City of Bhoy: A ‘Dilliwala’ Bengali’s take on the Mocambo incident

To paraphrase one of the famous villains of Bollywood — Mocambo khush nahi hua. And the ‘City of Joy’ it seems has become a ‘City of Bhoy’ (fear).

I’ve been to this restaurant many times. It one of the oldest on Kolkata’s Park Street. If in town, this was a restaurant that always warranted a visit. This was on the to-do list of every person who is in Kolkata.

Mocambo is perhaps Kolkata’s most-famous eatery today serving old-style, typically Kolkata-continental (khansama) cuisine.

On Friday, Dilashi Hemnani, who was on a visit to the city for work decided to take her driver out for dinner at Mocambo as a token of thanks. Clearly, this ‘fine dining establishment’ could not let that happen. Remember the days of the Raj, when Indians and dog weren’t allowed — some of the vestiges still remain.

In a Facebook post that has now gone viral, Hemnani expressed her shock over what had happened.

“You want your cities clean and green; stick to Delhi. You want your cities, rich and impersonal, go to Bombay. You want them high-tech and full of draught beer, Bangalore’s your place. But if you want a city with a soul, come to Calcutta,” Vir Sanghvi once wrote.

A little bit of that soul was killed by Mocambo — by an establishment that has perhaps forgotten basic human values — which not just a city but every man, woman and child must stand for.

For years, whenever someone has asked me where I was from, I’ve always said Calcutta (not Kolkata). I was proud that I went to college in the city and fell in love with the city of my birth when it was time to fall in love. But today I had this epiphany – I’m a ‘Dilliwalah Dil Se’. This Kolkata is scary.