West Bengal is well-known for its sweet tooth and variety of sweet delights. In each area of the state, including Kolkata, one may always get a satisfying and tasty dessert meal. Anyone visiting Kolkata can’t help but note the incredible number of sweet shops that abound in the city’s nooks and crannies and the city’s ever-evolving fondness for this particular taste.
But what if we told you that Kolkata, the state capital, is hosting a sweets-themed writing festival? Yes, you read that correctly. Jugal’s Literature Festival will be the name of the event.
From December 9 to 11, Kolkata will host a three-day literature festival focused on sweets. Oxford University professor Dr Kunal Basu, painter Jogen Choudhury, and former Prasar Bharati CEO Jawhar Sircar are few of the many participants of the unique literary meet. The festival will take place in ten locations throughout Kolkata, bringing together traditional residences, art galleries, and modern institutions.
The festival, which is the brainchild of Lahana Ghosh, will take over ten venues and bring together some of Kolkata’s most prominent addresses, including traditional Bengali residences, art galleries, and modern institutions. The organisers also claim that each venue would offer the world’s most giant tables of ‘mishti’ (sweetmeat), with over 60 different flavours. In addition, the festival will witness some of the most significant gatherings of historians, writers, food aficionados and artists from the world of cinema and theatre.
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Lahana Ghosh, a descendant of one of Kolkata’s most venerable sweet store dynasties, returned to her origins after preceding a comfortable career in Vancouver to carry on her grandfather’s tradition. Lahana also intends to shatter glass ceilings by establishing the world’s first all-female sweetmeat kitchen.
“The festival will celebrate the very spirit of Kolkata—the freedom of thought, in ideas, in the way we protest or celebrate, the liberal thinking in its Arts – be it literature, cinema, or theatre – through… the great heritage of our sweets,” said Oiendrila Ray Kapur, the festival’s creative director.
