Audrey & I live as a couple: Neel Adhikari

She finds him to be the funniest man she has ever met. He finds her to be the best barometer of his songwriting skill. For the first time, Neel Adhikari speaks about his relationship with partner Audrey.
How did you meet Audrey?
I met her through a friend called Emanuel. He was seeing a friend of mine. That was in 2006. My wife and I had broken up then.Initially, Audrey and I took a liking to each other. We became great friends. We had similar tastes in music and movies. After quite a while, we started seeing each other. I was single then. The relationship reached a space where, after a while, she moved in with me.
Do you live as a couple or as flatmates?
We live as a couple. I introduced her to my landlord. Thankfully, we never faced any problems from the landlord when we decided to live-in . The landlord is a friend and he was very supportive. We shop together — from furniture to films. She speaks a smattering of Bengali but can understand the language well. She is into the same kind of films and music that I like. It’s been two years since we started living-in .
How does your family accept her?
My parents adore her. Audrey fell in love with Kolkata before she fell in love with me. She tells me that she likes the fact that Kolkata is about people who are not pretentious. The city gives a certain space to people to breathe in.
Any marriage plans?
Not right now. There is nothing that marriage will provide that we don’t have already.
Having been through a broken marriage in the past, do you have faith in the institution of marriage?
I don’t have much of an opinion on this subject. I feel, people are marrying for the sake of society. I doubt how many marry for each other. Of course, there are certain sections of society where a relationship goes to the next level only after marriage. We haven’t choked our relationship because we aren’t married yet. Here, I am not just talking about sex. It is about intimacy and involvement in each other’s daily affairs. Our relationship is very complete.
A lot of live-in couples these days marry for kids. Have you thought about it?
When the relationship of a live-in couple is working, marriage doesn’t add anything apart from a legal identity for the child. We are not thinking of children right now.
Have you learnt French?
I can understand French now. When Audrey meets her family members and friends, she speaks in French. Hence, I have picked up quite a bit of the language too.
Are you in touch with your ex-wife?
Yes. Alka has moved to Bangalore to further her advertising career. Our divorce is coming through. She does know about Audrey. They’ve met each other. Audrey had a boyfriend earlier but wasn’t married to him.
Alka and you seemed to have been a couple who was very much in love. What went wrong?
Let me just say that we were meant to be friends rather than a couple.
How does Audrey influence you musically?
Any song that I ever make or even half-write, I have to show it to her. I respect her sense of aesthetics. She is a person of literature and has watched a lot of movies and heard a lot of music too. She can draw comparisons from a vast, to resource lyrically. I value and melodically hercriticism go. in She a different has helped direc me - tion. Of course, I’ve tried hard for that too. I am happy that in Audrey, I have a barometer of my songwriting skill. She has helped me gauge my progression.
Musically, what’s the path you are choosing now?
Rupam, Allan and I are working on “Ami Vs Tumi”. Five Little Indians is working on a four-song as-yet untitled album. My cousin, Miti Adhikari, is mixing the soundtrack for “Gandu” that Five Little Indians and Q have composed. Soon, we will soon be performing at the Ujaan Festival. That’s the first festival happening in Bengal which will see Western bands coming down from all over the country. This will be happening from March 10 to March 12.
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