Ganesh Chaturthi, also known as Vinayaka Chaturthi or Ganesh Utsavi is a 10-day festival observed with immense zeal, particularly in Maharashtra, but its cultural significance extends throughout India. This year, starting from 7th September, the festivities around the country started along with processions, cultural dances, traditional meals, and so on.
The Hindu festival is commemorated to pray to Lord Ganesha, also known as the remover of obstacles. Devotees all across the country and even across borders, bring idols of Ganpati Bappa to their homes or public pandals and offer Him traditional sweets like modak and ladoo. Amongst the various offerings to Lord Ganesha, Kolkata’s sweet shop contributed to the festival by making a record-breaking 500 kg ladoo.
As per the reports, the sweet shop is located in Bhawanipore, West Bengal is more than a hundred years old. The viral video shared by ANI news on X reveals the massive size of the 500 kg ladoo. The orange and yellow coloured ladoo is not all that grabbed the attention of the netizens, the generous garnish of cashew nuts, figs, and full-sized kaju katli made the bhog for Lord Ganesha even richer.
Reportedly, Priyanka Malik, the owner of Kolkata’s sweet shop said, “Our festive season begins with Ganesh Chaturthi. So, this is a very auspicious day, we try something new every year. Our shop is almost 140 years old. We have prepared this 500-kg laddu on Ganesh Chaturthi. We will offer this to Lord Ganesh.”
Thus, you can get an idea that the 500-kg laddoo not only feeds into the festive spirit but also pays homage to the age-old traditions of sweet making, which is intrinsic to Kolkata’s identity. The shop, located in the culturally rich Bhawanipore area, is renowned for its innovative sweets, and rightfully so, they live by their reputation of trying something unique for Ganesh Chaturthi.