A nnyeonghaseyo chingus!” began the host and the restaurant full of giggly and jumpy teenyboppers let out a combined shriek of excitement.

The occasion was the 10th anniversary of Korean boy band BTS, that has taken the world by storm.

The venue was the Sector V restaurant Asia! Asia! Asia! and in attendance were diehard fans who, count themselves among the fan club “BTS Army”. So when host Surosree Chakraborty greeted them with “Annyeonghaseyo chingus!” they all knew it meant “hello friends!” in Korean.

“Jibone nei amar sukh, amar ghoom uriyechhe Jungkook!” recited Surosree and again, the girls swooned at the mention of one of the BTS members. BTS (Bangtan Boys) comprises seven members – Jungkook, Jin, Suga, J-Hope, RM, Jimin and V. over the past 10 years the boys have cast their spell over fans with numbers like Dynamite, Permission to dance, Fire, Butter, Mic drop and Black swan. Such is their global influence that they were even invited to address and perform at the United Nations General Assembly in 2018.

A themed cake being cut by BTS fans at Asia! Asia! Asia!

The restaurant played the band’s music videos and all hands went up in the air as they echoed their fan chant mentioning the full names of the singers — Kim Nam-joon! Kim Seok-jin! Min Yoon-gi! Jung Hoseok! Park Ji-min! Kim Taehyung! Jeon Jungkook! BTS!”

Minisha Biswas had come from Dakshineshwar, no less. “I have been to a few such bashes before and every time I find the craze getting louder. We get to meet so many fans who are just as crazy for the band as we are,” said the second year collage student. “I have been a fan since 2016 but can’t choose any one favourite singer. All seven are my favorites and their song Black swan tops my playlist.”

A game of charades had the girls performing dance moves for the others to guess the songs and there was also a BTS trivia quiz. The host Surosree herself is a BTS Army member who had even travelled to Bangkok to attended Suga’s concert with her best friend, who she also happened to meet through the BTS fan community. “I cannot express how surreal it was watch Suga live!” she exclaimed. “My best friend, who I met after becoming a BTS fan, had come along and the girl next to us at the concert was also a Bengali girl.”

The trivia quiz had questions like “name three international artists BTS has collaborated with”, “name the hometown of any five BTS members,” and “What is J-Hope’s dog’s name?” No sooner were the questions asked than hands sprang up in the air to answer.

While the party had an overwhelming majority of girls, Sucheta Gupta Chowdhury had managed to tag along her husband Souvik Roy. “I have been a BTS fan since 2017. I came across the band while surfing around for music and I just love them now,” she smiled. “I’ve also pulled my husband along today. At home we have side-by-side posters of my Jungkook and his Iron Man,” she laughed. Souvik, on his part, played the good husband. “She is a BTS fan and I am her fan,” he quipped.

The whole room soon started dancing to BTS tracks and a colourful cake — bearing the picture of the band – was cut and relished. “Response for this event has been fantastic! BTS Army from all over came down, bringing with them enthusiasm and excitement. We plan to host more such events in future,” said Abhimanyu Maheshwari, founder and CEO of Zing Restaurants, that owns Asia! Asia! Asia