How about a mouthwatering ‘Vote Sandesh’ on your palate?

Food anywhere around the world is not complete without sweets. Indians have long had a love affair with jaggery and later, sugar. But how about those sweets coming on a Poll Palate? Sweets are an integral part of any occasion in India especially Bengal where there are probably as many varieties in desserts as preparations in vegetarian food. In a tribute to the Bengali’s insatiable sweet tooth, you will find many sweet shops located in each lane and locality (mohalla) of Kolkata. That penchant for sweets – and the country’s fast-growing middle class – is creating a burgeoning industry. Taking the famous Cadbury advertisement tagline, “Kuch Accha Ho jaye, Kuch Meetha Ho Jaye” to the next innovative level, famous sweetmeat shops have been vying with each other to create special theme-based sweets on special days or occasions to allure customers. Even polls in a poll bound Bengal has attracted their creative attention.

 Hindusthan Sweets was a pioneer in the sphere of inventing this new trend. Apart from the conventional sweets which have a vast domestic and overseas market for its taste and quality, the establishment tinkered with the medicinal aspects of herbal contents and claims to be the first organization in India who has blended the essence and flavour of sweets with herbs to provide taste and health simultaneously.

With election campaigns gaining momentum and every nook and corner of the state looking resplendent with party flags, posters, multi-coloured festoons and placards, signs and symbols, even Bengal’s favourite sweets are not far behind. More than a century-old Hindustan Sweets has launched an ingenious series of sweets called ‘Vote Sweets’!  The demand for ‘Vote Sandesh’ is soaring by the day, claim the salesmen at the counter of the shop. One might be curious to know about this particular sandesh. Well, these are ‘kora-paak’ (chhena, that is, cottage cheese hardened) sweets with the symbols of different parties like Trinamool Congress, CPI (M), BJP, Congress and profiles of prominent leaders like Ms Mamata Banerjee and Narendra Modi carved on the sweets. The latest one to join the series is a political statement, ‘Khela Hobay’ (The game will be played) that’s doing the rounds in the political arena of the state.  

So, it might come as a shocker for a person to enter the shop and notice a buyer placing order at the counter thus, “Dada, please give me a Congress and a CPM.” The salesman at the counter promptly says, “There is a dearth of demand for Congress. Why don’t you instead try the new ‘Khela Hobay’ for a change?” 

The demand for ‘Vote Sandesh’ is soaring by the day, claim the salesmen at the counter of the shop. One might be curious to know about this particular sandesh. Well, these are ‘kora-paak’ (chhena, that is, cottage cheese hardened) sweets with the symbols of different parties like Trinamool Congress, CPI (M), BJP, Congress and profiles of prominent leaders like Ms Mamata Banerjee and Narendra Modi carved on the sweets.

This trend of rising to a particular occasion to match sweets has been in vogue for quite some time now. Hindusthan Sweets was a pioneer in the sphere of inventing this new trend. Apart from the conventional sweets which have a vast domestic and overseas market for its taste and quality, the establishment tinkered with the medicinal aspects of herbal contents and claims to be the first organization in India who has blended the essence and flavour of sweets with herbs to provide taste and health simultaneously. The shop introduced rasogolla, jalebi and sandesh with gajar (carrot), herbal curd, Raktim sandesh (made of beetroot), Spandan Sandesh etc. 

Last year, it introduced ‘Corona’ sweets. So did Radharaman Mallick that came up with Immunity Sandesh. The shape resembled the infamous virus with the spikes intact. There were Corona cookies and Corona pastries as well. The novel idea caught up with the masses and people just lapped it up. 

Now is the time to place orders for the ‘Vote Sandesh Series.’ 

Image Courtesy : Suman Sadhu