So, if you're homesick for Kolkata, or just want to find out what the big deal is about the city that all Bengalis wax so eloquent about, drop in at the Taj Coromandel and Connemara hotels. Because, the Taj, in association with The Hindu MetroPlusand ABN AMRO, is bringing to Chennai a potful of captivating Kolkata.

The `Art Adda' festival, which includes an art camp and an art auction, kicks off with a Bengali food festival (puchkas and jaalmuri available). After all, whether it's the sizzling katti roll on Park Street, or buttery chello kebabs at Peter Cat, one of the city's many cherished restaurants, good food is an integral part of the whole Kolkata experience.

The food festival, which showcases Bengali thali lunches and buffet dinners, will be on at Matchpoint and the Taj Coromandel. (The Chef, Shyamal Biswas from Kolkata, specially recommends the Sorshe Bata Ilish and Jhinge Aloo Posto.) They've also flown in a (probably bewildered) chaatwala, puchka man and paanwala to make the Kolkata kaleidoscope as colourfully authentic as possible.

The art camp, which is really the centre of the festival, starts next. Artworld: Sarala's Art Centre has curated the art show to coincide with its 40th anniversary, and it has brought together almost 25 artists from across the country for the camp. The group, which includes some of the country's biggest names such as Manu Parekh, Paritosh Sen, Amitabh Sengupta, Vaikuntham and Dhiraj Choudhury, will be working on canvases at the Coromandel and Connemara for six days.

"It's an occasion for people connected to art to see these artists at work," says Bishwajit Banerjee of Artworld, explaining the concept of an art adda. "You can sit down with them when they're working and clarify concepts, or just learn about different techniques," he adds, going on to discuss how the camp is an opportunity to see "a visual feast" of paintings, all in one room.

Once the camp concludes, Neville Tuli's auction house, Osian, will auction the paintings, and the proceeds will go to charity.

Another highlight of the festival is the staging of `Art', a gripping play about three friends and their contrary reactions to a painting. Directed by Yasmeen Reeza, under the banner Scene Stealers, the play features well-known actors Suhel Seth, Vivek Mansukhani and Sunit Tandon.

So, when you crave jaalmuri, and some intellectual conversation on art, roll up your sleeves, slurp your way through a plateful of puchkas and indulge in an adda here. When there's a pause in the conversation, maybe you can even watch a bit of "Chokker Bali" or "Parineeta" on the plasma TVs.

And, of course, there'll be Rabindra Sangeet playing in the background.