Back in time: Musician and foodie Nondon Bagchi on the ever-changing music scene and foodscape of Kolkata

From the late 1960s, Calcutta became the hub for musicians, especially those pursuing Western music like rock and roll, jazz and blues. Live musical evenings at Trincas and the city clubs, and later at Someplace Else, encouraged many emerging musicians to pursue it seriously. Rock bands like High and Mohiner Ghoraguli that have become synonymous with the city’s unique soundscape bear testimony to the thriving music scene in the city.

With time, though the music scene has undergone a sea of change, what remains unchanged is the approach of the legendary musicians towards music. One such personality is Nondon Bagchi, the doyen of drums in Kolkata, who also is one of the founding members of the band, High.

At 71, Nondon still plays the drums at live shows, and unlike many, he doesn’t resist the changing music scenes. “Times change. The audience changes because there is a change in the market. The music-making companies tweak their policies and as a result, the music scene changes. I have never been critical of those things, nor did I try to analyse them,” says Nondon.

While music might be a thing of fancy and glamour for many, only to be abandoned for greener pastures professionally, for Nondon, it still remains his source of sustenance. He had a brief stint with journalism, but music remained his main focus. “I left journalism after a while, but music, never! I always had ‘High’ and was a member of the band even in the years that I was employed as a journalist,” he states.

Seeing our curiosity to know the reason behind the name High, the musician explains, “I was the one who suggested the name and I leave the interpretation open to all.” The band, however, was dismantled in 1990, after one of its members Dilip Balakrishnan passed away. Talking about the city’s audience, the legendary drummer observes that Kolkata has a knowledgeable and insightful audience. “Wherever they are, or however they are placed, they would know for real what is going on the stage. Listeners should have their choice of playlist. But for me, as a performer or a listener, rock and roll would always be the first choice, especially the classic rock genre of the Woodstock generation,” he says.

Nondon is not just a legendary musician but a food columnist and critic as well. He had the privilege to take out the British celebrity chef and restaurateur chef Gordon Ramsay on a Kolkata food trail, a few years back. fan of street foods, he doesn’t keep a track of the ever-changing foodscape of the city. “If somebody tells me that a new place has opened somewhere and serves interesting food, I check it out. But I don’t write about it anymore, I’m way past all that,” he avers. “I used to love the Sky Room Restaurant on Park Street. They used to serve a dish called Chateaubriand steak which was my favourite,” Nondon reminisces.

So many restaurants are opening up every now and then, especially in South Calcutta and Park Street, but what makes a diner stand out, we ask him. “That would definitely be a unique menu that nobody else has. Even if not the whole menu but at least some signature items that will have the stamp of the place, and people would know the restaurants, because of those few dishes.”

To conclude the conversation we ask, whether he listens to the new generation of musicians. “When I was younger, I listened to a lot of new stuff. But that listening habit is gone now. I listen to music only if somebody is playing something. I don’t play music to listen all by myself,” he says before he walks up to the other room in his South Kolkata house for a round of drum roll.