Awesome Dinner at Mirch Masala

MIRCH MASALA

Singhi Villa 49/2, Gariahat Road,

Kolkata - 700019

Phone : 033-475 9992

A New Year, An Old Connection & Memories in Tangra

One of my wife’s school friends, who was born and brought up in Kolkata’s Chinese community and now lives in Canada, was back in the city visiting her family for Chinese New Year. Naturally, it was the perfect excuse for us to celebrate the festival together in Tangra.

Kolkata has a fascinating Chinese heritage. For nearly two centuries, Chinese families have been an integral part of the city’s cultural fabric, although the community has gradually dwindled as many families have moved overseas. But rather than turn this into a history lesson, this was simply about being there, celebrating, eating, laughing and enjoying the occasion with friends and family.

For me, though, there was an unexpected trip down memory lane.

I had quite a few Chinese friends back in school, and I remember actually being part of Chinese New Year celebrations with them. We would join the Dragon Dance and the festivities as a group, completely caught up in the excitement of it all. Looking back, that feels like it happened in another lifetime!

So, being in Tangra again, surrounded by the sounds, colours, food and energy of the celebrations brought many of those memories rushing back. The Dragon Dance, the familiar atmosphere and the community coming together felt wonderfully nostalgic.

But this time there was something new as well. I wasn't there as a schoolboy tagging along with friends; I was there with my wife, celebrating with her old friend and her family.

Old memories, new experiences, familiar traditions and good company — Chinese New Year in Tangra turned out to be much more than just a festival. It was a lovely reminder of how some connections, no matter how much time passes, have a way of bringing the past and present together.

Gong Xi Fa Cai! 🐉🧧

From Crossed Paths to Shared Plates

 

Four young executives, working across different offices and departments of one big media company, often crossed paths at work. We’d bump into each other, exchange a few words and always say, “We should catch up sometime outside work.” Somehow, that “sometime” never quite materialised.

Anisha and Anupam were in Marketing with The Telegraph, Raina was in HR with the parent ABP, and I was with Friends FM, also part of the ABP Group. While the three of them were based in the same building, I was in an entirely different office in another building. And as is often the case, logistics always got in the way of good intentions.

But today, we finally made it happen!

We got together at Fire & Ice, and what was supposed to be a simple catch-up turned into an evening of fun conversations, laughter and some absolutely amazing Italian food.

Funny how people can be part of the same workplace, cross paths countless times, and yet it takes a little effort to finally sit down together. Today, we stopped saying “sometime” and actually made it happen—and it was worth the wait!

Schoolmates & Families at Tung Fong

 

A Dash of This and a Dash of That

After the Durga Puja break, and back at work for just a day, before the weekend, it was only fair that we went on a night on the town with some friends. Since they had started partying at 6:30 pm and were pretty dug in, we decided to join them at DASH, City Center. The place has been around for the past couple of years but this was my first visit.

From the moment we stepped in, I kind of took a liking to it. Small (seat about 20 pax) and yet managed to fit in a small bar with a counter. The menu was interesting too and had a “Dash of this and a dash of that”.

We started with a couple of Tuborg beers and having seen the plates of Crab shells on the plates of Angshuman & Sagar being cleared, we got a fair idea, that this place really did a dash of some interesting food.

So as the Tuborg beers kept coming, we ordered a plate each of Szechuan Chicken, Chilli Chicken & Chicken Satay. The Satay was particularly interesting as I wouldn’t really bet my palate on whether it was authentic Thai, as the chef did manage to give it a dash of that Indian flavour! Interesting! The Szechuan Chicken was hot as promised and had the steam blow out of my ears.

As we wound up and deliberated on the plan ahead, we had the courteous staff eagerly waiting on us to leave as they could shut shop and head home. Did they complain, not one bit, even though we kept them waiting on us, half an hour after it was time for them to pull the shutters down.

It was a lovely experience with friends and some very friendly staff at Dash.

Then we made a dash for the Mecca of Live Music...Some Place Else.

DASH Restaurant & Bar

C-302, City Center,

Salt Lake, Kolkata

That's me in the mirror, shooting from the hip!

Szechuan Chicken

Chilli Chicken

Chicken Satay

A Neat Little Book Shop on the Corner

Last evening a friend of mine fulfilled a long cherished dream of his. Being in the book publishing and distribution business, he always wanted to open a book shop of his own and he finally did.

With some unique collection of books, this little book shop is worth a visit.

WORDS N PAGES
2/2, TOWNSHEND ROAD, 1ST FLOOR
(NEAR PURNA CINEMA HALL, OPP. BPCL PETROL PUMP)
KOLKATA - 700025

CONTACT: Mr. Biswa bandhu Mukherjee

KNOWLEDGESTORM PUBLICATION

Hello: 033-65002329
          033-40656392

Celebrating World Photography Day

I spent all day itching to shoot something. Imagine being an amateur photographer and not clicking on World Photography Day! Finally got around to take two quick pictures of the beautiful sky and this dangler at the end of a wind chime at the back exit of our office.

Ofcourse did get to shoot some more as I got called in to witness a cake cutting ceremony of one of our colleagues.

Happy Birthday Mainak!

Finally meet the N-Gauge Railroad Modeller

Yesterday we finally met Kaustav, the prolific N-Gauge Railroad Modeller, and his wife who is equally involved in the project. For those who don’t know, N-Gauge is modelling in ratio of 1:160. We had to brave rain and floods, but were undeterred in our mission to see the Harbour layout he was building. Seeing pictures was one thing, but being a Railroad Modeller (I model in OO Gauge i.e. 1:76) myself, I had to see it in its entirety; scenery and trains above and the electrical wiring below. Oh and it was so worth it. What I had told my wife would be a brief visit turned out to be a long evening spent at his place.

Long discussions on whys and how’s and then running the trains on the layout was such an enriching experience. Finally before we left, I had to capture some photographs and so I did. I could have spent an eternity there shooting away. Well I’m not going to say much more and let you’ll have a look at what got me all excited.

Believe me, the photographs don't do justice to the actual layout being built.