Tanmoy Bose and Usha Uthup regale at the final night of the Trincas Rocks fest on Friday. Picture by Rashbehari Das

What can you say about a woman who starts the evening with ?I believe in music? and ends it with Kali teri guth, with everything from Bolly to Bihu tossed in between the covers?

What can you say about a plump, middle-aged woman in an impeccably-worn sari who can hold her audience in a watering hole for hours, making them laugh and cry, disco and waltz till well past the witching hour?

What can you say about an achiever who can return to where it all started 35 winters ago, liven it up with her special brand of magic and create just the right mood?

Well, the least you can say is Usha Uthup, thank you for the music.

Usha (now Uthup, then Iyer) returned to Trincas on Park Street after three decades and more last Friday night. And for three hours on November 26, nostalgia was known by no other name.

?I?m sure you can feel the lump in my throat as much as I can feel it? This is hallowed ground for me,? said Usha, when she took the stage at 10 pm. ?Help me make this night like something that?s never happened before.?

The first helping hand came in the form of Hip Pocket drummer and once Trincas co-musician Nondon Bagchi. He introduced the legendary performer who ?in the truest sense brought life into this Park Street address with her music? many moons ago. ?I was hardly 15 years of age when I first heard Usha sing in Trincas, and this is where I played publicly for the first time,? said a nostalgic Nondon.

Swaran Puri, mother of Trincas? owner Sunny Puri, leafed through the pages of memory to recount, ?When she (Usha) started singing here in 1969, she was actually far from the way crooners dressed and looked. But within a short while she won over a considerable fan following and people flocked to hear her sing here.?

Little cards at each table on Usha?s comeback night read, ?Please vacate this table by 9 pm.? Some tables were vacated ? but only in favour of the dance floor!

As Usha belted out old favourites like Diamonds are forever and Can?t buy you love, the spirits rose high enough to bring the first couple of the evening to the floor, Naresh and Sunita Kumar. ?It seems like nothing has changed, the magic is intact. I feel like I?ve gone back in time,? said Sunita, who used to be a regular at this address for years during the ?golden era of Park Street?.

The numbers swelled, the cheers grew louder, the chorus reached a crescendo. Sing-along to No Christmas Day or dance to Stand by me? it was all happening.

A spin was given to the proceedings by star commentator Harsha Bhogle who dropped in for the musical trip down memory lane with fellow TV journalist Gautam Bhimani and his wife. Percussionist Tanmoy Bose then joined Usha for an impromptu jam session.

But no one could steal the spotlight from the singer. At 11.30 pm, Usha took her first break for the evening, just the way she used to do during her Trincas days.

The second segment was the second leg of her musical journey as she belted out Hindi numbers, old and new. From Eena Meena Deeka, Mera naam Chinchin Chu to It?s the time to disco? she managed to draw almost the whole of the restaurant off the chairs and on to the floor.

Way past the 1 am curfew time, the requests were still pouring in. ?I?ll be back here in December and then again in January,? promised Usha before finally leaving the floor and letting the memories linger.