School days – pampering the sweet tooth

Sweets are second nature to Bengalis and they will never hesitate to pamper their sweet tooth - I was no exception and I hardly ever tried to escape from the temptations of tasting one more sweet unless an unbearable toothache willed otherwise.
The attractions came in all shapes and sizes – some with hard exteriors like the kadapaks, others with soft kernels like the taal-shash.
The brand names that come to mind straightaway are the sweets of Dwarik Ghosh or Sen Mahasaya or Bhim Nag or the mouthwatering payodhi of Jalajog.
This payodhi was a unique creation of Jalajog and was basically sweet curd with a difference – its color was creamish and taste was out-of-the-world. And, in all its outlets, there hung a huge portrait of Nobel laureate Rabindra Nath Tagore with his testimonial.
Incidentally, while curd in places other than Bengal are sour, the Bengalis love their Mishti Doi – or sweet curd. Another sweet that made its entry into the Bengali market was the Punjabi pedhas. Normally, pedhas would be made of chhana but the Punjabis went in for khoa and added to the attraction by adding flavor of attar.
The shop opened in Shyambazar next to Dwarik Ghosh’s sweet shop and the Punjabi pedhas were an instant hit. The owner of the shop would offer a free gift of a pouch of mouth fresheners – it came in the form of colored suparis (betel nut) and silver colored elaichi (cardamom) flavored with mint and acted as an incentive. (to be continued…)