The title of the concept that is freshly conceived for our new brand is like an alter ego of The Chaiwala. It is quite akin to alchemy, a dreamlike substrate emerging out of an imagination that’s separated from the mainstream café & continental cuisines that we have been serving until now. Therefore, the need to separate the cascade of palettes, chosen prudently from a plethora of indigenous Benga
li dishes, but nothing too ostentatious to be construed anything in excess than what one would normally crave for. The “Bong” bit is fairly conspicuous by now if one can see through the enigma. The gamut of the idea for The Bong Nanny had originated from decades into the personal history of the founder of ‘The Chaiwala’, Sukrit, which is extracted from his own words –
“I was fairly lucky to be born in a middle-class Bengali joint family who happened to be moderate– liberal. I know, all attributes of my identity are pointing towards a clichéd agnostic rebellious childhood, which of course is not actually true. I was not lucky in terms of what the average urban Bengali was entitled to during the 90s, as I spent most of my early life around role models of very hardworking, adept, and versatile yet compassionate women, the care and support systems that had enabled me to set and reach impossible feats. The women in all my family and beyond, who played an active role in the development of a child into a full-blown professional entrepreneur have been inspirational and humbling at the same time. One such powerful woman is my Nanny, Sabitri (a.k.a. Sabi), THE Nanny – she has been to me a guardian, an angel, a friend, a sister, a caring housekeeper, a fantastic cook, a traveling companion, pretty much everything which a child can imagine in the embodiment of a safe haven in absence of his mother. The list is endless. I have seen her life’s sacrifices for this family, her hardworking attitude and sincerity towards me, nurturing enough patience to tolerate a child’s nonsense, yet be oblivious to the nuisance and remain engaged to her duty. Expanding on her culinary skills, she had in her own militia of expertise, that over the years served towards her exemplary record of cooking 10-course meals for hundreds of guests year after year on my birthday, with some house help of course, but all learned and improvised on her own, delightful meals, something that I always cherished as I reminisce my earlier years now. As I have grown older, I have come to realize how difficult it is to spare decades’ worth of attention span on simple and mundane things of life, yet so significant; I understand that I could not have imagined a better childhood than what I had. I don’t believe in the afterlife, but if there’s one, and if I were to be born a human again in the next iteration, I hope that God shall be kind enough to send me Sabi 2.0. Sabi, with her variety and range of cuisines, having expanded and improved over the years, is now a prolific chef and a master of Bengali spices and aromatic blends. However, she has not been provided any greater platform to hone and exhibit her magic - an untapped potential waiting to be unleashed. Inspired and intrigued by her dedication to her niche of cooking, I found my own fresh motivation for my upcoming venture. In order to realize and actualize the concept, it was imperative that I conflate my own idea of reaching the tastebuds of the city through Sabi's mouthwatering Bengali dishes with a more personified vision for an enterprise. This suddenly struck me when I decided to earmark a title to the idea and venture that seeks to honor Sabi, my nanny, for her salt’s worth of investment in my life and family - the least I can do for her is that I create a new brand of authentic Bengali food, and give the title that smells, tastes and seeks of her signature dishes. I give you all ‘The Bong Nanny’. She started her journey with her simple and pristine ambitions, I aspire to carry out this launch with the same humility starting from scratch, taking cues from my nanny. Thus, the ABCD[Authentic. Cuisine. Delivered.] goes out as our main motto, as we venture out to deliver the most authentic and known Bengali dishes that will satisfy both your stomach and soul. We seek to serve superlative quality food at competitive prices across the expanse of South Calcutta. I believe that in order to achieve great heights, one has to accept that he is not infallible and that one must possess the courage to accept that he is prone to mistakes and failures if he wishes to rectify them and stay focused.”
The story behind the theme of the brand goes out as a window to a very condensed and skewed version of a select portion of autobiography. I guess every name has a story behind it that would bring out certain extracts of someone’s life and experience if they were to be revealed. I find that if I’m going to do this right, I might as well be honest about it. 2020 has been a rough year, perhaps there’s a bright light at the end of the tunnel. Fingers crossed.
