What is certain is that the adda is a Bengali way of life and key to the happiness of Kolkata residents. Travellers may see college students huddled around Nandan cinema complex and thronging the food joints near the bustling New Market area, engrossed in long, cerebral conversations. In the evening, after office hours, men gather around roadside tea shacks near their homes and passionately engage in adda. As latecomers arrive and others leave, the group morphs gradually; and after a few hours, all the participants may have been replaced.
