Saturday, September 20, 2008

Shaktighar, the 'lancha' town


Lancha is an elongated version of 'gulab jamun'. The similarity notwithstanding, it is popular. In fact, as many as 1,00,000 of them are sold on the Kolkata highway everyday. With the Puja season approaching, newer versions are to be released

Lancha is a sweet popular in Shaktighar; in other words, Shaktighar in Burdawan district of West Bengal is famous for Lancha. It could be called the 'Lancha Town' of the state as thousands of them are sold everyday in the town. But what is this Lancha? Lancha is a bolster-shaped sweet made of maida. It is fried in oil till it turns dark brown and then immersed in sugary syrup. It lies immersed in the syrup until it is served. For many it could be an elongated and advanced version of 'gulab jamun'. Shaktighar has about 18 shops on the GT Road alone. There are shops that vend lancha in the town, in addition. The shops on the Kolkata highway sell about 1,00,000 lanchas a day. The price ranges from Rs 3 to Rs 10 per piece. And most of the buyers are people who traverse the highway. But orders are received from Kolkata too for delivery in Kolkata, according to the owner of a lancha stall. He opens his shop at 5.30 in morning and is open till midnight. Fourty-three buses stop by his shop, in addition to the various cars which bypass the Lancha town. More than 1,00,000 lanchas are sold every day in this town of West Bengal.

Many (yours truly, included) pack lanchas for the family too whenever they pass Shaktighar way. In addition, celebrities visit these lancha stalls. Probably shops can be classified on the basis of the celebrities that visit them. Lancha Hall is visited by Prosenjit, the famous Bengali actor, while Lancha Bander is visited by Bappi Lahri, Chinmoy and others. You name a Bengal celebrity and they will tell you which lancha stall the said celebrity visits.

A reminder to celebrities who have not visited the lancha stalls -- you must visit them! Bimal of Lancha Bander proudly showed me the autographs of Bappida and many others -- obtained on papers rolled into a bundle. Lancha Bunder sells between 5,000 and 6,000 lanchas per day. Fourty-two busses stop by this shop every day.

These lancha stalls are preparing themselves for the upcoming puja season; they plan to prepare special lanchas for the puja season. Lancha Hall's special lanchas will be available from October 1; they will be smaller in size but tastier and for people with a sweet tooth, the town is the place to be in..

Anil

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

the sweety one..