Jaipur trip called off

Sunday, February 23, 2014: On Thursday evening I went to a dinner get-together at a private residence which I think has one of the most extensive collection of paintings. Apart from the known faces of Kolkata, His Excellency, The Governor of West Bengal, Shri M K Narayanan and his wife, Smt Padmini Narayanan were also there.

It was a small dinner get-together and I could interact with many in an informal atmosphere. I had a good discussion with the Italian Consul General in Kolkata, Mr Cesare Bieller, who has travelled across India including Rajasthan and is known to many of the erstwhile Royal families of the desert state.

On Friday, February 21, I was supposed to fly out for a 10-day trip to Jaipur, Beawar, Bera and Jodhpur and return to Kolkata on March 3, 2014. But I cancelled the entire trip as there were loads of deskwork and commitments pending in Kolkata. In fact, I missed the annual function of Step by Step International School which was on February 22 where I was the Guest of Honour with Pt Shiv Kumar Sharma and the Chief Guest.

Usually, once I give a commitment and if my name is on the invitation, I always make it a point to be there. But somehow and due to circumstances beyond my control I had to cancel this Jaipur visit.

This morning there was a series of The Write Circle event in Jaipur with santoor maestro Pt Shiv Kumar Sharma and Ina Puri. Ina has just written a book on Pt Shiv Kumar Sharma’s life The Man and His Music. I am told that it was a very well attended session and the conversation went off very well. I am glad that The Write Circle series in Jaipur is following the footsteps of Authors' Afternoon in Kolkata and moving up the popularity scale and also gaining appreciation from many quarters.

As I am in Kolkata, I will attend a journalist friend’s wedding reception at St Paul’s Cathedral. Yesterday evening I went to the Kala Mandir to see the performance of Nitin Mukesh. It was Nitin Mukesh’s 30^th performance on stage at Kala Mandir and he did a fabulous job by singing more than 30 songs. Nitin got very emotional about his 30^th performance at the same venue and did mention this quite a number of times. I have seen Nitin Mukesh perform so many times in this auditorium, though not in the past two or three years, and I think it was his best performance ever and many others would agree with me on this. He also broke the convention of usual two-hour Sangeet Kala Mandir programmes in Kolkata and went on to perform for more than three hours. Everone loved it. Well done Nitin Mukesh!

Apart from Nitin Mukesh's concert, I thought I would attend the Indian Naval Symphonic Band Concert at the Bhasha Bhavan Auditorium in National Library yesterday evening but could not.

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