These essays selected from the 'Calcutta Diary' column, appearing in the Economic and Political Weekly over the years 1986 to 1993, owed their origin to the gentle persuasion of Krishna Raj. He edited the journal for the span of three and a half decades with great imagination and made it what it is today. His death in 2004 has taken away the flavour of life for many of us. I must also remember the enthusiasm for these pieces on the part of Padma Prakash, who held an important editorial position in the journal during that perior. Bernard D'Mello, currently deputy editor of the EPW, who, for weeks on end, stayed back after office hours, trudged through old issues of the journal, and put together the selection; I cannot thank him enough. Finally, two friends from different spheres, Prabhat Patnaik and M. J. Akbar, have been ardent readers of whatever I wrote. They will perhaps feel hurt if I try to thank them.