Members at Dakshin Kalikata Sansad. Picture by Rashbehari Das

The endeavour of Dakshin Kalikata Sansad (DKS) to reinvent itself as a complete sports and recreation platform for the mid-income segment of south Calcutta came full circle on Friday with the opening of the club?s lounge bar.

Part of the 13,000-sq ft new swimming pool complex, which was inaugurated in April this year by the then mayor Subrata Mukherjee, the lounge bar completes the first phase of the club?s expansion and diversification charter.

Sheriff Chuni Goswami had inaugurated the state-of-the-art multi-gym on Independence Day and actress Roopa Ganguly unveiled the beauty parlour in September, both housed inside the contemporary complex.

?With Calcutta emerging as an economic hub and young executives of new-age service sectors making the city their home, the club management thought it necessary to upgrade infrastructure to cater to their specific needs,? says Hironmoy Chatterjee, honorary secretary, DKS.

The new facilities, Chatterjee feels, would not only generate extra income for the club, but provide more opportunities for members and guests to relax and socialise. ?Our swimming pool is among the best in town and now we have enough social and cultural activities to make DKS a buzzing place all through the year,? the secretary says.

Club president Prasad Ranjan Ray echoes his secretary?s sentiments. ?DKS has always been a sports club for the middle-class. It still is, but has now also donned the accoutrements of a social club, which is good,? he observes.

The Deshapriya Park club, besides lining up a string of reciprocal membership tie-ups with other institutions all across the country, is also drawing up plans for the second part of the reinvention initiative, subject to approval from the civic body.

?We have a proposal to demolish the existing old structure of the club and build a modern four-storey building to house the club office, library, snooker and bridge rooms, restaurant, conference hall and 10 rooms to accommodate overseas and outstation players during ITF tournaments,? says Chatterjee.

The plan, which envisages 8,000 sq ft of built space on each floor, has been submitted to the preview board of the Calcutta Municipal Corporation and is awaiting necessary clearances. The management promises a construction time of 18-24 months, start to finish.

For the moment though, the focus is on the DKS Week, which kicks off next Sunday with the Children?s Christmas party followed by the inter-club antakshari on Boxing Day. On December 27, Style Divas, a fashion show, will provide an insight and trace the evolution of fashion trends from Sadhana to Preity Zinta, also featuring models and Tollywood stars like June and Locket Chatterjee.

December 28 will see an evening of Bandish Fusion to be performed by Grammy-nominated tabla player Subhen Chatterjee and his fusion ensemble Karma. The members? cultural evening on December 29 is followed the next day by a musical night in tribute to Begum Akhtar with a candlelit dinner.

On New Year?s Eve, Francis Yee Lepcha of Barefoot fame will rock the club campus along with DJ Moses.