GIRISH CH DEY AND NAKUR CH NANDY

 

Nakur Chandra Nandy hailed from Janai in Hoogly district and came to Calcutta as the son-in-law of the renowned confectioner of Simla, Girish Chandra Dey. A joint venture started by the father-in-law and the son-in-law has grown from strength to strength over the decades. 

Located at 56, Ramdulal Sarkar Street and surrounded by heritage sites that include Bethune College, Hedua and birthplace of Swami Vivekananda, ours is a permanent address for sweets aficionado. The building that houses the outlet enjoys Heritage status. We don’t buy any product as an ingredient for our sandesh.

Ever since the East India Company began expanding and developing the borders of the erstwhile villages - Sutanuti, Kolkata and Gobindapur, fortune seekers and adventurers from far off rural belts of Bengal headed for the newly-established city to try their luck. Gifted sweetmeat makers (‘Moira’) too, set their small workshops in the northern fringes of Calcutta which was the bastion of the ‘natives,’ and they knew if they could impress buyers with their confectionaries, they would be able to get a steady stream of ‘desi’ clients from the locality.

Their business flourished and grew in leaps and bounds as the unique variety and myriad taste of the ‘Mishti’ became the talk of the town. So much has changed over 177 years, but not their quaint little shop. It happens to be the second oldest sweetmeat shop in Kolkata.

Famous sweets of this place

Since the middle of the 19th century, Nakur’s sandesh has occupied the pride of place at the all-India level. Nakur’s chocolate, parijat and mousumi sandesh had their luminous presence at the wedding reception of Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai. West Bengal Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee gifted one hundred pieces of kanchagolla and an equal number of parijat sandesh to the US Foreign Secretary, Hillary Clinton. Of momentous occasion was the sandhek weighing 34kg which was the cynosure to felicitate the Kolkata Knight Riders in presence of the Governor and the Chief Minister. Prime Minister, Narendra Modi have a sweet tooth for our sandesh.

Nakur’s brand wallows in the glory of grest personalities of India, namely Satyajit Ray, matinee idol Uttam Kumar and former Prime Minister Rajib Gandhi. Satyajit’s daughter-in-law was a regular customer. The five-generation business is certainly not for its own sake. Our top most priority is our customers, local and beyond. We push our quest for perfection to the limits and beyond and we render our best efforts to upgrade our standards with every passing day.

As many as sixty items of sandesh are available, nevertheless, our core competence lies in talsash, jalbhara, parijat, dilkhush, monohara, blackforest and other varieties. They have even gone to the extent of naming two of their sweets on Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar -- Sourav Sandesh and Sachin Sandesh! 

A tradition, a lineage, a part of our history; this basically sums up everything related to a sweet shop, which is named as ‘Girish Chandra Dey & Nakur Chandra Nandy’. However unique the name might sound, it is their sweets that define this shop. ‘Sweetness’ is more of an intoxication, which is closely associated with people hailing from Bengal. It does not matter whether you have been born and brought up here, or have made way for educational or professional purposes.

No meal here is completed without having a dose of sweetness being served on the plate. Whether, it be the sweet ‘Aamshotter Chatni’, or a bit tangy ‘Kancha Aam’er Chatni’; even if your mother does not serve you the freshly purchased Rasagulla (Roshogolla) from the market in the early morning, there would be plenty left for you in one form of the other.

Bengal has long been disputed as the holy land for sweets. Many acclaimed and proclaimed sweets have been claimed to be invented right here. Of course, there are some disputes, with many people claiming otherwise, but then, in the current age, if there has to be one place that can be declared as the Holy Mecca for sweets, it has to Bengal.

Be it a naming ceremony, a birthday party, a wedding function, or any kind of get-together, no occasion, no celebration, no function can be thought of without serving sweets to the guests or the people involved. And, if you are living here, one of the very first names which is undoubtedly going to strike your mind would be ‘Girish Chandra Dey & Nakur Chandra Nandy’.

Check out our next blog post on the famous Calcutta heritage delicacy, Nahoums