Through the final years of school and in college, they would meet in a tiny wedge of a tea stall opposite Basanti Devi College at Gariahat. The group of 30 comprised mostly South Point students, with a few from Patha Bhavan and St. Xavier's College. The tea stall is no longer their haunt but their WhatsApp group takes its name - My Club.
The group of friends have got together and pledged to stand by Nepal in the country's hour of need, in association with FREED, an NGO run by one of them. Their aim is not just to help raise money for relief but also to get involved with the reconstruction of a village.
Two decades later, some of them - four Pointers from the 1981-82 Madhyamik batches - met at My Club after a gap of two decades to plan a fundraising concert.
Come Sunday, Nazrul Mancha will reverberate with the music of Kavita Krishnamurti, Babul Supriyo, Akriti Kakkar, Rashid Khan, Indranil Sen (a My Club member), Anusheh Anadil and Rashid's daughter, Suha.
The show will be opened by the Violin Brothers, who will play the national anthems of the two countries. Pandit Ajay Chakrabarty will chant the shanti mantra.
The final performance will be by Pandit Shivkumar Sharma, accompanied by Subhankar Banerjee. My Club member Tanmoy Bose, who is the force behind the concert, will accompany Anusheh.
All guests artistes have agreed to perform gratis, while Air India has offered to fly them free.
The morning of the show has been set aside for young musicians. "Upcoming bands, including the South Point school band and my son Shiladitya's electronic dance music band, will perform. Students of Modern High School will stage a play. Children of several city musicians will feature in this segment. I have requested Anupam (Roy), Anindya and Upal (of Chandrabindoo) to drop by to encourage them," said Bose.
Paintings and posters by students of South Point on the earthquake will be on display outside the venue.
"The idea of doing something for Nepal came to our doctor friend Sabyasachi Sen and was taken up by Somnath Pyne, an engineer who runs an NGO. Tanmoy then used his goodwill in the music fraternity to go big with the concert," said filmmaker Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury.
Nepal consul-general Chandra Kumar Ghimire, who will accept the funds on behalf of his government at the concert, lauded the effort. "Calcutta has demonstrated outstanding support by not only contributing towards relief and rescue but also leveraging its cultural strength for our benefit," Ghimire told Metro , adding that the Nepal government has cleared many of the sites for tourism from June 15.
Roy Chowdhury and his friends are already planning a trip to Nepal "as a mark of solidarity".
Pyne has approached the Nepal tourism board to help with reconstruction of an artisans' village in Bhaktapur. "Bhaktapur is famous for wooden handicrafts. After the concert, we would raise funds to help rebuild some of the craftsmen's houses," he said. Another proposal is to host an exhibition for the artisans in Calcutta.
"We are in talks with FREED about bringing over some craftsmen in August. Intricately carved door and window frames are typical of the area," said Maitreyee Roy, honorary public relations representative, Nepal Tourism Board.
"Everyone makes a one-time contribution. We want to build a relationship," signed off critical care expert Sabyasachi Sen.
