Lifestyle

Kolkata's Mud Cafe remembers music legend Debabrata Biswas

by IBNS 04 Sep 2016, 12:21 pm

Kolkata, Sept 4 (IBNS) It was an evening to remember recently in a south Kolkata theme cafe that since its start a year ago does not belt out western hits but the soulful Tagore songs rendered in the bass voice of a legendary singer who had lived in the very premises.

The legendary Debabrata Biswas, popularly known as George-da, had lived here at 174E, Rashbehari Avenue which a year ago has been turned into a cafe- Mud Kolkata,- by Arnab Mitra and his wife Ananya Mitra.

A unique cafe where good food and coffee is accompanied with Tagore songs sung by Rabindrasangeet exponent Debabrata Biswas, the coffee shop, which also packs nostalgia for every Bengali, on Aug 22 organised a special evening to remember the legend.  It was the 105th Birth Anniversary of Debabrata Biswas.

Saurav Ganguly, a Tagore researcher and Rabindrasangeet teacher, along with singer Sudipta Ghosh enlivened the evening with many stories of "George-da" as the programme began with the rendition of Debabrata Biswas' well known student Arun Gangopadhyay and Rabindrasangeet artiste Aditi Gupta.

Since its opening Mud Cafe has been praised by one and all with their ratings in Zomato a high 4.5 and reviews and word of mouth campaign bringing in foodies and music lovers alike.

Says Arnab Mitra, the owner, "We [with his wife Ananya] had started the cafe a year back with only two employees with no formal training in this industry."

"It was evolved out of our interest in food and pottery and handcrafted gift items and surely we did not forget the legacy of the house where the cafe is," says Mitra.

With good dishes available at a very economical price, perhaps there are few in south Kolkata which combine the legacy of Tagore and Debabrata Biswas with mud cakes, chicken omelettes , sandwich, fish and chips or pina colada and Mojito, espresso and Oreo shake.

And yes, the name Mud cafe is also because it has a lot of pottery items for sale and you can choose your next gift from here.