Kolkata’s Columbus and the Sweet Message from Bengal

Rosogolla

Move over, Christopher, we in Kolkata have our own Columbus. “Baghbazarer Nobin Das/ the Columbus of Rosogolla,” was how the great man who is supposed to have invented the iconic sweet in Kolkata, in 1868, was honored in a ditty.

But there is a catch and a similarity between Christopher Columbus and Rosogolla Columbus. Just as Christopher did not discover America, Nobin Das may not have discovered/invented the rosogolla. There is a raging controversy where Odisha claims that the sweet was invented in that state as a part of offering at Lord Jagannath Temple in Puri, at least 300 years ago. Some even say that the Odisha invention of rosogolla is around 700 years old. Whatever may be the truth, as a loyal Kolkatan, I stick by the version that Nobin Chandra Das invented the rosogolla in 1868.

It is said of our inventor of the rosogolla: “....The passion to create something of his very own haunted him. His ambition was to create a completely original sweet that would bring excitement to the Bengali palate. There was in him an intense desire to create a sweetmeat that was never there before....the ultimate delicacy. He toiled for months, armed with imagination, skill and tenacity, and sometime in the year 1868 his labors paid off. He made small balls of casein (cottage cheese) and boiled them in hot sugar syrup. The result was a succulent, spongy sweet with a unique, distinctive taste. Nobin Das christened it the “Rosogolla” and a legend was born.”

“It was an amazing innovation, carving for Nobin Chandra a place in legend and history....” Even if it was the ultimate delicacy, in the absence of organized advertising at that time, it took time to become popular.

One morning a wealthy timber merchant, Rai Bahadur Bhagwandas Bagla stopped his landau outside Nobin Chandra’s shop. His family was in the carriage with him and his young son was thirsty and the family came into the shop for a glass of water for the child. Nobin Chandra offered him water but also gave him a rosogolla. The child loved the taste of the sweet and offered a portion to his father. The father was also ecstatic about the taste of the sweet and bought a huge quantity of rosogollas for his family and friends. The word of mouth(ful) publicity resulting from this purchase ensured that Nobin Chandra Das’ rosogollas became extremely popular and famous in Kolkata in no time at all. The rest, as they say, is history.

Talking a bit more of history, among those who are said to have loved our Rosogolla Columbus’s creation are Rabindra Nath Tagore, Swami Vivekanand and many other swamis of the Ramakrishna Mission. Nobin Chandra’s legacy lives on in Kolkata through the famous K .C. Das shop in Esplanade. The shop is named after Nobin Chandra’s son, Krishna Chandra, whose great contribution to the cause was canning the rosogollas – the first and only canned Indian sweet at that time - for safe transportation to all corners of the world. The cause of Nobin Chandra’s rosogolla is has continuously been served, till today, by succeeding generations.

Over time, the rossogolla spawned many delectable variations of Chenna-and-syrup sweets. These include: Rasmalai, Kamla Bhog, Cham Cham, Raj Bhog and Kheer Kadam. Of late, there has been an effort to make rosogollas of many colors and flavors. So today you can buy perhaps around 100 types of rosogollas in different colors and flavors, ranging from Chocolate Rosogolla, to Kesar Cardamom Rosogolla to a Pudina Rosogolla to a Green Chilly Rosogolla! An all-time winter seasonal favorite is the Nolin Gur Rosogolla made with jaggery. With sales zooming, some shops have installed machines to ensure greater production and ensure unchanging high quality. Keeping up with the times, there are trends of fusion of the rosogolla with western desserts/sweets. Ever since Balaram Mullick & Radharaman Mullick introduced the Baked Rosogolla in 2001, it has been continuously gaining in popularity. The rosogolla is not merely sweet and sinful. There is a firm belief that the best thing for an upset tummy is a hot rosogolla!

My personal history with the rosogolla goes back many decades, from the time when I was just a small child in the early 1940s. Of all places, my introduction to the rosogolla was at Lahore. A Sweets Wallah used to make the rounds with a wooden box on his head. Inside, in metal trays resting on a bed of ice, were ‘Bengali Sweets’. These included white Rosogollas, orange diamond-shaped Cham Chams, black Kala Jams, and dark brown Sponge. My favorite along with the Rosogolla, I have never come across the Sponge since then. It was simply a rectangle of bread, fried deep brown and soaked in a slightly flavored thin sugar syrup. From Lahore, my family had shifted to Multan. Surprisingly, Multan too had superb rosogollas, even though its famous traditional four ‘gifts’ were supposed to Be Heat, Dust, Beggars and Grave yards! Over the years, I have also come across excellent rosogolla in many shops in Hardwar and from the original Annapurna Bhandar in Chandani Chowk, Delhi. It was established by Mohini Mohan Mukherjee in 1922. He was a railways employee who moved to Delhi from Lahore, after an accident in 1920. Since he could not continue with his job, he opened a Bengali sweets shop. Annapurna Bhandar was moved to its Chandani Chowk location, opposite the Sisganj Gurudwara and next to the Fountain, in 1929. It is said that many Bengali families had moved to Delhi in the late 19th century and quite a few lived in the areas near the location of the Annapurna Bhandar. Originally, the shop was designed like a First Class car of a railway train, but the woodwork disintegrated over time and Mohini Mohan’s successors did not bother to revert to the original design. I ‘discovered’ Annapurna in 1948 and have enjoyed its offerings like Chitrakut, Rosomadhuri and Malai Chop over the years.

Sandesh

If the ‘Heavenly-Sweet-Juicy-Sphere’ – the Rosogolla – starts boasting about its great popularity, it is likely to get a terse message from ‘The Message’ (Sandesh), “Watch it, I am older and more popular than you.”

Yes, it is true that Sandesh – ‘Shondesh’? – pre-dates the Rosogolla, has many more varieties and variations, and must definitely be the most popular Bengali sweet. Why it is called ‘Sandesh’ – a ‘Message’ or ‘News’ – is not quite known. But the sweet does send a strong message with its mandatory presence at all events in a Bengali’s life, from Birth to Death and all else in-between.

“It’s dry yet moist in sweetness. It won’t exactly melt in your mouth but its sweet aftertaste lures your taste buds to bite into more such wonders. That Ladies and Gentlemen is the mysterious charm of Sandesh.” How true!

At one time, in Bengal, splitting milk was a strict no-no on religious grounds. The Portuguese are said to have introduced the art of curdling milk with the use of acidic agents, in the 16th (?) century. The cottage cheese which resulted from the use of this technique was called ‘chenna’. It was this ingredient which gave a new direction to Bengali sweets. It was/is the main ingredient for both the iconic Bengali sweets, the Sandesh and the Rosogolla.

The Bengali renaissance made Calcutta a much more important and prosperous city with people’s minds turning to the finer things of life. It was in this receptive atmosphere that the Sandesh and the Rosogolla were born in the 19th century and zoomed into great popularity. It was also in this century that four famous sweet shops were founded in what was then ‘Calcutta’. These four shops – still going strong like Johnnie Walker – are Bhim Nag, K. C. Das, Dwarik and Ganguram. However, a shop opened by Bhola Moira in 1851 was said to be the first sandesh shop in the city. We shall talk in detail about these four and some other famous sweet shops of Kolkata at another time.

For the time being let us get back to our Sandesh. The basic Sandesh was made by just mixing chenna with sugar or molasses and make an uneven paste. This was called ‘Makha Sandesh’. As time went by, the basic makha sandesh evolved into distinctively different textures and tastes which include Norom Pak (soft texture), Kora Pak (hard texture with longer shelf life), Nolen Gurer Sandesh (a winter special made with palm jiggery), Kaanchagolla (soft, delicate and uncooked chenna), Jalbhara Sandesh (sandesh with a juicy center) and Bhapa Sandesh (steamed sandesh).

Because of its comparative ease of making as compared to a rosogolla and the huge scope of combining chenna of different textures with different colors, flavors, and ingredients like chocolate, fruit pulp; there is an endless variety of sandesh. The sweet is beautified by giving it different shapes and by the use of decorative terracotta or wooden moulds with traditional motifs.

The sandesh not only comes in many, many pleasing and different shapes, sizes, textures, flavors and colors, it also has a matching range of names of either a descriptive nature, or, of a poetically evocative kind.

So we have sandesh-named like: Karapak Sandesh, Narompak Jalbhara Sandesh, Talshash (Palm Kernel) Sandesh, Rose Cream Sandesh, Ice Cream Sandesh,, Chocolate Sandesh, Narkel (Coconut) Sandesh, Pista (Pistachio) Dandesh, Saffron Sandesh, Golap (Rose) Sandesh, Shaankh (Conch) Sandesh, Mango Sandesh, Orange Sandesh, Kiwi Sandesh, Butterscotch Sandesh, and – believe it or not - Black Forest Sandesh! The name gives you an accurate description of the sweet.

You also have the names of sandesh such as: Monohara (‘will steal your heart), Pranhara (‘will take your breath away), Abar Khabo (‘will eat once more’), Parijat (‘born in heaven’?), Dilkhush (‘heart-pleasing’?), Badshah Bhog (‘fit for a king’), Nayantara (‘apple of my eye’?), Manoranjan (‘heart’s delight’), Ahladey Putul (‘pampered doll), Good Morning and Lord Rippon.

So here we are. Confronted with the extremely difficult choice of deciding which one do you prefer. Rosogolla or Sandesh?

The choice is yours!

p.s. The Wise One advises that pick the best of the both!

Kolkata’s Columbus and the Sweet Message from Bengal

Rosogolla

Move over, Christopher, w