Mani Square turned 15 recently with a 15-layered cake being cut in the foyer of the shopping mall.
It was a black forest cake weighing 180lbs. Each layer was a separate cake. The top most one was the smallest at half pound while the bottom one was the biggest, with 50inch diameter, weighing 75lb. “If you cut it into decent-sized slices, it can feed 500 people,” said a member of the bakery unit at JW Marriott.
The cake was cut by actress Priyanka Sarkar along with Mani Group CEO Sanjay Jhunjhunwala in the ground floor foyer. It was an unexpected treat for both visitors and salespersons from the shops in the mall as the staffers proceeded to distribute pieces among those who thronged for a dekko.
“The years just flew by. The mall has been more than a shopping destination. In the initil years, people from as far as Madhyamgram would spend the whole day here, including a movie and a meal. Even now if you sit in the food court, you will see people working with laptops, business school students celebrating someone’s birthday or families doing prewedding roka ceremonies. We even have old age home inmates being brought here on outings,” said Sudarshana Gangulee, director of the group, who joined 14 years ago.
Jhunjhunwala recalls printing in the brochure when he acquired land for his first real estate project in the area in 2004 that this belt would be the Chowringhee of tomorrow. “I see that dream coming true 20 years later,” he smiled. His own group has seven properties in the 1.5km radius from Ultadanga to JW Marriott, which also happens to be his hotel.
Handing over some of the cake slices himself to visitors, he said: “Customers made us survive for 15 years. Hum ko yeh logon pura saal khilatey hai, hum toh bas ek din khila rahe hai.”
Several shops offered anniversary-special discounts while a musical performance took place outside in the evening.