The governor’s Toyota (left) and the chief minister’s Ambassador in front of Nandan on Friday after the power cut. Picture by Amit Datta

Guests: Gopalkrishna Gandhi, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and many others.

Time: 7.03pm, Friday.

Venue: Nandan, the chief minister’s favourite hangout.

The show: A documentary on Rabindranath Tagore, followed by Satyajit Ray’s Aparajito.

And then there was no light.

The chief minister was treated to a power cut on Friday evening at his beloved Nandan in the exalted company of the governor whose two-hour switch-off at Raj Bhavan had been dubbed “childish” by Jyoti Basu a few hours earlier.

Gandhi was about to address the meeting to celebrate the centenary of Aurora Film Corporation, a production house that has now become a studio, when the blackout kicked in.

Did anyone hear a chuckle as the power went off? No, certainly not from the podium, where the microphone had gone dead.

Did many faces turn red? Nothing could be said with certainty in the glow of lights held up by television camera crew who saved the hall from descending into complete darkness.

The embarrassing silence was eventually broken by the governor. “I am comfortable speaking without a microphone. I hope I am audible to everybody,” he said with a smile.

Gandhi’s speech lasted around 10 minutes. As soon as he finished speaking, the lights blinked back to life. The governor and the chief minister later watched the documentary on Tagore and then Aparajito, the second of the Apu trilogy.

CESC sources said that at 7.03pm, two transformers tripped at the distribution station on Princep Street, triggering power failures at Nandan, Calcutta Medical College and Hospital and SSKM Hospital and other establishments in adjoining areas.

“However, we worked on a war footing and restored supply within 10 minutes to Nandan and the hospitals. We restored power to the entire affected parts before 8pm. Now engineers are working on the repair of the transformers,” a CESC official said.

The alacrity with which Nandan was treated on a par with hospitals while the other areas suffered for almost an hour will make Calcuttans wish the governor and the chief minister visit their neighbourhood for entertainment to ensure rapid action when power goes off.

Earlier in the day, Basu did not mince words about what he thought of the “voluntary power cut” in Raj Bhavan.

“The governor is indulging in childish acts. His action is going against the government. He holds a dignified post. If he was really interested in serving the interest of the people of the state, he should have called the power minister and discussed it as well as advised him…. But he didn’t do it,’’ Basu said.

The chief minister declined to comment on the governor’s gesture but said: “The power situation in Bengal is more or less comfortable, much better than many neighbouring states. Sometimes, we face problems because of mechanical trouble. But the situation is not as bad as it was 20 years ago.”