1st April 2025
Dear Members,
Hope this mail finds all of you and your families well.
The first three months of 2025 have seen a variety of events at your Club commencing with a new unique event which was the Champagne Jazz Lunch on 19th January. This was followed by a series of very interesting sessions and a quiz as part of the Kolkata Literary Festival. We were very fortunate to host Nobel Laureate Esther Duflo, novelist Amit Chaudhuri and Municipal Commissioner Dhaval Jain in a Library Talk entitled ‘Calcutta’s Heritage and our Future’ moderated by our own member Sarojesh Mukherjee on 28th January. The month ended with an interesting cocktail evening at the Nagraj Bar curated by the international celebrated mixologist Yangdup Lama.
Our 198th Foundation Day was celebrated in style on 1st February which was followed by a Bar-b-que evening on Valentine’s Day. On 22nd February we hosted the famous musical duo Sourendro and Soumyajit at our club lawns where over 400 people attended including 175 at the optional dinner. The Huddle hosted a very unique evening which was the Abelour Paired Dinner on 18th February. This was followed by a rock music night featuring Sumith Ramachandran and Jeffrey Rick.
On 2nd March we hosted Ustad Nishat Khan on the Sitar along with Pandit Tanmoy Bose on the Tabla in a spellbinding classical music evening. This was followed by a Jazz Trio evening at Room 300 with Ranjit Bardot, Mark Hartsuch and Arka Chakraborty on 9th March. The noted author Ruchir Joshi enthralled our members and their guests with the launch of his latest novel ‘Great Eastern Hotel’ on 8th March and was in conversation with journalist Shreevatsa Nevatia. The month of March ended with celebrating Navroz – with the Parsi Food festival on Sunday 23rd March. While these events kept the club busy, the Book club continued its monthly meetings with discussions around famous books and novels. The regular Bridge Tournaments continue at the club and we hosted a very big competitive event in February 2025. Kudos to the Bridge Sub Committee for ensuring that this activity enthuses more members to participate in this intellectual sport. The quarter ended on a high note with the customary Eid lunch beautifully hosted on 31st March by our Staff for all Members. A tradition that has helped build a cordial bond between Members and Staff that makes our Club truly unique.
am very happy to inform you that the General and F&B Office has had a facelift and our Management Staff now operate in a beautiful office environment. We have also issued ID cards to all our employees something that was long overdue. We have also completed the renovation and painting of our staff quarters so that after a hard day’s work they can rest in more comfortable settings. We have also installed new computers at all POS outlets to ensure that the billings are done more efficiently and with zero errors.
We have also created some very interesting photo galleries that showcases the Club’s rich history (between the Nagraj Bar and Reynold’s Room), the Clubs’ mention in literary fiction (outside our Library) and the variety of celebrities who have been hosted at our club over the years (on the 2nd and 3rd floor corridors) I would like to take this opportunity to thank our Management and Union Staff for their hard work and commitment to this club. They are truly the backbone of our institution and their dedication and service makes your experience very special each time you walk in.
On behalf of the entire team at Bengal Club, I look forward to welcoming you at your Club at all times.
With my very best wishes,
Sumit Ray
