Written simply and movingly, Chowringhee a novel penned by Shankar completes 55 years of bestselling existence.

Calcutta as it was known then is depicted as a pleasure-loving entrepot where fates change and new plots wash up with every tide. It would not be an exaggeration to contend that this absorbing novel written in the backdrop of a city hotel has more than stood the test of time.

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Legions of readers have identified with the author who like a wide-eye bystander recalls a ringside account of the lives of the hotel’s minions, relaxation of celebrities who compared notes on the brews that cheer and inebriate watching the cabaret dancers perform.

This novel is an instance of old-fashioned art of storytelling replete with characters, imbued with a drama and a turn for the unexpected.

Manning the reception desk of Shahjahan hotel with inimitable Satya Sundar Bose a.k.a Sata Bose, Shankar’s novel progresses as gracefully as a barge floating down a river.

On board, those in three-piece suits and khadi sip Moscow Mules and Manhattans but outnumbering them memorable characters march in.

Introducing themselves as Marco, the manager of the hotel, Connie, a stripper from Scotland, Karabi, a hostess who runs a suite permanently booked for a corporate group, Nityahari, the laundryman, the old Goan musician Gomez, with his love of Beethoven and Mozart, Sorabji, the wine seller, captains of industry, fixers, sari clad mem sahibs, all these characters remain in the hearts of the readers, generations of whom have read the tome and liked it.

Mani Shankar Mukherjee, an ace public relations head honcho, who writes under the pen name of Shankar is an author whose works often tops the best sellers’ list.

But till the coming out of Chowringhee, he had been dubbed by some as an one-book author after Kato Ajanare, his first novel sold like hot cakes.

Years had gone by when the man who had dismissed Shankar’s literary success as a flash in the pan variety had sought one of his books.

“My books are like my flesh and blood and one does not give away one’s daughter in marriage to a stranger.” the veteran author had shot back. Be that as it may, 55 – yearold Chowringhee and its octogenarian author are looking forward to scale greater heights. All the best.