“That side,” said Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri awardee Usha Uthup, pointing towards the right corner of Trincas, a restaurant in Kolkata’s Park Street, “is where Sharmila Tagore and the Nawab of Pataudi would sit.”

Then she swept her hand across the room. “Farokh Engineer… the West Indies cricket team… Jyoti Basu… Uttam Kumar… Suchitra Sen…”

“I never had to go anywhere, the world came to me,” said the legendary singer as she remembered a particularly fond encounter with filmmaker Satyajit Ray at Park Street. The maestro visited Trincas often and had expressed his interest in making a film about the restaurant.

She paused before smiling. “It sounds like I’m dropping names. Which I am, actually.”

The audience erupted into peals of laughter. Around them was the same dining room that had once hosted many of those famous names.

On Sunday (July 19), Trincas became both venue and subject as The Hindu’s Lit for Life Unplugged brought together Ms. Uthup and historian Anand Puri, third-generation custodian of the iconic Park Street restaurant, for When Park Street Sings: A Conversation on Music, Memory & Kolkata. Moderated by The Hindu‘s Associate Editor Shonali Muthalaly, the discussion moved between Ms. Uthup’s five-decade musical journey and the history of Park Street, tracing how one restaurant became central to Kolkata’s nightlife.

The evening introduced Mr. Anand’s forthcoming book on revisiting the history of Kolkata in the last 100 years through the eyes of Trincas. 

The event also turned the pages of Ms. Uthup’s memoir, The Queen of Indian Pop: The Authorised Biography of Usha Uthup, written by Vikas Kumar Jha, and published by Penguin Random House.

The first stage

Looking back at the beginning of her career, Ms. Uthup returned to Madras in 1969. The conversation began with Ms. Muthalaly asking the singer about an inland letter she received from Mr. Anand’s grandfather in 1969 inviting her to Park Street in what was then Calcutta.

Prior to receiving the letter, she recalled accompanying her aunt, then director of tourism, to the Nine Gems nightclub in Madras where Ms. Uthup was spotted by Mr. Anand’s grandfather, Omi Prakash Puri.

Her musical career truly began when her aunt suggested she sing a line or two on stage. “My music teacher had thrown me out of class,” she said, laughing. “So being asked to sing with a professional band was unbelievable.” Usha chose the song Fever by Peggy Lee. 

“What stayed with me was the sound of the applause. I think that’s what clinched it,” Ms. Uthup remembered.

She never imagined that she would eventually become known for singing Western pop in a sari. “I was just myself. Nobody thought someone looking like me, wearing a sari and a bindi, would stand on stage singing pop music,” she said.

Music in Madras, she added, “has no barriers, no caste, colour, language or gender. It simply connects. And the best musicians in those times were all from Madras and Calcutta.”

A street built around music

Mr. Anand situated Ms. Uthup’s story within the history of Park Street itself. Before becoming Park Street, he explained, the road had been known as Badam Tala because of its almond trees, and later as Burial Ground Road because it led to the South Park Street Cemetery. It eventually took its present name from the deer park owned by Sir Elijah Impey.

By the early 20th century, Armenian builders had transformed the neighbourhood with apartment buildings equipped with electric lighting, piped gas, and elevators.

Its defining cultural moment, however, arrived in the 1960s. “Park Street became the first real entertainment district in India. Probably the most exciting entertainment district in the country,” Mr. Anand said. 

Every major restaurant in the area employed resident musicians, he said, creating what he described as “an entire ecosystem” where audiences moved between Trincas, Blue Fox, Magnolia, Mocambo, and other establishments, depending on whether they wanted jazz, dancing, or cabaret.

“Everybody had live music. Today, Trincas is among the very few places where that tradition still survives,” he said. 

Walking Park Street

During breaks between performances, Uthup said she rarely remained inside Trincas.

“I would always walk out,” she recalled. She browsed the bookshops that once lined Park Street before visiting neighbouring restaurants to hear other performers.

She remembered watching cabaret singer Pam Crain at Blue Fox, describing her as “the quintessential cabaret girl”, and recalled singer Amrik Singh Arora, known as ‘The Singing Sardar’, whose stage presence reminded her of Elvis Presley.

“I wanted to know where I stood. I wanted to hear other singers and learn from them. I’m still like that,” the singer revealed. 

A musical finale

The conversation eventually gave way to questions from the audience and a musical performance. Seated in her chair, Ms. Uthup enthralled a full house at Trincas, singing hits such as Ramba Ho, Dum Maro Dum, Skyfall, Shaan Se and Jaane Ja Dhoondta Phir Raha.

Within minutes, members of the audience had risen from their seats and were dancing between the tables.

As the final chorus echoed through Trincas, memory gave way to music, just as it always had on Park Street. 

Published – July 19, 2026 10:09 pm IST

“Trincas is like home to me. It is my mandir, it is my masjid, it is my girija. It is my hallowed ground, really. I still feel a lump in my throat when I enter it. Trincas is my everything,” says legendary singer and Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri awardee Usha Uthup, with a reservoir of gratitude in her heart.

On July 19, some of this rich history will be brought back to life. As part of The Hindu Lit for Life Unplugged, legendary singer and author Usha Uthup and historian Anand Puri, third-generation custodian of Trincas, will come together at the iconic Park Street institution for When Park Street Sings: A Conversation on Music, Memory & Kolkata. Moderated by The Hindu‘s Associate Editor Shonali Muthalaly, the evening will trace Usha Uthup’s musical journey while revisiting the story of Trincas, Park Street, and a city that once made music every night of the week.

A city remembers

For nearly a century, generations have walked through Trincas carrying vastly different ambitions. Some came looking for music. A few arrived before they became famous. Many left having witnessed history without quite realising it.

Industrialists shared tables with actors. Maharajas crossed paths with musicians. Indian and West Indian cricket legends unwound here after matches. A young Amitabh Bachchan walked through its doors before superstardom. So did Sharmila Tagore, Saira Banu, and Randhir Kapoor. One evening in the 1980s, members of the British rock band The Who wandered in and found a live band playing their songs, unaware that the original band members were among the audience.

Usha remembers the time when Bengal’s most acclaimed and loved actor Uttam Kumar walked in. “I didn’t even know who Uttam Kumar was when I first arrived in Kolkata. On my second or third day at Trincas, he came to watch me perform. One of the musicians leaned over and said, ‘The crowd is going wild because that’s Bengal’s biggest star’. I remember thinking how incredibly debonair and handsome he looked,” recalls the singer.

For Anand, who has spent years researching his forthcoming book chronicling 100 years of Calcutta through the story of Trincas, the restaurant is far more than a celebrated address on Park Street.

In the 1960s, Park Street had become what Anand calls “the most exciting entertainment destination in India”. Every restaurant had a live band. Diners drifted from one venue to another, following the music as naturally as they followed dinner. Trincas stood at the centre of that constellation.

“It had the biggest dance floor. The talent selection was spot on,” Anand says. “The younger crowd, especially Anglo-Indian musicians, gathered there for morning and afternoon jam sessions. By evening, the city’s glitterati took over,’’ he adds.

Stories from the tables

Long before they became international names, performers such as Engelbert Humperdinck, then still performing as Arnold Dorsey, and music producer Biddu Appaiah performed on the Trincas stage. Biddu would later go on to produce ‘Kung Fu Fighting’ before reshaping Indian pop through artistes including Nazia Hassan, Alisha Chinai, Shaan, and Shweta Shetty.

In 1969, during a hotel association conference in Madras, Anand’s grandfather watched a young singer named Usha Iyer perform. Convinced he had discovered an extraordinary voice, he returned to Calcutta and spoke to his business partner Ellis Joshua, who handled Trincas’ music programming. Soon afterwards, an inland letter was sent inviting the young singer to Park Street. The rest belongs to Kolkata’s cultural memory.

Anand believes Usha’s arrival transformed the room almost overnight.

“No one expected a sari-clad lady with a large bindi to sound like a Western crooner. The singers on Park Street usually wore gowns and evening dresses. Ushaji surprised everyone,’’ he says.

Soon there were queues stretching outside Trincas. Audiences came as much for her wit as her unmistakable voice.

Anand has spent years working on the Trincas Timeline Project, an ongoing archive of anecdotes shared by former patrons scattered across the world. His forthcoming book, which will be announced at the event, follows those stories across continents, tracing migrations from the Swiss Alps, Lahore, and Rangoon into Calcutta.

The conversation at The Hindu’s Lit for Life event will also turn the pages of Usha Uthup’s memoir, The Queen of Indian Pop: The Authorised Biography of Usha Uthup.

Speaking of the book, published by Penguin Random House, Usha recollects, “It actually began as an interview I was supposed to do with journalist Vikas Kumar Jha. We started talking, and the interview became so interesting. At one point I wondered, “How can this remain just an interview?” That’s when he suggested, “Let’s make it a biography.” The book was originally written in Hindi and titled Ullas Ki Naav. We managed to draw out memories that had been deeply embedded in my mind, tucked away in forgotten corners. The English translation, The Queen of Indian Pop, was beautifully done by Srishti Jha.”

“When I revisit it now, my favourite chapters are the ones about my childhood. I remember spending afternoons with my brother, lying on the crook of a guava tree, reading comics. Another chapter I love is about making strings for my brothers’ kites,” outlines the singer.

Usha Uthup and Kolkata

For Usha, Kolkata became the city that shaped her life in indelible ways. “I love Calcutta,” she says simply. “It gave me my husband. It gave me my music. My children grew up here, “ she recalls. 

Then she reaches for a metaphor that only someone who has lived in a city for half a century could find: “The thing about Calcutta is that it grows on you. One day, you realise it’s in your bloodstream. You never quite know when you started loving it.”

Over the decades, the city became home and was more than the backdrop to a remarkable musical career.

“I want it to be peaceful. I want it to be clean, green, safe and secure for everyone. I want us to move towards bringing back the beautiful things that have always defined this city: unity and complete secularism. And like I always say, why spend so much time to fight when there’s so little time to love?”, says the singer.

That outlook, she says, comes from her father, whose advice has remained her compass through success and uncertainty alike.

“Whenever you come to a crisis,” he would tell her, “ask yourself three questions: Who am I? Where did I come from? Where am I going?”

“If you answer those honestly,” she says, “you’ll have no reason to feel frustrated.”

The lesson has shaped the way she measures success. Her first salary, she remembers, was ₹750 a month. Today, despite global acclaim, she refuses to compare herself with others. “My father always said, ‘Never compare yourself with anyone else. Compare yourself with who you were.’ When I think about where I came from and where I am today, I feel nothing but gratitude.”

It is this blend of warmth, wit, and groundedness that has endeared Usha Uthup to Kolkata for more than five decades. On July 19, at The Hindu Lit for Life Unplugged at Trincas, audiences will hear her reflect on that lifelong relationship with the city through stories of music, memory, family and the unlikely journey that turned an invitation to sing into a place called home.

For one evening, the stage that launched careers, hosted legends and the soundtrack of Kolkata will once again become a place where stories are performed.

Lit for Life Unplugged, part of The Hindu‘s Lit for Life festival, comes to Trincas on July 19 at 4.30 p.m. Entry is free with prior registration. Drinks and food are on you, the stories are on us. With just 100 seats available, register early and step into the room where Kolkata’s soundtrack was once written. Click on the following link to register: https://forms.thehindu.co.in/LFLunplugged/