What it means for Bengal to win Roshogulla from Odisha
Good news is a rarity and good news, which smacks of syrupy sweetness, rarer still. Recently, West Bengal had the rare luck of savouring such a sweet taste for times to come, when its very own Banglar Roshogulla, the soft white syrupy balls, oozing of sweetness, beat its neighbourly counterpart, Kheermohan from Odisha, to win the geographical indication (GI) tag.
“Happy news for all of us, indeed,” tweeted Mamata Banerjee from London. She wished she was in Bengal to soak in the spirit of sweetness. Or had lugged to UK tumblers full of roshogullas for the stiff-lipped Britishers, especially the investors, who would have to open their mouth wide — really wide — to savour in the sweet cottage cheese dumpling, the sweetness staying on the lips for long. And indeed it was a joyous moment for Bengal, starved of such sugary recognition for long.
Sweetmeat shops went berserk catering to the demand for roshogullas as customers, at least on that day, wouldn't settle for anything else. With recognition coming on November 14, Pandit Nehru’s birthday, the schools celebrated Children’s Day with roshogullas. Someone even suggested that having had enough of Children’s Day, it was high time for a “Roshogulla Day”, to honour the heritage product of Bengal.
Odisha even before winning the GI recognition had marked a separate day as “Roshogulla Divas”. Indeed Chacha Nehru’s birthday celebrations took a backseat for the newly found love for the soft-sugary sweetest of cherubs. And what the Bengal media churned out through the day was dollops of lip-smacking and finger-licking moments.
Ministers sat with a plateful of roshogullas. Never mind, if the diabetic panchayat minister Subrata Mukherjee had to gulp down a few for that perfect shot in camera or celebrities chose to throw their size-zero cravings to the winds for a day and dug into the syrupy delight for Page 3 coverage.
The GI tag, which is a kind of recognition for the uniqueness, reputation or characteristics of a product, attributable to its geographic location, has been attached to 267 products in the country out of which 12 are from Bengal. Roshogulla is the new entry into the GI list after Darjeeling Tea, Burdwan’s Gobindobhog rice, Shantipore’s Baluchari saree, Joynagarer Moa (another variety of dessert), Burdwan's Mihidana and Sheetabhog.
There was no hullabaloo over all these entries and evidently so because such tags came easily, unchallenged, uncontested and unquestioned. But victory over Roshogulla was all the sweeter because it came after a two-and-a-half-years of bitter wrangling between Bengal and Odisha as to which state was the creator of this endearing sweetness.
While Odisha constituted committees to delve into the past and claimed the sweet — Roshogulla, better known as “kheer mohona” or “Pahala Roshogulla” (after the name of the place Pahala) existed for 600 years and used to be served as a part of the “prasad” to Lord Jagannath, Bengal’s proof was a confectionery shop — Nobin Chandra Das and Sons, which is said to have discovered the cottage cheese (chhana) blobs of delight, dunked in light sugary syrup, 164 years ago.
The story goes like this: Nobin Das in his state of boredom was playing with a small dough of cottage cheese, a residue after having made a tray full of dry Sandesh (a variety of dessert). The dough slipped and fell into a tub of warm sugary syrup. The dough got pumped up and gained a round shape. It was about to be cast aside, when Nobin decided to have a bite and the rest is history and sheer magic.
Just like the origin, the creator of Roshogulla is also not without a dispute. Haradhan Mondal, a moira (sweetmeat confectioner) of Fulia in Nadia is said to have come up with this saccharine concoction first.
People from Fulia have already taken the initiative of preparing a gigantic Roshogulla made of 16kg of cottage cheese. Twenty four sweet-meat confectioners (moiras) got together to prepare the sweet and seek an entry into the Guinness Book after four hours of toil. Demands are being raised for dedicating a particular road after Haradhan in Nadia for giving so much pride and prestige to the state.
Other sweet shop owners, specialists in Roshogulla making, such as KC Das (famous for his tinned sponge roshogullas) and Ganguram have vouched for Nobin Chandra Das being the father of the sweet.
Debates and disputes apart, the sweetest part of the story goes like this: political parties, despite their differences, got together to raise their toast for Roshogulla and Bengal. Left Front chairman, Biman Bose, despite being a small eater and known for not having a sweet tooth as such, craved for a treat from the chief minister.
Voices are being raised for Roshogulla Utsav and knowing Mamata’s penchant and passion for utsavs, (festivals, carnival, jamboree, call it what you will) it may not be long before Bengali’s 13 festivals in a 12 month-calendar will have a new addition. Sweet! No?
(Courtesy of Mail Today)
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