr, Phool Aur Kaante etc. I get so nostalgic. Whenever I hear these songs I feel as if I am getting transported back to my childhood days. They also play the evergreen hits of Kishore Kumar, Md. Rafi, Mukesh, Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle etc. But I have a soft corner for late eighties and nineties' Bollywood films since those were my growing up years. 

Also in the nineties medium or small sized puja pandals used to play the so called "Jibonmukhi" songs of Suman Chattopadhyay, Anjan Dutta and Nachiketa Chakraborty and bengali remakes by Indranil Sen, Indrani Sen, Srikanto Acharya etc. Seldom they played bangla bands. I used to eagerly look forward to hear bangla bands at puja pandals. 

The beauty of Durga Puja lies in pet-puja that is eating like there is no tomorrow. During this festival even bong female models and actresses don't stick to their diets and gain a few kilos here and there within a few days. The beauty of Durga Puja is in going to bengali restaurants and ordering the traditional bengali thali. When friends from out of town visit Calcutta during Durga Puja then it is mandatory to take them out to enjoy the traditional bengali thali at places like 6 Ballygunge Place, Bhojohori Manna, Oh Calcutta etc. In the last few years a lot of restaurants have blossomed in Calcutta which serve only bengali food. The traditional bengali thali generally consists of luchi, cholar daal, aloo-posto, jhuri aloo-bhaja, gondhoraj lebu, begun bhaja, shukto, potoler dolma, bhaat, kosha pathar mangsho, chingri machher malaikari or daab chingri, chitol machher muitha, bhetki machher paturi, sorshe illish, tomator or aam-er chutney, mishti doi, sondesh, rosogolla and papad. And lastly you need a mishti paan. And you should consider yourself to be the luckiest bastard in the world if your illish machh has machher dim (fish eggs) in it! 

These days what I love is that almost all bangla news channels focus on the coming festival even before Mahalaya and send their reporters to various puja pandals and inform us about the various themes in these pandals. I really find it very interesting that so many puja pandals indulge in so many different types of themes and each one is unique in itself. The imagination and creativity of theme-makers are of epic proportions. During Durga Puja, Calcutta transforms herself into an open art-gallery and this is the greatest open art-festival in the whole world. Also in this age of theme-pujas, Bagbazar swims against the tide and represents the quintessential saabeki-puja. The beauty of Durga Puja lies both in theme and saabekiyana.

These days what I also love is the adda which is organised on various bangla TV channels and where celebrities take part. I especially love to see the one and only Sri Srikumar Chattopadhyay in these addas and love to hear his puratani bangla gaan. This year it was so nice to see the great Michael Banerjee and hear his saxophone on News-Time channel. Its so nice to hear from these celebrities how their childhood and teenage-hood Durga Puja was. I also love the musical concerts which are organised by various puja pandals during Durga Puja. A few years back Anjan Dutta performed at Maddox Square with his son and the legendary guitarist Amyt Dutta and it was a mind-blowing performance. It was so nice to hear his nineties' songs even after so many years. I am a huge fan of Anjan Dutta since my school days. I also love seeing the performances of established and upcoming bangla bands during Durga Puja. The beauty of Durga Puja lies in these musical performances on Puja evenings.

These days the beauty of Durga Puja lies in taking selfies in and around puja pandals and especially with Ma Durga in the background and later posting these pictures on Facebook and looking forward to receive maximum Likes and Comments. For girls it really matters psychologically how many Likes and Comments she gets on her pictures. If a girl posts a selfie on Facebook and then doesn't get a single Like or Comment then she will surely be depressed and in a grumpy mood throughout the day. For boys Likes and Comments do not matter that much. They are way too chilled out. I can clearly see that in the near future puja pandals will put out signs saying SELFIES ARE STRICTLY PROHIBITED and it could also become a punishable offence! Puja committees will not allow people clicking selfies with Ma Durga in the backdrop because it holds up the line of crowd and is a time consuming affair. Even this year at Deshopriyo Park there were banners which said NO PHOTO PLEASE. 

The beauty of Durga Puja lies in going out for pandal hopping with your beautiful girlfriend and walking hand in hand and wearing matching colours. Everybody around you will know that you two are a couple. Single frustrated boys will discreetly steal glances at your beautiful girlfriend and you will feel proud of the fact that she is there walking with you only. She will also realize that other men are checking her out and will feel good about it but will behave as if she doesn't care. She will also surely notice what other women are wearing in terms of clothes and jewellery and will take mental notes down.

The beauty of Durga Puja lies in going out for pandal hopping with your handsome boyfriend and walking hand in hand and wearing matching colours. Your other female friends and frenemies will be a bit jealous because of your handsome boyfriend. You will love holding his hand and clinging to his arm in crowded places while pandal hopping. Other women will steal a quick glance at him which only you will notice and you will feel proud of the fact that he is there walking with you only. And if he tries to show you off as a trophy girlfriend to his gang of friends then initially you may be a bit offended but later on you will like his gesture. 

These days Durga Puja still excites me, but not that much. I have seen it all and done it all. I get this same-old-same-old feeling. And I really hate it when it rains during Durga Puja these days. I really get very angry and feel like chopping off the balls of the Rain God Varun Deb and making him eat them. Rainfall during Durga Puja is divine injustice and heavenly cruelty. I really salute those people who go out for pandal hopping inspite of the rainfall with umbrellas and raincoats and no amount of rainfall can dampen their spirits. Hats off to them. The concept of Pujor-Gaan is no longer there in our lives. Pujabarshikis are still there but I think that people buy these magazines out of habit and very few people actually read them from cover to cover. Durga Puja is mainly for children and teenagers, not for me anymore. As I am growing old, I am feeling a sense of disconnection from Durga Puja. Everything is happening around me, yet I somehow feel that I am not connected to it. I feel like going back to my childhood and teenage-hood days. 

Anyways there was a time when DD7 was the only bengali channel which we all had. In those days during Durga Puja there used to be a programme called Puja-Parikrama where one got to see almost all the important and famous puja-pandals in and around Calcutta. I guess this programme still continues on the bangla Doordarshan channel even today. I used to watch that programme on TV religiously. The beauty of Durga Puja was in watching Puja-Parikrama in the evening and ofcourse watching Chhuti-Chhuti in the morning on DD7. And how can I ever forget these lines by Kabir Suman:


 Mone Porey Taar Aar Ek Joner Kotha 
 Dhitang-Dhitang Boler Chhondey Surey 
 Chhotalen Tini Gaaner Ojosrota 
 Kata Chhilo Taar Ticket Onek Durey

 Chhutir Pakhi-ta Chhot-Fot Korey Roj 
 Khachhay Bondi Palatey Paarey Na Tai 
 Dana-Pani Taakey Jotoi Dao Na Tumi
 Pakhir Kintu Chhutir Aakash Chai...



For some people the beauty of Durga Puja lies in boozing and doping and hosting house parties for friends where booze, grass and adda flow freely. This is the time when all friends can get together and have a gala time. Throughout the year we are all so busy running in the rat race and we hardly get the time to catch up with friends. Durga Puja is the time to do so. Also some people love to visit pubs and nightclubs during these five days. Again for some boys boozing is not complete during this festival until they start to vomit. Soil from the doorstep of a prostitute is needed in the making of the idols of Ma Durga. During Durga Puja a lot of men booze and dope and then they go for pandal hopping in north Calcutta and also at the same time pay a visit to Sonagachhi, fondly called Golden Tree, to see a prostitute's naked dance or to have sex with her or both. Or maybe they visit other red light areas of Calcutta. The beauty of Durga Puja lies in the fact that some men truly believe that they can indulge in unrestrained debauchery and in hedonistic pleasures during this festival. 

The beauty of Durga Puja lies in the fact that this festival gives a tremendous boost to the local economy. So many people earn their livelihood from this festival. I strongly support the commercialization and corporatization of Durga Puja. That is the only way forward. In my childhood days, almost every year negative reports used to come out in the newspapers regarding the collection of chandas/donations in various localities throughout Bengal. 'Chandar Julum' was a common term which used to circulate in the air. That trend is almost no longer there. Corporates have come forward and these days they are the main sponsors for Durga Puja. But even if one fine day all the Corporates decide not to sponsor Durga Puja, still this festival will continue. The beauty of Durga Puja lies in the fact that it will go on forever no matter what...

P.S. : Click on this link to read another Blog-Post where I wrote about Durga Puja. 

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Love At Maddox Square

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This is an imaginary story of a girl falling in love with a man and the man loving her back. Any resemblance to any person living or dead is purely coincidental.


Shreya was looking so beautiful in her blue saree. She knew that she was looking beautiful. She was a bit proud of this fact too. It was the evening of Sasthi during Durga Puja. She was there at Maddox Square with her friends. All her friends were equally decked up. They were all giggling and covertly checking out all the cute boys around.   

Rahul was standing there with his group of friends. He was looking very handsome in his blue jeans and blue panjabi. Coincidentally both of them were wearing the colour blue. He was busy chatting with his friends and overtly checking out all the beautiful girls around. The bangla band Cactus was performing on stage. Rahul remembered the time when he had bought Cactus' first album as a school boy. So many years have passed since then. It was so nice to hear songs like 'Sudhu Tumi Eleyna', 'Ichhamoti', 'Holud Pakhi', 'Nil Nirjaney', 'Noah', 'Mon', 'Udaaner Gaan', 'Bodhu Rey', 'Rajar Raja' etc. after so many years. During the 2004 Durga Puja, Rahul had bought the 'Rajar Raja' album from Music World at Park Street. Rahul remembered the days when he used to listen regularly to Krosswindz's 'Poth Gechey Benkey' and also Parashpathar's and Abhilasha's first albums.       

Shreya looked at Rahul and immediately liked him. She liked his height, his looks and his charming smile. It was love at first sight for her. Initially Rahul did not notice her but later on he did. He liked the fact that a pretty girl was checking him out. It gave a boost to his ego too. After around an hour of checking each other out, Rahul went to Shreya and started talking to her. Here is how their conversation went :


Excuse me, are you Sukanya? I think you are there in my friend list in Facebook. 

No. I think you are mistaken. I am not Sukanya. 

Ok. Sorry. I thought you were Sukanya. 

No. My name is Shreya. 

Ok. Nice meeting you. So you come to Maddox Square everyday during Durga Puja?

No. Usually we come only on Ashtami evenings. But this year we came on Sasthi for the first time. What about you?

Every year we come here on all four evenings - Sasthi, Saptami, Ashtami and Nabami. I just love Maddox Square very much.

Why do you love Maddox Square so much?

Well, here one gets to bump into old school and college friends. Plus there are these musical shows every evening. And I have been coming to Maddox regularly since 2000. There is a nostalgic element involved also. 

Thats it?

No, one gets to also see the most beautiful girls of Calcutta at Maddox. For example, someone like yourself... Ahem...

Ha Ha Ha... Are you trying to flirt with me?

No no no... I am just saying... Don't take it in a wrong way please...


The conversation continued further. They exchanged phone numbers. Shreya liked the fact that Rahul showed the courage to come up to her and talk to her. She introduced him to her friends. Rahul called over his friends and introduced them to the girls. They all had a lovely adda together. They all went and ate fuchkas, papri chaats and drank soft drinks. The girls stayed at Maddox till around nine o' clock. Then they left. The boys decided to stay back for some more time. They all decided to meet again the next day. 

That night Rahul and Shreya started chatting on Whatsapp. They chatted for almost an hour. They decided on what clothes to wear the next day. He also sent her a friend request on Facebook. She immediately accepted it. He went through all her pictures and the picture which he liked the most, he immediately made it his laptop wallpaper. Also he downloaded that picture on his phone and made it his phone wallpaper too.

On Saptami evening, Rahul and Shreya again met at Maddox, along with all their friends. She wore a green saree and he wore a green panjabi. All their friends understood that something was cooking between them. Anjan Dutta started performing on the stage along with his son Neel Dutta and the legendary guitarist Amyt Dutta. It was a wonderful performance filled mostly with songs from his nineties' albums. Rahul felt nostalgic. He wanted to travel back in time to the nineties again. He started missing his childhood and teenage-hood days. It was so nice to hear songs like 'Ranjana', 'Darjeeling', '2441139', 'Mary Anne', 'Calcium', 'Bhalobashi Tomay' etc. after so many years. Anjan Dutta also sang songs from his latest album 'Unoshaat'. 

Rahul wanted to spend some time alone with Shreya. But it was next to impossible to separate her from her friends. Shreya also wanted to spend some time alone with Rahul, but she thought that if she left her group then her friends would take it the wrong way. That day also the girls stayed till around nine o' clock and the boys again decided to stay back further. Before Shreya left Rahul just took her aside for a few seconds and showed her his phone wallpaper. She gave him the sweetest smile possible.

That night Rahul and Shreya again started chatting on Whatsapp. He asked her to meet him alone for lunch the next day. After initial hesitations she finally agreed. 

The next day was Ashtami. Rahul and Shreya met in front of Priya Cinema in the afternoon. She was wearing a black saree and Rahul wore a black panjabi. This was obviously no coincidence. From there they went to Deshopriyo Park and then to Tridhara Sammilani. For the first time Rahul held her hand. Initially she took her hand away but after some time allowed Rahul to hold her hand. They came back to Marco Polo restaurant on Sarat Bose Road for lunch. After lunch they went to Ballygunge Cultural and Samaj Sebi. Then they went to have some coffee at Lake Road CCD. Rahul really loved spending this quality time with her. She also loved it very much. With every passing minute she was falling in love with him. Rahul could read that in her eyes. Whenever he complimented her on her looks, she blushed beautifully. Rahul really loved the way she blushed like a red rose. She was looking ravishingly beautiful in that black saree. She really felt comfortable in Rahul's company. It felt as if she knew him for ages.  

In the evening they both went to Maddox Square again in a cab. They both sat really close to each other inside the cab. Shreya was sitting on his right side. He suddenly kissed her on her left cheek. She was surprised by this sudden action. She blushed a bit and pointed out that the cab driver was looking at them from the rear-view mirror. He told her to ignore the cab driver and asked her to give him a kiss. Again after some initial hesitations she finally kissed him on his right cheek.

On Ashtami evenings, practically all roads in Calcutta lead to Maddox Square. That is the place to be and be seen in. Maddox feels like the seventh heaven and cloud nine combined together during that time. Maddox is like the biblical Garden of Eden for Calcutta's Romeos and Juliets. One gets to see the most beautiful women ever seen by mankind. When the Gods come to Earth, they bring these ethereal heavenly angels of flesh and blood with them and this makes Calcutta a much better place to live in. One's life is worthless if he or she hasn't visited Maddox on an Ashtami evening. Another feature of Maddox is that this is the place where one accidentally sees one's ex-girlfriends or ex-boyfriends walking hand in hand with someone else. Again here one also sees one's ex-crushes and ex-flames, either single or happily mingling with their special someones.

Rahul and Shreya reached Maddox around six o' clock. Their friends started arriving there one by one. The bangla band Fossils started performing on the stage. It was so nice to hear songs like 'Aaro Ekbar', 'Ekla Ghor', 'Nemesis', 'Bishakto Manush', 'Millennium', 'Acid', 'Bicycle Chor' etc. after so many years. Rahul remembered that he had also bought the album 'Fossils 2' from Park Street Music World during the 2004 Durga Puja. Rahul and Shreya had a lovely time at Maddox Square chatting with all their friends. But this time they both took some time off from their friends and went for a walk together, hand in hand. Their friends understood their feelings and let them go for a walk. They walked hand in hand throughout Maddox. They both took shots at those balloons with those toy guns. Later on they again joined their friends. During Durga Puja, Maddox Square is like a giant college canteen. As usual the girls left Maddox around nine o'clock and the boys decided to stay back for some more time. Only this time Rahul also felt like leaving Maddox but he ultimately decided to stay back with his friends because he did not want to ditch them. They would have felt bad otherwise. He also silently thanked Maa Durga for bringing such a sweet girl like Shreya into his life. 

On Nabami evening, Rahul and Shreya again met at Maddox. This time however none of their friends came. They all went for pandal hopping at other places. But Rahul and Shreya decided to meet at Maddox and go nowhere else. Shreya wore a red saree and Rahul wore a maroon panjabi. Since none of their friends were around therefore they enjoyed complete freedom. They roamed throughout Maddox hand in hand. The place was less crowded. There was no musical activity on stage that evening. But a huge gang of boys was sitting together in a circle on the ground and playing their guitars and singing bangla band songs. Their favourite number was obviously the anthem of bangla bands - 'Telephone'. They sang that song quite a few times. Rahul and Shreya listened to the songs for some time. Then they went and ate cotton candy and ice-creams. After almost an hour of roaming around, they finally sat on the ground. A poor man was selling old newspapers. Rahul bought two newspapers and used them as sitting mats. 

Rahul and Shreya sat close to each other. A bubble-wallah was standing right beside them. He was blowing out bubbles through his pipe and the whole place became like a magical fairyland. Shreya really loved those bubbles. She felt like kissing Rahul's lips but controlled herself. They both had a long heart-warming adda. Rahul told her about his ex-girlfriends. She listened patiently. When he asked her about her ex-boyfriends, she cleverly avoided the subject and changed the topic. They talked about films, bengali theatre, literature, politics, poetry and about a host of other topics. Rahul told her about his favourite TV shows. His current favourite TV show is 'The Big Bang Theory' and his all time favourite TV show is 'Xena - Warrior Princess'. Shreya listened to all the details about Xena. She was a good listener. Rahul also told her that he considers Kabir Suman to be his Prophet and promised her that he would certainly take her to a Kabir Suman concert at Kala Mandir in the near future. There were quite a few beautiful girls roaming around in small groups. Rahul did not even look at them. Shreya liked this fact that Rahul was not checking out anyone else. Around nine o' clock they left Maddox. Rahul took a cab and dropped Shreya home and then took the same cab back to his own place. This time Shreya sat on his left side therefore Rahul kissed her on her right cheek and she kissed him on his left cheek. This time however there were no hesitations from Shreya's side... 

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Happy Birthday To Rahul

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This is an imaginary story about a man's birthday. Any resemblance to any person living or dead is purely coincidental. 


At the stroke of the midnight hour, when half of the world was either sleeping or surfing the internet or ogling through random female profiles on Facebook or watching 'Naughty America' videos, Rahul got a call from Priya. It was his birthday. She called to wish him. She was the first one to wish him this year. Rahul was expecting her call. He knew that she would be the first one to wish him. They talked for like half an hour. One by one messages started pouring in on his Whatsapp. He thanked them all and went to sleep around 3 a.m.

Rahul woke up around 10 a.m. His phone was already full of messages and missed calls. One by one he thanked them all. Around noon he went to South City Mall to meet Priya. It was their third date. As his birthday gift, Priya gave him a Van Heusen blue shirt and a birthday card. The shirt was full sleeved. Rahul actually never wears half sleeved shirts. He hates half sleeved shirts. The card was beautiful. There was a picture of red roses on the cover of the card. Rahul liked the sweet words that Priya wrote inside the card. She had a good hand-writing too. They had lunch at Mainland China. Then they went to see the film 'Mohenjodaro' at Inox. Rahul had already bought the tickets in advance. It was the first day of the film. There were too many ads shown before the film. Rahul hated watching so many ads.  

Rahul loved the film very much. It was an epic tale of love and revenge which ends with the destruction of the city of Mohenjodaro and the city dwellers moving on to form a new civilization on the banks of the river Ganga. Hrithik Roshan was superb, amazing and fantabulous in the film. He carried the whole film on his shoulders. Pooja Hegde looked fresh, sweet and innocent. Rahul instantly developed a crush on her and loved the kissing scene between Hrithik and Pooja very much. She looked so beautiful in that scene. Kabir Bedi was menacing. It was nice to see Nitish Bharadwaj (B.R. Chopra's Lord Krishna) on screen. The gladiator styled fight sequence was awesome. The climax was breathtaking. Only the music was a let down. The songs could have been better and were not up to the mark. From the Mozart of Madras, we always expect something divine. Unfortunately the 'Sarsariya' song was cut out from the film. 

Rahul is a huge fan of Hrithik Roshan ever since the days of 'Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai'. Over the years he has seen all the films of Hrithik Roshan and loved him in all of them, especially in 'Guzaarish'. Rahul liked the fact that 'Mohenjodaro' released on his birthday. He also likes Kabir Bedi a lot. He loves the man's voice, his height and his towering persona. Many many years back he had seen Kabir Bedi's film 'Lambu Dada' on Doordarshan and had liked it very much. On the other hand Priya is a huge fan of Shah Rukh Khan, like all other normal and abnormal girls.

After the film, Rahul and Priya went to Lords Crossroads and bought a heart shaped chocolate cake from The Sugar And Spice shop. Rahul just loves chocolate cakes. Priya insisted on paying for the cake. From there Rahul brought her to his place for the first time. At his home Priya put candles on the cake and sang Happy Birthday to him. He made a wish, blew at the candles and then he cut the cake with a knife and made Priya eat the first piece with his own hands. Then Priya made him eat the second piece with her own hands. Then he brought two glasses and a bottle of Thums Up from his refrigerator.

As they were sipping on Thums Up, Rahul asked Priya to give him his birthday kiss. She right away kissed him on his right cheek. Then Rahul forwarded his left cheek. After a slight chuckle she kissed him on his left cheek too. Rahul immediately forwarded his lips. This time she pushed him away. Rahul developed a sad, dejected and depressed look on his face. She started giggling. In her heart she wanted to kiss Rahul's lips but then also wanted to tease him a bit too. So after a few more rounds of giggles and a few more sips at Thums Up, she finally kissed him at his lips. Their first lip kiss lasted for a few minutes.

Once kissing was over, Rahul switched on his TV and surfed through the music channels. They ended up watching the Bollywood songs of the nineties. Both of them were feeling nostalgic. In between the hindi songs there was rampant kissing too between the birthday boy and his new girlfriend. However they did not proceed beyond kissing that day. Sometime later he switched off the TV and switched on his laptop. There was Priya's picture as his laptop wallpaper. She really liked it and gave him the sweetest smile possible. He started playing Kabir Suman's songs and promised her that one day he would take her to a Kabir Suman concert at Kala Mandir.   

Around late evening Rahul and Priya went to Park Street on a Ola cab. Before leaving his bedroom, Priya combed her hair and applied red lipstick on her lips. Apparently Rahul had already eaten all her lipstick from her lips. Rahul changed his shirt and wore the blue Van Heusen shirt that Priya gifted him. Anyways in Park Street they walked hand in hand throughout its length and breadth. Since it was a Friday night therefore Park Street was pretty damn crowded. For dinner they went to Peter Cat. They had to wait for almost half an hour outside before they were allotted a table. Rahul ordered a Chelo Kebab for himself and Priya went for Chicken Sizzlers. For dessert they had Tutti Fruttis. Rahul just loves Peter Cat and has a special corner for this restaurant in his heart. He loves the restaurant's Menu Cards too. 

After dinner they went to Some Place Else for some time. It was very crowded. The music was loud. Priya didn't feel like boozing after dinner and neither did Rahul. They came outside and sat on the hotel's lobby. A lot of people, especially young girls were clicking selfies standing in front of the mirror and while sitting on those futuristic white round chairs. After some time Rahul and Priya came outside Park Hotel and took a cab. He dropped her home. Before leaving the cab, Priya kissed him on his lips one last time and again wished him Happy Birthday. Rahul came back to his place in the same cab and with a big smile all over his face. It was past midnight and his birthday was over... 

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