Bengalis and ‘Mishti’ (Bengali for ‘desserts’) are like two inseparable components of the same organism, they are entwined together since ancient times when the land of Bengal was known as ‘Gour’, derived from the Bengali word for jaggery, ‘Gur’. The land of jaggery, the land of sweets beckon you no matter where in the world you are. ‘Mishti’ is the umbilical cord that binds a Bengali to his motherland. And it was this cord that gave birth to the unique festival of Bengali sweets in the UK, ‘Mishti Puraan’.
Mishti Puraan could have been just another communal get-together, another festival organized by the NRIs in UK. But the organizing group IBUK went a step further. They culminated their will to make a difference in the society with their will to organize a first of it’s kind Bengali desserts festival.
We have seen charity events in the UK where people come with homemade cakes and cookies to raise funds for a cause. IBUK or ‘Indian Bengalis in UK’ gave that charity event culture a typical Bengali twist. Volunteers would come with homemade Bengali desserts, the kinds which are hard to get in the shops abroad and raise money from the sales for a noble cause.
IBUK or ‘Indian Bengalis in UK’ started out as a Facebook group in 2015, founded by Dalia Singh out of a passion that would for the first time give voice to the Indian Bengali diaspora on a platform outside India. Anywhere abroad, a Bengali is generally identified with the nation of Bangladesh. But IBUK wanted the world to know that a Bengali doesn’t only mean Bangladesh, it means West Bengal as well, it means India as well !
Mishti Puraan was planned as a cross UK event, which will be hosted across cities, mainly because IBUK has a member count of 3700 and rising (as of today) spread across the length and breadth of the country.
The first event was hosted in London on 19th January, 2019 with 8 volunteers dishing out some popular and quintessential Bengali desserts and raised a sum of £1000 from the sale of sweets and the online fundraising page hosted by IBUK during the event. And all this was donated to Cancer Research UK.
After London, it moved to East Anglia where on 3rd March, it was hosted in Camboune, Cambridgeshire with the unwavering support of the Indian community there led by Shrobona Bhattacharya. A whopping amount of £900 has been raised from the sales and an online donation of £120 has been deposited in the crowdfunding page.
The 3rd event was organized on 6th April, in Manchester More than £1000 was raised on the day and about £450 was raised online which was donated to Cancer Research UK. People poured in from different parts of the country, often far off from the venue, with no conditions attached, with no intention to earn anything but only to give away love, through their culinary skills, through their will to make a difference. They came for nothing but love.
To know more details about it’s various exciting events round the year, visit www.indianbengalisinuk.net. Mishti Puraan has proved that even in these tumultuous times, love has not lost out to hate. With this continued intent, Mishti Puraan will move onto newer shores across the this island nation, spreading the sweet aroma of unconditional love.
