Thursday, March 29, 2018

A sweetshop nonpareil...

Bagbazar Street, a stretch that is unequivocally regarded as one of the seats of Bengali aristocracy, hosts some of the most famous and sought-after street-food joints of Kolkata. There was a time when it used to be regarded highly urbanely by flourishing and delicate Britons to take their ladies to Bagbazar on evening strolls. With time the sheen wore off but the flavour remained. And Bagbazar continued to bask in the glory of a pampered past...

If one approaches Bagbazar Street from BT Road [The Bata junction] - keeping the eyes and nose open and alert, and takes a few steps down the road, a diminutive, seedy, crowded sweet-shop would appear on the left - named ‘Sri Gobindo Bhandar’. This is heaven!


It won’t be entirely wrong to state that Gobindo Bhandar’s proud owners would have loved had it been only Winter all along! This shop particularly flourishes in winter as their fare largely consists of varieties of sweets made with Jaggery [solemnly ‘Gurh’ - made with date palm popularly known as nolen gurh or patali gurh] – a wintry produce and, gastronomically speaking, something dangerously close and essential to a die-hard Bengali’s wellbeing.


The time of the year we are living through is afflictive as we hopelessly witness the elusive winter leaving us only to return after a year – and try to stash as much ‘Gurh’ as possible for the rest of the year until the winter resurfaces. Gobindo Bhandar’s Gurh is pricey but justly so. The aroma of ‘Gurh’ the shop offers gratis to the passersby is priceless. The range of sweets – prepared with Gurh – is not quite long but wide enough and includes Gujia, Norom-pak [the soft ones], Kora-pak [hard ones], Chandrapuli [lunar shaped], Naru [sweets made of coconut shreds and Gurh], Moa [a seasonal sweetmeat delicacy made with Date Palm Jaggery and Kanakchur Khoi] et al. besides the raw gurh sold in both solid and molten form.

So, I would request all my fellow gastronomes to start stockpiling Gurh and ensure happiness until the winter reappears! Clock is ticking!

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