Kuch Khatta,Kuch Meetha.....(contd)

Following the success of Rituprabaha,the Rabindra Jayanti fiesta we were showered with accolades from all and sundry....I had sung 'Amolo Dhabolo Paaley Legechhe',the autumnal song of Tagore after watching Rituparno Ghosh's Utsab ( I was searching for the singer Srabani Sen who had done the playback)..Mr.Basant Rungta,the renowned industrialist had a penchant for art and culture....he held a rooftop adda and music session at  his Ballygunge Circular Road residence....Srijan had become a happening place where all top notch names from the cultural scene of Kolkata used to throng..it was here that i acted for the first time in a drama directed by Shiladitya..it was a Bertolt Brecht play....I remember the fun filled rehearsals where we sang,ate,drank and did what not!!!!!!!
The finals were over and the days were laden with ennui and satiety...I used to go for random interviews(it had almost become a passion)and feel elated when the interviewers would give me a call and say,''you are in our next round''....I got a job at Music World entertainment Ltd which had opened its retail outlet in the heart of Park Street....a part time job where I would have to interact with the merchandisers and interact with buyers of Indian Classical Music....I could hardly resist my temptation of meeting all the celebrity singers of our country.....I drew a salary of 2000/- half of which was exhausted in the metro fare....but still it was an enjoyable experience! my communication skills were honed,my confidence level was also elevated..and the apparently 'shy' Kaustav was quite extrovert by now.....
                                                    Coming back to Amala Dhabala Paaley....I visited all the music outlets of Kolkata to procure a cd of the artiste..but to my despair everyone said,''there's no one called Srabani Sen in the music industry''...i was kind of frustrated...because never before had a Tagore song touched the core of my heart as this song and the singer did...I was more inclined to Indian Classical Music and Nazrulgeeti so long,and always felt Rabindra Sangeet could only be sung with a  typical mannerism(with the jaws pressed).But Srabani Sen's rendition shattered all these notions.....after a lot of toil I found out who she was....she was the veteran Tagore exponent  Sumitra Sen's younger daughter and sibling of the prolific singer Indrani Sen.....Indrani Sen was my crush from  school days....I used to copy her style of singing,draw her pictures in my diary and remain affixed to the television set whenever she would feature....

Kuch Meetha,Kuch Khatta!!!

university life was not too happening in a nutshell from the perspective of relationships or camarederie...I had recoiled into a cocoon after all that melodrama and usually spent my off periods in the historic central library where the librarian used to unpack a red and yellow tiffin box and tear the rotis with an air of humility everyday around 1.30.Though I was not a ''book worm'' so to say,yet I drolled upon Dostoeivsky,Hardy and Indo-english fiction to a large extent.I initially basked in the glory of being  a  part of such an august institute which had a glorious past....i loitered in the corridors crossing the isle between the English and Mass Communication departments on the third floor.College Square lay just opposite to the university...most of the days,I lazily watched the crowd walking past the college street pavement in combo with the ting -tong of the tram cars... I remember gorging on the  syrupy 'jibhe gojas' and hot phulkopi shingaras served with two dollops of tomato sauce  at the untidy canteen.My awe and admiration for the lecturers of English literature suffered a grave setback when i had to endure some third grade bizarre lectures of otherwise''scholastic'' names like Dipendu Chakraborty and Tapati Gupta whom we lovingly called Ophelia....In my two years of stay at the university i hardly remember her utter anything original or striking about either Hamlet or Ophelia,except reframing the sentences which were already there in Ramji Laal's study guide books! Krishna Sen was the only exception who seemed to have mastered literature with an unbelievable panache....I could almost visualise the subterranean depths of the protagonist's psyche as she lectured on Conrad's Heart of Darkness......
.......Somehow by word of mouth some professors learnt about my musical acumen and was summoned in the staff room one day...after about 25 years Rabindra Jayanti would be celebrated in our department..it was now that i came to know some guys of my  class,Shiladitya,Sohini,Tanmoy,Amreeta Jhulan.....Shiladitya,proud of his baritone was too theatrical and kept boasting about his associations with Kaushik Sen,the theatre activist.Tanmoy seemed to be a good guy,not meddling with someone's affairs while Sohini was a diligent singer who effortlessly sang Bhanusingha Padabali songs....Jhulan however was my discovery! she was someone who would attract your attention amidst a huge crowd!her gait,her dress sense,her voice,her english captivated me(well,you must be thinking about my orientation.....frankly speaking,i had a crush on her..rest is how you interpret)She used to interact with me often during our rehersals at Shiladitya's place or Sunita's....thats how our friendship started...and touchwood she pays me a visit everytime she comes to India from the US where she is settled with her hubby Amitabha and two angels.