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Journalism of Courage
Written by Tanushree Ghosh
Only a superhero, craving mishti doi in Chandni Chowk, will wade through a sea of humans — like a man on a mission — and head to Annapurna Bhandar. A stone’s throw from Gurdwara Sisganj, the Capital’s oldest surviving Bengali sweetmeat shop still draws in multitudes, especially on festivals.
“It was shifted here in 1929 from Mori Gate where, for two years, Mohinimohan Mukherjee’s boys would ferry sweets in tokris outside offices,” says Mihir Mukherjee, 72, grandson and third-generation owner, who has been manning the shop since he was in Class X. Along with his younger brothers, Mukherjee supervises the karkhana, an old house in Kucha Lacchu Singh lane, daily.
Mohinimohan had been a railways employee in Lahore. Rendered jobless by an accident, he moved to Fatehpuri (Old Delhi) in 1925 and saw that there were many Bengalis who had moved to the new capital as government servants. Conversations would revolve around nostalgia for the food available in Calcutta, in particular, the sweets. Mohinimohan saw a business opportunity there and decided to fill in the gap. He had four sons. Mihir, Shishir and Tushar, the current owners, are the progeny of the third son, Narendranath.
When Mohinimohan started his shop in Chandni Chowk, he modelled it like a railway pantry car for patrons to while away time over tea and adda. Those days are long gone and even the branches that the owners opened in CR Park, Mayur Vihar and Model Town have shut because of high rentals. Annapurna Sweets in Yusuf Sarai, a separate enterprise launched by Mihir’s jethamoshai (uncle) and run by his sons, is still going strong.
Competition was stiff even during the glory days of their business, but the Mukherjees were hard workers. They would put up stalls during Durga Puja, at Surajkund Mela and at fairs in Pragati Maidan, marking their presence on the city’s culinary map. Former Lok Sabha speaker Somnath Chatterjee arranged for them to sell in the Parliament. India’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru and his daughter Indira Gandhi were old patrons. The latter, a student at Santiniketan, had an affinity for Bengali sweets, especially sandesh. “We were the only ones making them then. There were days when she would place an order and request us to deliver on short notice,” says Shishir, who dabbled in fish business in Kolkata before returning to his roots in the family sweets business. A kilogram of sweets would then cost Rs 4, today it is Rs 400-600. Rajiv Gandhi used to frequent their Pragati Maidan pavilion for their rasmalai. On Priyanka Gandhi’s wedding, two types of sandesh, including the shonkho sandesh, were ordered for the guests.
A daily supply of 200 litres of milk comes from Bikaner in Rajashthan. Flour, sugar and spices are sourced from the nearby Khari Baoli. They still make the chhana themselves. The only savouries amid golapi rosogolla, kancha golla, kheer kodom, chom chom, golap khaas, rosho madhuri, kesar malai, dilbahar, lobongo latika, shor bhaja, mishti doi, and more, are samosa and nimki.
With an annual turnover of Rs 60-65 lakh, and their next generation uninterested and engaged in other professions, the brothers say they are content to let business continue as it is. “You have to have Bengali sweets fresh, they don’t stay for long. We are not keen on selling packaged products like petha, sohan papdi, etc. Amader naam tai toh bangla mishti-r jonne, Our raison d’être is Bengali sweets,” says Mihir.
