GATEWAY TO MEMORIES: Kiran Rao enters the Hungerford Street premises where she and her parents used to live. (Aranya Sen)

Kiran Rao outside Loreto House on Friday. (Aranya Sen)

“Eta aamar bari!”.... “Eta aamar school!”

Kiran Rao on Tuesday would have done Santosh Dutta proud in the way she shrieked “aamar”. The stress on the word was a mixture of nostalgia, belonging and sheer joy — just like Jatayu and his Sonar Kella bhojali.

Mrs Aamir Khan took a trip down memory lane as she visited the house she lived in and the school she went to, when she stayed here between 1973 and 1992. Her directorial debut Dhobi Ghat, releasing next Friday, may be a tribute to the city of Mumbai, but Kiran Rao is “very much a Calcutta girl”.

“Oh, I have missed my city so much,” she told Metro as the sedan she was travelling in trundled through a busy Camac Street on Friday evening. “I have an idea for a film set in Calcutta and even if that doesn’t happen I am going to come here to write the script of my next film. This will not be a revisit but a rediscovery because the city has changed so much,” added Kiran.

But what hasn’t changed much is Hungerford Court at 12/1 Hungerford Street, where Kiran stayed for 15 years. With a big smile on her face and rapid strides across the road, she touched the number plate and then promptly pushed open the iron gate to the building. “There on the second floor used to be our home, and this is where we used to play hopscotch,” she pointed out, ecstasy in her voice.

After checking out the rented Hungerford Street flat she used to stay in, Kiran hopped out to check the elephant inscribed on a side wall. “This used to be completely pink and our building was called Pink Elephant, just like the nightclub (at The Oberoi Grand),” she recounted.

A few more steps and she found the garage. More excitement. “Our Ambassador used to be kept here, which we later changed to a Standard 2000… it was on this street that I learnt driving!”

The same road leads to the back gate of Saturday Club, where Kiran said she had “spent half of her childhood”.

“I used to play tennis there and also swim,” she said. “My life revolved around my para… Park Street, Russell Street, Camac Street and Short Street. I used to take the Metro to go to my tuition classes. Otherwise I used to walk everywhere, with Loreto House being my school.”

The moment Loreto House cropped up in the conversation, the next stop was decided. So off to the Middleton Row institution, where she studied from Nursery till Class X.

Despite being a Bollywood superstar’s wife, Kiran wasn’t allowed to enter the premises, but she was happy to be in front of her alma mater.

“Can you imagine I haven’t come here in 20 years?” she said, surprised that it’s been so long. “Wish I could do this tour with Aamir by my side but it’s impossible (thanks to his popularity) to take him to any public place.”

Kiran is planning a solo food trip to Calcutta next. “I need to stay here for at least two years to complete eating each food item on my list. Number one is churmur, I have to have it,” she smiled.

That’s where Metro parted ways with Kiran as she went in search of a phuchkawalla before heading to a friend’s place for a Bengali dinner. On Saturday morning, Kiran leaves for Bangalore, where she had shifted in 1992 with her parents. And then it is back to Mumbai, eager to know the response to her directorial debut.

Dhobi Ghat’s international title is Mumbai Diaries but the Kiran Metro met on Friday evening would also make a very fine Calcutta Diaries.