The heart might be a little heavy bidding adieu to the goddess, but the sweet somethings on Dashami try to keep up with the festive flavour.
Sweet shops across the city were bustling on Wednesday, with freshly prepared sweets selling out in no time.
The traditional Bijoya Dashami sandesh and chandrapuli remained a favourite in many homes this season, but some sweet shops experimented with the conventional taste and were well received.
Girish Chandra Dey and Nakur Chandra Nandy made kulfi sandesh and the anjeer sweet.
“In previous years we had seen that people would stick to the traditional jol bhora or chandrapuli, but this year there is a certain demand for some innovation like kulfi sandesh (in three flavours: mango, blueberry and strawberry) and a sweet with anjeer stuffing. There is a mixed response, which is good,” said Partha Nandy from the family.
“While we experiment, our base is always chhana (cottage cheese) and whatever we do, we retain that in all our sweets because that is our primary ingredient,” he said.
The traditional gulabi peda, where the cottage cheese is mixed with gulab water, and babu sandesh (kesar sandesh) remain traditional favourites at Girish Chandra Dey and Nakur Chandra Nandy.
Dashami is most about buying sweet for barir puja and parar puja where people pick up sweets for their family.
The north Calcutta landmark opened at 7am on Dashami despite closing at 12.30am the previous night.
Over the last few days the outlet was open past midnight. “From today we intend to go back to our usual routine but we have to decide depending on the buyers,” said Nandy.
At the 18 stores of Balaram Mullick & Radharaman Mullick, Wednesday was a busy day.
“Orders have been pouring in since yesterday and the demand remains for both traditional and innovative sweets,” said Sudip Mullick, owner, Balaram Mullick & Radharaman Mullick.
The new ones here are kaju katli souffle in which the fresh creme is mixed with kaju pak and the base has roasted kaju instead of cookies.
The brand has tried to reach out to a wider section of customers, also outside the city, with modern packaging.
“We have increased the shelf life of a sweet and made 26 types of packaged sweets without using preservatives
One doesn’t have to wait in the queue for long because these are pre-packed,” said Mullick.
Many come to the city during Durga Puja and return home after the festivities.
“When you go back, Marathis or others at work want a taste of Bengali sweets. Carrying packed sweets that last longer is convenient,” said a professional based in Mumbai.
Among the varieties introduced in this category are baked mihidana, baked chomchom, chhana pora, chandrapuli, kada pak sandesh and orange sandesh.