OF LATE, websites are being created with the theme of adda – unfortunately, very few know or care to know how addas originated. They have vague ideas and are afraid to ask others for fear of being criticised. Therefore, yours truly takes this opportunity to delve deep into the mysterious gathering of persons where there is no age barrier and where the participants abide by the basic principle of jumping from one topic to another with the ease of a frog jumping from one leaf to another and gobbling up a prize catch in between.

The adda, in its simplest form, is an informal gathering of Bengalis to discuss any subject under the sun. In its most primitive form, it used to be a gathering of authors who met on certain days of the week to discuss various writings that took their fancy and were worth discussing. Criticism was the order of the day and all concerned took it in the right spirit to improve the literary values of their writings. The meeting could be in the office of the editor or in a coffee house or some central place where the glitterati would come all the way from Gariahat and Ballygunge in the South to Baghbazar and Paikpara in the North. The addas separated into those that had a soft corner for only prose, while another section handled the mysterious world of poetry – the conventional ones where rhymes played a major role and the modern day poetry where the reader was supposed to be tuned to the frequency of the poet - similar to modern day paintings where appreciation of the specific art form could be done by the initiated.

Roadside Bengali addas usually had the local tea shop as the backdrop – it might begin by someone running into the tea shop, occupying a seat, and making an innocent statement – ‘we must bring back the trams – they were slow but still I would vote for them even today.’ Immediately, someone would pick up the thread and proceed to elaborate on the pathetic condition of the transport system. Within no time, he would be surrounded by those who agreed and those who did not. There would be arguments and counter arguments on whether the manual rickshaws should remain, on the rehabilitation package of the rickshaw pullers if the rickshaws really went off the roads, on film actor Om Puri pulling a rickshaw in the movie ‘City of Joy’. If it was a Sunday or a holiday, the debate would rage on and on much to the delight of the shopkeeper because it translated into good business – might be a few more cups of tea and an occasional plate of biscuits or snacks like ’telebhaja’ (deep fried pakoras in mustard oil). But, one thing was guaranteed for sure – the adda gave equal importance to its participants, it was immaterial whether he was an ordinary clerk or an officer. As long as he had the ability to argue his case vehemently, he was at liberty to participate. The status, if at all, would matter once they were in their work places.