October – the month of events takes off

There were many events during the weekend. On Saturday (October 1) I went to attend the Birthday party of Rachana Bandhopadhyay on the Vivada Cruises stationed at the Millennium Park. It was a nice feeling to be next to the Hooghly on a cruiser. The ambiance was pleasantly different. Vivada Cruises is among the few luxury cruises operating in Kolkata with regular trips to the Sunderbans and Murshidabad. It also runs day-time and night time cruising by the Hooghly.

Before attending Rachna’s birthday bash, I went to attend the Spanish National Day at The Taj Bengal on the invitation of Sunil and Sunita Kanoria, the Honorary Consul of Spain in Kolkata. The party was well attended by prominent Kolkatans and members of the diplomatic fraternity. I also met Master Chef Iago Castrillón from Valencia, Spain, who has been arranging for a special Spanish food fest in the hotel. I also attended the German National Day at The Oberoi Grand yesterday (Monday Oct 3) and had a short meeting with new General Manager of The Oberoi Grand, Varun Chhibber. He had joined in Kolkata some time back, however, I met him for the first time yesterday.

German Consul General in Kolkata, Olaf Inverssen, introduced me to the new Deputy Consul General of Germany and his wife.

After the German National Day function, I went to ITC Sonar Pala, to attend the “30 Years of Kantha Revival” organized by Shamlu Dudeja. There was a cocktail-and-dinner and many popular faces from Kolkata were there in full strength. I met the former governor of West Bengal, M K Narayanan who was the chief guest of the function.

Today evening is the inauguration of Chaltabagan Durga Puja and this would be followed by a series of Puja-related events over the next few days.

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