On 24^th September 2021 just as I was planning to take my afternoon siesta or catnap, my dear friend Indrajit aka Indrobodon aka Panto called up, “7^th October is Judha’s engagement…” and before he could extend the invitation, I told him, “I am coming on 6^th Oct.” I have never met his son, Judhajit personally but through his blogs I have come to know him and liked him a lot. Therefore, it was impossible for me to miss this opportunity to meet the young doctor personally.

The next proposition of Indro was the toughest one… he said, “I am calling up others and you follow up with them to ensure their participation”. It was easier said than done… we take minimum of 6 months to organize a G2G locally and this involves travelling 1250+ km!!! Anyways, I told him to let me know the initial reactions of the guys, based on the inclination I will try and persuade them to take the journey but I knew only a handful would finally make it.

Even before I could undertake Indro’s wish, Roma called up to ask about my plans. I told him that I will fly out on 6^th morning and return on 8^th evening (I can’t afford to be out for more than 3 days as my aging pet Rolf becomes unmanageable by others). He was insistent on driving down which I declined as it involved 4 days (both ways) driving for 2 nights stay. It made sense if we were to go for a longish period…say 10days or more. I knew that Roma was afraid of flying, nothing unusual, lot of people are scared of flying on a airplane. The next option of train was also turned down for the same reason… spending 18-20 hours on each way on the train was not acceptable to me for a short stay. Then because of the Covid issues, Indian Railway has stopped serving food and beddings so, one has to carry these for travel… cumbersome!!

I convinced Roma to fly along with me assuring him that I will ensure his safety onboard. He had 2 issues to resolve… (1) Arrange for a ‘walker’ for his pet dog (Phoebe) and (2) arrange for a care giver for his aging mother. He did manage the first but the second one could not be arranged and he regretfully declined 2 days after our conversation.

Based on Indro’s input, I called up Atish (Kolkata), Gora, Taposh, Satyabrata and Ashish who showed their inclination to take the journey. I also messaged Alok as I was not sure if he was in town or touring some remote places (which he does quite often for his organization). It was decided that I will buy the tickets (if they so desired) on Monday 27^th September morning giving them enough time to take the call.

Alok messaged back that as he is scheduled to go on a weeklong vacation to Srinagar Kashmir starting 10^th, it would not be possible for him to take another 3days off from office. Gora called up and we had chatted at length… apparently he could not take even the first dose of vaccination due to adverse circumstances. Moreover, he was down with viral and was not fully recovered. Also the fact that his fractured left leg (from accident) has still not recovered fully and doctors have advised him to take it easy. With so many issues I decided not to press further… there will be the wedding next year and by that time he will be fit to participate. Taposh called up on Sunday and confirmed he is ready to go and Satyabrata also confirmed… so it was 3 musketeers from Delhi. Ashish said he will go but cannot be certain on the date… later he made a mess of it!!! On Monday evening, Atish (Kolkata) called up and said he had made arrangements to reach by road as both air or train options did not suit him due to prolonged compulsive wearing of mask (a problem many people face these days).

Having booked our tickets on Air Asia morning flight, we were excited about the week ahead.

Indro informed that his nephew (sister’s son) is also going in the same flight (Air Asia 744)… closer to the departure date I called up Indro to figure out if I need to book the hotel or he has made arrangements as he said earlier. While chatting he said that the Air Asia morning flight has been cancelled and his nephew is now going by the afternoon flight #559 ETD 1540… and asked me check our flight status. This was a shocker because neither the booking portal (Make My Trip) nor the airlines (Air Asia) had sent any kind of communication in that regard. I started with the MMT App but it still showed our original booking… no mention of any cancellation or rescheduling. Then I tried the Air Asia portal and there it showed that we too were booked for the rescheduled flight. Now, the problem arose how to revise the Boarding Pass… Govt. of India has made it mandatory to do WEB CHECK-IN for all fliers as part of Covid protocol. My first 1.5 hours went in futility as neither MMT nor Air Asia allowed any revision or fresh web check-in… I left it at that hoping to resolve it later or take our chances at the airport itself. Then in the evening I received a message from Air Asia informing of the rescheduling and asking for fresh check-in at the link provided within the message. With some effort on second attempt I was able to generate the revised Boarding Passes… Air Asia is a big blot on Tata’s (their share holding is 84%) and sooner the management takes corrective actions, it is better for them as well as customers.

We were warned that due to Covid protocol, there’s much rush at the security check at T-3 (my son took 1.5 hours and just about managed to board his flight on 2^nd Oct), so we decided to reach the airport by 1pm for the 3:40 pm flight. Surprisingly on 6^th Oct afternoon, the IGIA T-3 was relatively light and we (Satya & I) were through the security check in 10 minutes and then waited for Topshe to come…he was coming by Airport Metro which in his case coming from other end of the city was a faster alternative than taxi. Although, I had my breakfast at my usual time of 9-9:30 am, I wasn’t hungry and Satya had a brunch, so we decided to skip lunch (later we found out it was a bad decision).

Satya had planned to take his strolley as cabin baggage but I persuaded him to give it to the luggage and keep his hands free (a good decision). He had a battery pack which he took out and gave it to me to keep in my “mail bag” – a small bag that I always carry when travelling… it is expandable and helps in keeping my personal stuff including medicines at the security check. Unfortunately, Topshe having reached later did not realize that his battery pack was in the checked in bag and had to go back and retrieve it with the help of the ground staff.

Having enough time in hand, we leisurely walked to the Gate (#47) and occupied 3 lounge chairs… Topshe was smart; he had bought a chicken roll for lunch and offered me a bite but declined. However, seeing him devour it, I suddenly felt hungry but going back to the food-court was long and tedious walk so I bought a chilled bottle of water to quench the thirst as well as hunger. Boarding was supposed to be at 3pm but there was no sign of the aircraft. The take-off time of 3:40pm too went past, still no sign of the aircraft…finally around 4pm we saw an Air Asia plane land in the distance and we hoped it to be ours.

Meanwhile, just pass the time we took up a game of identifying the “Nephew” of Indro without actually knowing anything about him except his name. I used the deduction process of elimination to arrive at the correct individual after getting a “description of the person” from Indro. Just before boarding, the “extrovert” Satya spoke to him first and later introduced us as well. It was the only fun we managed in otherwise a boring scenario…

Thankfully it was the same aircraft we boarded 10 minutes later and we took off around 4:30pm (after a good 50 minutes delay). The pilot informed us that the flight had come late from Srinagar but did not even once apologize for the delay on behalf of Air Asia. As soon as the plane took off, I reclined my seat and dozed off despite the continuous chattering of Satya sitting next to me. Topshe sitting on the window seat had field day taking pictures till the day light allowed and then he too slept.

We landed at Birsa Munda Airport, Ranchi around 6pm and as the airport is small, it did not take much time to retrieve our baggage and come out of the airport. Indro & Jagrata had come with 3 cars (their own, one hired Innova and one borrowed from Judha’s friend). Topshe, Satya alongwith Indro’s nephew, Dr. Amitava Mitra went to the hotel The Royal Retreat, in the hired Innova while I waited with Indro to receive the another set of guest (the bride’s sister and family) coming from Hyderabad. They came out within next 10-15 minutes and went with Jagrata… Indro & I took the third car to reach the hotel. As we hit the roads, I became aware that I am many miles away from Delhi metropolis, the traffic was haphazard with vehicles coming and joining the flow at will from all direction… it reminded me of Hyderabad roads!!

Indro had booked the entire first floor of the hotel The Royal Retreat, a three star property…clean and very amiable staff. The arrangements were on twin sharing basis Topshe & Satya shared the room #108 while I got the #107 waiting for Ashish to join whenever he lands up. Indro asked us to freshen up and come to the driveway of his residential building which was on the other end of the road… a bare 2 minutes walk. While checking on the messages, I came to know that Atish had suddenly taken ill and not coming to Ranchi… he missed a great fun filled short vacation.

As we reached the gate of the Global Lavanya (where Indro lives), the aroma of the food suddenly made me famished and I followed my nose to the food counter… I savored two plates of mixed pakodas along with tea with great delight… the pakodas were delicious and I would have more but decided to keep space in the tummy for the dinner. Indro had a busy schedule of picking up more guests from Railway Station and Interstate Bus Stand and excused himself… confirming that we will meet for dinner around 10pm at the same place. We returned to the hotel to relax. I ordered a whiskey and chicken drumsticks, Satya made tea for himself while Topshe was good with a glass of water. We chatted and watched some news on television… Indro came with Judha to take us for dinner but before that he took us to room #110 to meet the bunch of young doctors, the friends of Dr. Judhajit. These youngsters were given the charge of innocent vices of liquor and a mild variety of locally grown Ganja which was quite aromatic and looked more like some kind of herb. Indro had told them that one of his friends liked to smoke the stuff and they were made to guess (unfortunately for them the cannabis lover Ashish was yet to land up)… they thought it was me probably because of my shaven head!! They were utterly disappointed to realize that I don’t smoke but were soon elated when I told them to serve the whiskey (Teacher’s) on the rocks. I have always enjoyed the company of youngsters; they are much smarter and knowledgeable than we were at that time of our life. And I speak to them as a friend rather than uncle so they tend to open up with me. After enjoying a few drinks with them, we went for the dinner. The food (Chicken Curry) was very tasty and we were hungry so we finished it quickly and walked back to the hotel. Indro had to pick up another set of guests from the Railway Station around 4:30 am and was planning stay awake… I told him not to because the following day (the engagement day) is going to be hectic with all the guests around. The day long activities, excitement coupled with the intake of more than few pegs of whiskey, I was feeling sleepy… Satya & Topshe too were tired (without the whiskey), so we retired for the day around midnight.

The breakfast, following morning, consisted of stuffed (Aloo) parantha with curd & pickles followed by tea (we asked for black tea and got it). After that we strolled the nearby streets and bought a pack of biscuits (remained largely uneaten) and some Bengali sweets (not worth it) and returned to the hotel. Indro remained busy looking after the guests from the bride’s side (politically correct). Topshe had his laptop and suggested we watch some old Hindi movies… after much deliberation, we settled for much watched but eminently repeatedly watchable comedy CHUPKE CHUPKE… Halfway through though all three of us were snoring to glory!!

Sometime later, Indro came to take us for lunch… he said something special is on the menu which we liked very much and indeed it was!! Besides the usual vegetable fair (not very keen on those), the attraction of the day was Rui Maachher Kalia & Chingri Malai Curry. I normally don’t take fish (can’t stand the fishy smell as well as the innumerous bones), but Ranada, the caterer insisted that I try at least one piece of the fish with some gravy… it was really nice without the smelliness and manageable bones…the curry was really tasty… this was followed by Chingri Malaicurry… the prawns were put on wooden skewers to keep it straight while cooking (innovative way)…

Post lunch, we chatted for a while with the guests… getting to know them especially Indro’s Jamaibabu Shri Abhay K Mitra, a very amiable person and friendly… Also interacted with Suvojit, Indro’s cousin from Barackpur, WB… he reminded me of my late cousin through his way of talking and mannerism. There was the bride’s (Taniya) cousin with her husband and daughter from Hyderabad… the little one was firebomb both in action and speech…we adored her every moment. We could have continued the ADDA, but had to rush to the airport to receive Ashish Banerjee who was making a courtesy call… apparently, while he had checked-in at IGIA, he came to know that he had to be in Rishikesh the following morning to represent his company to Namami Gange Team, especially because the Prime Minister might be there as well. We tried to persuade him to stay back for the main function but failed to convince him. However, in the short time that he was there (1.5 hours precisely), he enthralled his audience (the young friends of Judha) with his doctoral knowledge about cannabis and its medicinal properties, besides giving historical snippets since ancient times. The hospitable friends of Judha helped us down few pegs of Teacher’s as a precursor to the evening event.

We were the first one to reach the venue (the Banquette Hall of the hotel) as being single we could get ready in jiffy after Indro & Judha (fully dressed for the occasion) came and reminded us why we were there in the first place!! However, except for Abhayda (Jamaibabu), Bikram, Manish & Ankur (Judha’s friend) we had no inkling of who’s who… a little later one gentleman made his appearance with about 6 fully armed bodyguards…later we came to know that he was the Speaker of Jharkhand Assembly and a guest of the bride’s father. The gentleman stayed for a while and blessed Judha & Taniya before leaving. The ceremony started with the Bengali tradition of Aashirbaad of the bride and groom…it’s a long process with so many family members from both side besides friends. The Ring Ceremony was short and sweet… Judha was made to go down on his knees to seek the hand of Taniya who without much ado agreed to the proposal. This was followed by cake cutting (not a Bong tradition)… in this case a three tiered huge cake courtesy the friends of the groom, Judha.

Initially, the drinking party was supposed to be at Room #110 but the hotel later agreed to provide the facility at the lawn adjacent to the banquette hall.  There were two Chhatri’s (umbrella shaped sitting space) where tables were set for about 12 people in each…immediately one was occupied by the youngsters while sat on the other… first time in my life I spilt whiskey and that too not being drunk!! It was the very first peg and wanted to put some more ice to reduce the stiffness… as I was picking up the ice bucket I hit the glass and the whole content spilled on the table and on lap. Luckily, I was carrying a spare trouser which I changed into and thereafter no such untoward incidence happened as we enjoyed the evening. I snacked on too many fish cutlets (more of a ball) and chicken tikkas with my elixir of life, therefore avoided the non-vegetarian dishes during dinner. The food variety and taste were excellent… the only dampener was that the hotel did not serve my favourite Vanilla Ice-Cream and I had to settle for the strawberry flavor along with “engagement” cake.

The celebrations continued thereafter but we excused ourselves and came back to our room(s)… I crashed out within minutes of hitting the pillow and only got up in the morning on Satya’s insistent calling on my phone (I forgot to keep it on silent mode!!). He said that Indro has been calling up for breakfast… there’s some local Jharkhandi dish for the breakfast… I looked at the time… it was close to 9am!! I couldn’t remember last when I had slept this long. Satya said he was all ready and Topshe was taking bath at that moment. I told him that I should be ready by 9:30 am but if he is hungry, he should go ahead but he insisted that we all go together.

The Jharkhandi special dish was Dhuska, a mix of rice and lentils and fried… it comes out like a fluffy puri (luchi) and is served with a Aloo-sabji.

Ingredients

• Rice – 1cup (200 gms) (soaked)
• Chana Dal – ½ cup (100 gms)
• Urad Dal – ¼ cup (50 gms)
• Green Chilli – 4
• Ginger Julienne – ¾ inch
• Green Coriander Leaves – 2 tbsp
• Cumin Seeds – 1 tsp
• Asafoetida – ½ pinch
• Turmeric Powder – ¼ tsp
• Salt – 1 tsp
• Eno Salt – ¼ tsp
• Oil – for frying

Process

Take a ½ cup of Chana Dal, a ¼ cup of Urad Dal and a cup of rice. Soak them in the water for 4-5 hours or for overnight. After soaking them, remove the extra water from them. Add them in the grinder jar along with some water, 4 medium sized green chillies, 3/4 inch ginger julienne and grind them for the paste.

The paste of Dal is ready after griding them. Pour the paste in a bowl, add 1 teaspoon of cumin seeds, 1/2 pinch of asafoetida, 1/4 teaspoon of turmeric powder, less than 1/2 teaspoon of salt, 2 tablespoons of green coriander and mix all the ingredients well. If the batter is thick then add some water to it . The running consistency of the batter is required for the Dhuska. Preheat the oil to fry Dhuska and beat the batter for 2 minutes. Add the batter using a spatula in the rightly heated oil. Flip and fry till golden brown from both sides. Drain out the excess oil using a tissue paper. Fry rest of the batter. Serve with Aloo Sabji. Serves 4 persons.   

Dhuska, looked like a fluffy luchi specially as it was served with Aloo sabji. However, when I dug into it, the misgivings were soon gone… it was more like a multi-grain fried idli… I finished two and there was still one more on the plate… the taste was so compelling that I attacked that one as well and finished off quickly. This was followed by the sweet dish of my favorite Jalebi… slim, crisp and juicy.

We went back to the hotel to pack up for check-out… Indro told us to vacate one room… Satya & Topshe moved into my room. Topshe switched to “Movie Mode” and we watched another old favorite Angoor starring Sanjeev Kumar, Deven Verma, Moushumi Chatterjee & Deepti Naval. This time we did not doze off and saw the entire movie.

The lunch comprised of Bengali style Masoor Dal, Beguni (Aubergine fried in coat of Besan) with rice…followed by Kosha Maangsho without which no Bong gathering is complete. Indro had indeed chosen his caterer quite well because the food, on all days were exceptionally well prepared. The only thing that Rana da, the caterer needs to improve is the quality of the “server” the guys were completely clueless about serving and on occasion came to serve the last course (sweets) even before the first course was finished. Clearly, they needed training and rehearsals before the event.

Indro said he will drop us (Satya & I) at the airport and Topshe at the Bus Stand from where he would take the bus to Jamshedpur (3+ hours)… to meet a friend. We told him it was a crazy idea because he would reach not before 9pm and would have to leave immediately after breakfast or brunch to catch his train the following evening.

I felt, Indro was a bit out of touch with driving specially a car which was not his own. It was the same car that he drove to pick us up from the airport. As I said earlier, Ranchi traffic reminded me of my Hyderabad days, it is simply crazy with all kinds of vehicles coming from all corners with scant respect to the “right of way”. And soon enough one two wheeler fellow jumped the red light and landed in front of our car. Luckily for him, the car had just started rolling and Indro applied brake but a little too late to nudge the scooter. The guy fell down in animated posture. The passerby’s including the Beat Police had witnessed the entire scene and lifted up the guy. He was adamant to stop us for a prolonged confrontation. I would have really thrashed the guy but we were in a hurry to reach the airport. In the process of clearing out from the chaos Indro tried to reverse the vehicle not realizing that a Scorpio had sneaked into the gap and nudged it as well… It was a hilarious situation like a Comic Strip. Topshe had got down to check the damage while Indro started off and stopped after about hundred meters, Topshe came running and we immediately took off… the Scorpio driver was upset but as it was a Govt Vehicle, did not persue us further.

We reached the airport well in time without any further incidence. Checked in and flew back on time to Delhi. While at the airport lounge, Indro called up to inform that good sense has prevailed upon Topshe and he wasn’t going to Jamshedpur but staying back in Ranchi only. He moved up a floor to a new room at the same hotel. Topshe told us that following day Jagrata packed food for the train journey which was more than enough for all three of us… in fact it would have been good even if Ashish had joined too!!

We now look forward to the wedding, some time next year when a greater number of Langtoos (childhood friends) will join the merriment. Almighty willing, I plan to drive down then… a long adventurous drive…