How did you spend Poila Baisakh 1431? Did you dress up in new clothes and head to the temple? Did you brave the queues to have a sumptuous Bengali lunch?
The Telegraph Salt Lake did the rounds on Sunday and here’s what we saw residents do as the day unfolded.
Temple run
Many began the new year seeking blessings of the divine. “We live in New Town now but my husband grew up in Salt Lake and so EC Kalibari has been a part of every important occasion of his life,” said Srisha Ghosh. “On Poila Baisakh we had to come here.”
Sandip Kundu, who has taken over the temple from the founding family, said they prepared bhog for 4,000 people on the day. “It was free, of course. But many sent drivers to come and take home earthen pots of prasad, priced at Rs 501. It was a donation of sorts,” said Kundu. “We opened our gates at 8am but people had started lining up from 6am to avoid the heat. We put up shamianas for devotees too.”A devotee folds his hands in prayer at EC Block Kali temple.
A devotee folds his hands in prayer at EC Block Kali temple.
Sweet tooth
By noon, Arindam Saha was seen making his second trip to DL Block’s VIP Sweets. “The first round was sandesh for the family and now I’m back for rosogollas for guests,” he smiled. Even in the blazing afternoon, not a minute went by without a customer walking into the store.
Prabir Kumar, a staff member at the shop, said the rush forced them to open half an hour before time and that they ran out of Mishti Doi by 11am. “We usually face a milk shortage on Poila Baisakh, Dashami and Bhai Phonta and so, even if we know demand will spike on these days, we cannot scale up production beyond a point,” he said.
The crowded entrance to 6 Ballygunge Place in DD Block.
Subhajit Ghosh, a director of Banchharam’s, said stocks at their FC Block outlet kept depleting through the day and had to be replenished thrice. “Besides Gurer Sandesh, Kachagolla, Mihidana and Pantua, the huge round sandesh with ‘Shubho Nava Varsha’ written did very well. It was 200g and cost Rs 140. Eight of these fit into a box and we sold hundreds of such boxes,” said Ghosh. “Overall sales were 20-25 per cent more than that of last year.”
Kalpataru in CA Market too made a killing. “Our best sellers on the day were Kesar Rasmalai, Kesar Rajbhog and Green Mango Sandesh. We were prepared with five to six times more volume than usual. Milk prices always rise during festivals but we don’t transfer the same to customers,” said Prasenjit Sil from behind the counter.
Sil noted, however, that the practice of shops handing out sweets packets on Poila Baisakh had dwindled. “This is a post-pandemic casualty. Shops are facing severe competition from online and other retail stores and so many of them didn’t even open today to avoid having to hand over sweets and calendars to expecting customers,” he said.
Puja buys
Dashakarma Bhandar owners are also experiencing this no-frills trend. “Post-pandemic, everyone is trying to curb costs. Shops are performing pujas with minimal or no decorations and going for cheaper idols,” said Rishiraj Ghosh of Sri Guru Bhandar in IA Market.
A customer checks out a sari at Mabesha in BE Block
Ma Sita Dashakarma Bhandar of CK Market had sourced 20 haal khatas, which nearly sold out. “For the last couple of days, staff members from offices have been coming for puja items – ghot, panjika, hal khata, shola kadam flowers and, of course, Lakshmi-Ganesh idols,” said Mahadeb Giri.
What’s cooking
Those who ate home, centred lunch around hilsa or mutton. “Prices of mutton have not risen today – it’s still Rs 840 per kg - but we sold 30kg as opposed to 20-25 kg last Sunday,” said Md Tausef, a butcher of CK Market.
Fishmonger Karna Dhar said the volume of sale was like any other Sunday, “but I sold more hilsa than other fish. I usually sell six or seven hilsas but today I sold 10,” said the vendor from CK Market. A kilo of hilsa cost Rs 1,600 on Poila Baisakh, at a Rs 100 premium.
At CA Market, fishmonger Tapan Mondal sold hilsa at Rs 1,500. “Prices did not rise here but hilsa and prawn sold the most,” he said.
Lunch hour
Serpentine queues formed outside restaurants, particularly those serving Bengali cuisine.
Kumar Sakar, a Swiggy delivery boy, had completed 13 deliveries by 2.30pm. “They were from Bengali and Mughlai restaurants, and sweet shops in the morning. We are having to wait much longer than usual for the food to get prepared today,” said Kumar, who had been standing at 6 Ballygunge Place in DD Block for half an hour with five or six more boys.
A waiter serves lunch to guests at Koshe Kosha in FE Block
At the waiting area of 6 Ballygunge Place were more than 40 hungry mouths, sipping on complimentary Aam Pora Sarbet or clicking selfies in the traditional backdrop erected outside.
“We moved to this new location two years ago to accommodate more people – we are a 110-seater now,” said manager Basudev Sarkar. “We saw a very busy day with lunch continuing till 5.30pm. To make service quick, we had kept the buffet option alone.”
Koshe Kosha in FE Block had dinner customers till 12.30. “This, when we normally down shutters at 11. It didn’t even matter to diners that the next morning was a Monday,” said manager Soumen Kala.
Thanks to the heat, crowds started pouring in late in the day at Abcos Food Plaza. “For lunch, almost everyone opted for Bengali thalis, out of which pomfret thali did the best, followed by hilsa and katla thali. The evening crowd came in large groups and preferred a la carte dishes but even they went for Kosha Mangsho, Mochar Chop and Bekti Paturi,” said manager Samiran Mitra.
The home delivery basket was huge too. Curry Nation in IB Block got more home delivery orders than dine-in customers for lunch. “I blame the heat and the fact that elderly residents are reluctant to move out,” said Indrani Mukherjee, who runs the joint. “For dinner, our dine-in area was packed. Most opted for our Bengali thali or a la carte dishes like Doi Katla, Sorse Pabda and Keema Potol.”
Karunamoyee-based home delivery service Annobhog also got more orders than expected. “We had offered special thalis on April 14 and 15 with different menus on both days. We finally had to decline orders as we couldn’t cope,” said Joy Dasgupta, who runs the service.
Sale sale sale
“My brother came to this store during Chaitra sale and got a discount. I picked a panjabi today and though the sale is over they gave me a discount on request,” said a happy Uttiya Sarkar of AC Block. He had gone shopping with his mother to Mabesha in BE Block.
Shambhu Paul of Mabesha said they hadn’t invited customers formally but had sweet boxes ready to hand out as many were coming anyway. “Some are buying, some window shopping… today is really about maintaining relations,” he said.P
Panjinas, haal khatas and idols on display at CK Market
Saatika, another boutique in AD Block, had Chaitra sale till Poila Baisakh. “If sales are good today we may extend it till Akshay Tritiya,” said staffer Pragya Banik.
All that glitters
Jewellery stores traditionally invite customers on Poila Baisakh but the sky-high prices of gold had made shop owners skeptical.
“The price of gold today – Rs 69,700 for 10g - is an all-time high. It’s foolish to think customers would make purchases now,” said Debasish Sinha of Swarna Mahal Jewellers near Kwality More. “We did not want to incur expenses by printing out invitation cards this year so we sent WhatsApp invites and did mic-ing on autos across the twin townships.”
But then truth be told, Poila Baisakh isn’t a time to buy gold. “That’s Dhanteras. Today, at most they will buy small items like rings, earrings or thin chains,” said Sumanta Ghosh of Senco Alankar.
Suraj Banik, proprietor of Banik Jewellers, said they had sent out 1,000 invites but as expected, turnout was low. “They were all asking when the prices would rationalise but we had no answer. Some made token advance payments on this auspicious day for future purchases,” he said.
Movie magic
In the evening, revellers headed to Eden Gardens or settled on the living room couch to watch IPL, and some headed for the cinemas.
Kaustav Sengupta had come down from Mumbai for a holiday and lunched with his family at JW Marriott. “We didn’t want to wait outside Bengali restaurants and relished Asian cuisine instead. But yes, when it came to watching a movie I wanted to watch a Bengali one today,” said Sengupta of DB Block. He went for Otti Uttam, which he said was the last day, last show of the film at the hall he went to.
“The only Bengali film running today is Mirza but it is the Ajay Devgn starrer Maidaan that’s running at 80-90 per cent occupancy,” said Debasish Maity, manager of Miraj Cinemas at IB Block’s Downtown Mall. “This hall opened a month ago and this Eid-Poila Baiskh week has been our first festive one. Things took off at a slow pace but ended rather well on Sunday.”