Ki Mishti...On a Sugar Trail

My Hindi teacher in school, Mr. Yadav, would often repeat a joke that the easiest subject you could choose to do your PhD would be on Abuses in Bengali for they have a handful…tumi sh..la boka ch.. a, har..m jada and shuorer bachcha…and of course the most difficult PhD would be to do the same in Punjabi.

So when you hear the term Sweet Bengal, is it the sweetness of the language or the multitude of mishti that you can get here, is difficult to say but for me a walk around the city of Kolkata tells me that this is undoubtedly The Diabetic Capital of the World.  Having some time in hand in the evening, after a series of tough meetings with insurance agents, did a quick search of Mr. Google to find out the most famous sweet shops in Kolkata. Now this was not difficult for Mr. Google to answer but for me to select from the four million options, it sure was. So I zoomed in on the top rated and common to all searches, four of the shops. And so began my mishit trail on bus, metro, tram and my ever so loyal and loving two legs that never fail me.

Stop No. 1: Bhim Chandra Nag

Took a Metro to Central…I must say that even after over thirty years now, the pan spitting Bhadralok has kept the Metro as clean as ever. As is usually the case, I, too, walked out of the exit which was the wrong one and so had to walk longer to the shop but it took me via an interesting place…Firingi Kalibari set up over 500 hundred years ago by a European called Anthony who became a bhakt of Goddess Kali.

Established in 1836, Bhim Chandra Nag’s sondesh is supposed to be the ultimate. In the picture below you can see the 6^th generation of the Nag family and next to it is the famed Cooke & Kelvey clock which was manufactured in Britain about 160 years ago with the dial in Bangla and is still working fine.

Stop No. 2: Girish Chandra Dey & Nakur Chandra Nandy

Asked an old man about the bus to take to go to Ramdulal Sarkar Street where the shop is situated. He told me that all buses will go there but ask the conductor to help you get off one stop before ( aagey) Beadon Street. So I jumped aboard the blue bus plying on Kolkata streets with the conductor shouting…aastey (slowly) and tara tari (hurry up) in the same breathe….bought a ticket and asked Mr. Conductor to let me know “ Beadon Streeter aagey”. The bus moved picking up people at every stop and hurrying when our man would call out to the driver, “Sargent aachey” meaning the Police Sergeant is around so don’t stop. Anyway, he showed me the bus stop and I realized the conductor took me to be a Khotta or Meyro… these are Bong colloquials for someone from the North or Marwadi and ‘aagey’ for this section was ‘after’ and not ‘before’ unlike us Bengalis. So my walk became longer. Asked a few people about the street but they all seemed unaware of it but the moment I said I wanted to go to Nakur’s mishti shop, surprisingly everyone knew the way….shoja, porey daan dik (go straight and then turn right). Indeed this city is unique where names of streets do not matter but mishti shops are the landmarks here.

This shop, established about 80 years ago, got its name from the father-in-law (Girish Dey) joining hands with son-in-law (Nakur Nandy). This famed shop resembles the wine shops in Kolkata with grills all around. You need to order and pay across the grilled façade….not very much like a welcoming mishti shop but the people don’t mind it, they love it. The sondesh here again is the thing to die for and they have over sixty varieties at any given time. While buying the sweets here, I heard the mellifluous voice of Manna Dey and so turned around to see a memorial built in his name with  a bust and fountains  around it and his songs playing round the clock….Kamaal Kolkata.

Stop No.3: K.C Das

Everyone has heard about this sweet shop of the best rosogollas in the world from sponge to diabetes variety. So took a tram going to Esplanade but midway when the conductor shouted Than Thania Kalibari, I jumped off to see this Kali temple. Built in 1705, the place looks like having undergone some renovation, and is abuzz with the devotees praying with folded hands, burning incense sticks and doing the shashtang pranaam which is lying flat, face down with arms extended forward and fingers clasped in complete surrender and obeisance mode. There is something good about the place and felt nice visiting it. Said my small prayer as well.

Walked out of there and saw lots of book stores. All right! This was the famous College street where you could find every book ever published in the world. Today, however, the demand is for entrance exam compendiums than for the classics of old. Here I saw the famed Presidency College which recently completed 200 years. Sent a Whatsapp picture of the entrance to my only wife, Debi, who felt nostalgic about her alma mater. Stepped across the street to hail the next tram but felt thirsty and so went out to look for some place to buy a cold drink.  Couldn’t find any for there were book stores and more book stores. Then suddenly my eyes fell on a place called Indian Coffee House….Aa ha…another part of history and so I walked up the winding staircase. Whoa…it was full of people, young and old, with waiters in colonial pagri atop their heads. Sadly my thirst wasn’t quenched as here they stop taking fresh orders after 8pm. Took a couple of pictures of the place famous for Bengali adda where many a paper Che Guevara and many a revolution were born.

Took a long walk to Bow Bazar Chowk and clambered onto a bus for Esplanade or ‘’Splanade”, as the bus conductors call it, to reach KC Das’ famous shop at the cross roads of this place now called Dharmatala. From the outside it was apparent that the owners had done up the shop recently. The manager inside asked me not to take pictures of the shelves containing the sweets…it was their closely held family secret recipe and style quite alike the Coke XXX formula…khoob bhaalo…Ate the largest rosogolla in sight worth kingly Rs 35 a piece but was worth every bite of it and every drop of its sugary syrup.

By now it was 9pm and my health meter on my phone said that I had done over 20,000 steps for the day. Hence, decided to do the fourth and the last mishti shop on my list the next day. Now my legs started walking in an auto mode towards a roadside joint called Hot Kathi Roll on Park Street. For the last 30 years since I joined National Insurance at Kolkata, I have always made it a point to eat here at least once every time I come to this City of Joy. Enjoyed my oil dripping egg-chicken roll with kashondi (mustard) and then walked back to my hotel room on Ho Chi Min Sarani. After a leisurely bath went off to a round of loud snoring and woke up next morning at 6.30am…ready for the last mishtir dokaan.

Stop No.4: Balaram Mullick & Radharaman Mullick

Hopped onto a cab which in no time took me to Paddapukur Road and from there I walked to Jadubabur Baajar where stood a cottage like structure of the famous Balaram Mullick & Radharaman Mullick Sweets which, arguably today, is considered The Best and often is the first name to appear on any search engine. Picked up some sweets for home and felt a sense of achievement…completed my mishti trail.

On my way back to the airport came across another famous shop at Park Circus with such an apt name…Mithai…but left it for tasting its wares for another day. The urge to visit the city again became even more as Debi sent across a short video on Whatsapp on ’10 Best Things to See in Kolkata’…and among them were the St.John’s Church, St. Paul’s Church, a boat ride on Hooghly, Dakshineshwar Temple and ,of course, a place where as a student of history I should have entered long time ago…The Indian Museum.

No wonder someone sang in praise of the city comparing it to his beloved…Prothomo-to Ami Tomake Chai…Shesh Porjonto Tomake Chai…All I want is you, from the beginning till the end. With all its problems, squalor and disease there is no place like Sweet Bengal and its throbbing heart at Kolkata…Ami Tomake Chai.

SS