Adda lives on in Calcutta… only the venue has changed. From the parar rock to the Internet communities, the chat keeps flowing, from politics, to sports, to culture, to matters of the heart.

The favourite hub is Orkut. The biggest adda here, of course, is on the Boi Mela, the Calcutta Book Fair. The world is divided into two — those who agree with the high court order on the Book Fair and those who don’t. Then there are the Sourav-watchers come alive again. Singur and Nandigram are being discussed, too.

There are other Calcutta fixations. Voting for the favourite romantic haunt is hot on the agenda, more on the south Calcutta communities. Not surprising perhaps, considering that such “prem karar jayega” as Dhakuria Lakes and Nandan are both in south Calcutta. “JU er Jheel par, the many malls, seiiiiiii Lake and Gariahat er mor” are places Prithvi votes for, while Anish remembers the cosy seclusion of romancing at Caffeine, the cafe at Gol Park. If “southcal” has its Lake and Nandan, the CTC would also be happy to know the service it is providing to the city’s lovebirds.

An offshoot is a debate on whether girls from the south are hotter, or girls from the north. But Dokkhin Kolkata babes win hands down. “This is not a topic worth discussing at all,” writes one south-Calcuttan. “Only the neka (there’s no English word that quite conveys this meaning) or stupid will go for girls from the north. The hip will prefer the south. I too do. They are modern, have a better dress sense, and somehow are even better looking than the average north Calcutta girl.” Another scrap says: “South girls are like rose, they can be hot, or cold, but very beautiful.”

Orkut is not the only online community that has a finger on the city’s pulse. A man from Calcutta is raging on www.youtube.com. He is Dayal Baba, bare-bodied, in a tightly-worn dhoti that covers only up to his knees. His face is painted white, a giant mole is stuck on his face and a Hitler-like moustache is painted roughly on. He looks like a bohurupee gone wrong. But what he does is even more grotesque. He dances non-stop to the tune of ‘Dayal Baba kala khaba, gachh lagaiya khao, parer gachher pane kano mitmitiaya chao…’ (Dayal Baba, Will you have a banana? Then plant a tree and don’t stare greedily at other people’s banana plants), with a straight face and leaves the stage abruptly. He should win an award.

Till next week then. Adda shall be had (ASBH).