Farewell Kolkata

Lunch at Tangra with the D'Gamas and Gomes

Mary flanked by Declyn and Collette .
Samantha , Lygia and Declyn

Kyle and Trent riding double at Aruna's place.
Trent , Declyn and Kyle at One Step Up on Park Street.

"don't touch me "

Paul has shed a few grams.

It was a mixed feeling leaving Cal for the last time . Sad that we would probably not see our buddies again. But glad that we were out of this god forsaken city with its dug up roads , congested traffic , indifferent officials and the dirt and grime. Growing up here we didn't know different and so made the best of it. Of course Calcutta will always have a special place in our hearts.

Did not meet Hatchole as his pa-in-law was diagnosed with a brain tumour and he had to accompany him to Vellor for treatment. Did bump into Michael Samuels who was creeping into St Mary's Church one morning for mass. He has settled in Cal with his family as the "IT scene in Bangkok is not hot anymore". Went for the 9:30 am Mass on Sunday to check out the scene . The choir is now headed by Michael Monier who insists on banging the tamborine for every hymm . I thought I would sit quietly at the end of the last row and observe but suddenly looked up to see June Cranenburg and Marlene Stowers plonk themselves next to me. My mass was totally ruined as all I could think of after that was jeff trying to "patao" June and she telling him she was only interested in Marlene. I thought back to the 70's and 80's when the church would be packed, the choir rocking ( that mass was known as the Beat Mass ) and the chicks gorgeous. How things have changed !

DungDung and family are happy as ever and we spent a lot of time with them. Dustyballs , on the rare occasion we managed to pull him away from his job , seems to have lost a few grams and entralled us with tales from the past ( mostly about Jeff ) which kept us in splits. We all had a fine lunch at Kalafuks or something in Tangra where the food was excellent but the waiter , Benjamin , was extremely slow but had such a nice smile we couldn't really get angry with him. We rounded off the lunch with varied mishtis at K.C Das in Esplanade.

Dropped in at the GAB one evening to find the same motley crew playing carroms - Ryan , Mark , Armand and Horace Payne. Das was his evergreen self .

After much kathi rolls , Dal puris , Kachori Bhaji , Bakarkhani , Biryani , Mutton Rizalla at Shiraz ( which I absolutley enjoyed ) Ice-creams at Hobby Centre , Kulfi-Faluda at Rallis and coffee at Baristas we ended our culinery journey and taking the long route to the airport ( our Sumo driver decided to show us the new Rajarhat expressway ) we boarded the flight out of Kolkata , leaving our place of birth forever.