Chaliye saab, khana tayyar hai. Aaj der mat kijiye, nahin to thanda ho jayga (Sir, food is ready. Don’t delay today, it’ll grow cold).” A second supplication is rarely required. As the mouth-watering aroma of biryani and chicken chaap wafts through the sprawling bar’s teak door, members are off their tall stools or out of their sunken sofas in a flash. It’s time to hit the grounds for the feast.

For Mohammed Saleem Ansari (in picture right by Sanjoy Chattopdhyaya) — serving the CC&FC faithful since 1957 — and the rest of the kitchen gang, it’s a special night, an occasion to play the perfect hosts. The members are treated to a grand platter of biryani and chaap rustled up with “rare care” and served with warm affection. And, unlike other evenings when tipping is constitutionally debarred, contributions are welcome, with a box kept at a discreet distance.

Club president Utpal Ganguli compares the quaint custom with Teachers’ Day celebrations at school, when students put up an act for the preceptors. “The biryani night is a true reflection of our relationship with the staff,” he declares. The invitee list has swelled from less than 50 regulars 15 years ago to more than 400 now, and the mode of welcome has evolved from word of mouth to paper sheets to printed cards.

“It probably started as part of the Id celebrations and gradually became an integral part of the club calendar. Whatever the genesis, we all look forward to it and there’s an air of keen anticipation,” announces CC&FC veteran Ravi Kidwai. And youngsters like Ushma Gurnani, who sampled the special treat for the first time last year, are as enthusiastic.

The donations in the drop-box usually meet the expenses, but if you don’t put enough in the slot, it doesn’t mean you won’t get invited next year. To the ears of the Saleems and the Ansars on that dil-dariya (open-hearted) evening (normally on a Monday, post-Puja), the “darun hoyechhe (the food is fabulous)” is pure music and the bottomline on the balance sheet — or the drop box, quite inconsequential.

For most members the occasion is as much about the spread (“our kitchen has the best biryani and beef steak”) as it is about the spirit (“the only evening when they hassle us at the bar to down our drinks in a jiffy so that we can do justice to their culinary prowess, and we dutifully oblige,” smiles immediate past president Arabinda Bose).

For the past two years, his wife Anindita has worked hand-in-ladle with the staff, laying the tables, fixing the décor and generally ensuring that the guests are comfortable. “After all, we are like one big family and there’s tremendous fellow-feeling,” stresses Bose.

Case in handholding point: When Saleem suffered a heart attack, members raised Rs 64,000 through a khata kept at the bar counter, that went towards his treatment costs.