There is no shame in accepting the fact that no Bengali festival is complete without the planning of food. The debate to eat outside or at home is eternal and other than the person who is responsible for making the food, it is a win win situation for both. When I was a youngster, the thrill of eating out during the pujas was intense and it had its fair share of reasons too – quality time with friends, that sense of being grown up by paying for your own food through your pocket money and obviously the liberty to have whatever you want. All my life, I have been an out and out savoury person and have not been attracted to ice creams at all. Yes, you have to believe this like the fact that I want Kosha Mangsho in my death bed. Madhushree, on the other hand has been a great fan of ice cream and because of her influence, I started loving ice cream. I realised I have been missing a lot.
My memories are vivid of ice cream in growing up years. I am speaking about a time when one still had to book a trunk call and wait endlessly to speak to a relative in Delhi, when Doordarshan was the sole entertainer and radio was considered as a bestie. During this time, there were rarely ice cream parlours and ice cream meant the lone wooden cart ice cream seller, who had a mystery box from where with elan he would pick up your choice of flavour. There was no menu card and the ice cream pictures were hand painted on the wooden cart. These were not ice creams but popsicles which we learnt and realised later. During Durga puja also, you would see these ice cream sellers near the Puja pandals and sell the popsicles. With passage of time, the cup ice creams came in. Tiny cups with small wooden spoons initially and green spoons later have been the base of many a love story. The flavours were predictable in the initial years- mostly vanilla, butter scotch, chocolate and two in one. But just like by this time the dish antenna and cable TV had become the bestie and the radio was shoved away in the corner of the house, the new flavours of ice cream started making their appearances. While we got to taste the global flavours like hazelnut, almond, pistachio and others, now the innovation has gone to the next stage.
When we travelled abroad, just like tasting the local food we always made it a point to taste out the local ice creams. Be it the Turkish Ice cream which is fascinating the way it is sold in the most dramatic presentation or the Movenpick (which is definitely not a local brand) from Switzerland and the thrill of having it at Europe’s highest located bar at Mt. Titlis.
The rare opportunities that I get to buy ice creams, I get it from the grocery shop adjacent to my housing society and one of these days, all of sudden the shopkeeper insisted on a new flavour rather than taking the usual. I pinched myself as who would have thought for a person who had started his life with coloured popsicles will also get a chance to have nolen gur flavoured ice cream. Nolen gur (date palm jiggery) is that seasonal lover who everyone wants to flirt with and have an affair knowing that it will disappear some day. But Mother Dairy, with its innovation has brought out this exotic local flavour in the form of ice cream which is available round the year. And it is not necessary that we have to be stationed in Bengal to experience the distinguished Nolen Gur flavour. One can be at any part of the country and Mother Dairy, with its remarkable distribution channel will deliver this product to you at your local supermarket. It is available in 2 sizes, 90 ml for Rs. 20 and 750 ml for Rs. 150, which I think is a super deal.
So, this Durga Puja, while you are out for pandal hopping in the heat and humidity, refresh yourself with a tub of Mother Dairy Nolen Gur ice cream. Well, if you are not going out and instead are having a house party, then impress your guests with this rich and exotic Mother Dairy Nolen Gur Ice Cream.
Please note This post is in collaboration with Mother dairy.
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