Back to the grind

I am back to the Kolkata grind from London. The few days that I spent in London was quite like the Kolkata circuit – events, premiers, launches and lunches etc. Missed Bratya Basu’s party last week that I wanted to attend but could not as I was away.
I got many phone calls, flowers and congratulatory messages for receiving the Pride of India Leadership felicitation and Award at the House of Lords in London.

Today evening I went to SOHO, not exactly my kind of place, but as my friend Prasenjit was making his debut on the ramp along with Nandana Sen (daughter of Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen) and Nabaneeta Deb Sen who is associated with some of my organizations. Nandana and Prasenjit, both of them had ensured that I should attend the event.

On Tuesday, I was at The Oberoi Grand to attend the opening of the Honorary Consul of Ireland in Kolkata. His Excellency Kenneth Thompson, the Ambassador of Ireland in India, was there along with the Ambassador of France in India, His Excellency Jerome Bonnafont.

Mr Mahendra K Jalan, who is now the Honorary Consul of Ireland in Kolkata, had earlier served France in the city in the same capacity prior to the launching of the full-fledged French Consulate in Kolkata. Mr Jalan’s reception was very well attended by people from all walks of life.

I meet Dolly Roy, Sanjay Budhia (picture), Soumitra Chatterjee, Pradeep and Sangeeta Khemka, (picture) Sudeep Bandhyopadhya and many others. Bratya complained about missing his party. Surprisingly, comments on my Honorary Consul article published in July were still on and many Honorary Consuls mentioned about it to me in a lighter vein while others said they were regularly reading Cityscape – my Sunday column.

I had dinner with Dolly Basu at the hotel reception.

ess bee