In the thick of events in city

With Urvashi Butalia

March 15, 2014: This weekend seems to be one of the busiest in Kolkata’s social calendar that I can recall. Today afternoon, I hosted a lunch for few of my friends who are in town for different reasons. Padmashree Urvashi Butalia, who was in Kolkata for a lecture, Dayanita Singh and her mother, Nony Singh, who were in Kolkata for a book release in Maxmueller Bhavan and Sailesh Lodha for participating in kavi sammelans.

Urvashi is a well known feminist publisher who runs a publishing house Zubaan. 

With Dayanita Singh

Dayanita Singh is a bookmaker and her mass-produced artist's books are at the heart of an artistic practice using photography as a medium for storytelling. She has published ten books on different themes and concepts. She was also my co-speaker at one of the sessions in the recently concluded Patna Literature Festival 2014.

With Sailesh Lodha

Sailesh Lodha, an old friend of mine, is currently one of the top most television anchors for kavi sammelans in India. He played a role as Tarak Mehta in Sab TV Channel which saw him scale new heights of popularity. Along with these three friends, I also invited a few other friends like Bickram Ghosh, Nandita Pal Choudhuri, Agnimitra Paul, Nabaneeta Dev Sen and so on.

I think this lunch mark the advent of the upcoming busy weekend with its flurry of events and the extended holiday on Monday for Holi. In fact, the morning lunch wasn't the only commitment of the day.

In the evening I went to The Oberoi Grand for the celebrations of St Patrick’s Day hosted by Mahendra Kumar Jalan, the Honorary Consul of Ireland. After spending about half an hour there, I went to the Bengal Club to attend the dinner hosted by Sumita and Rupak Barua.

After half an hour I went to the dining room of the Bengal Club to attend a dinner with a doctor friend of mine who recently got the membership of the Bengal Club. After having soup with them I excused myself and took their leave and went to a private residence in Ballygunge as a part of my prior commitment for dinner and left around quarter past midnight.

From there I went to The Park Hotel to drop in at Tantra for the launch of a vodka brand. Although the event was over, I had committed to The Park and to Ratul Sood. Ratul’s wife, Komal’s designs were showcased in the fashion show.

Tantra is a place not of my taste and I normally do not like visiting it. I went there after many years and may have to go there again on March 27 for Raima Sen’s party.

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