History and Evolution over the years of Bengali Market

History and Evolution over the years of Bengali Market

There's nothing Bengali about Bengali Market. Neither does Bengali Sweet House, nor its rival Nathu Sweets across the road, have anything to do with typical Bengali Food. Yet, you can't imagine a Diwali passing by without shopping for sweets at these two landmarks on Delhi's confectionery map. 

Bengali Market owes its name to its founder, an Old Delhi businessman named Lala Bengali Mal Lohia, who bought the land at a public auction in 1930, built the quaint marketplace and leased it out to local businessmen by 1934. In the British Raj hierarchy, its purpose was to serve the daily needs of the construction workers who were building the edifices of the new capital, which was officially opened in 1936. There used to be a railway station behind the Market and many migrants from today's Haryana would just get down there and start the adventure of life.
One of them was Nathu Ram Gupta, who came from a village in Haryana, and sensing an unmet business opportunity, set up a tea stall in the mid-1930s. The tea stall evolved into the sweet shop, which has over the decades been a favourite of artistes and politicians, businessmen and bureaucrats.  Must for rasgulla, moong dal halwa and rabdi with malpua.

Nathu's competition across the road, Bengali Sweet House was opened in 1937 by Lala Bhim Sain with the money he saved from the canteen he ran in the sessions courts that were operating out of the neighbouring Ferozeshah Road. Lala Bhim Sain is said to have introduced the rasgulla to Delhi, which must have gladdened the hearts of the many Bengali babus living in the neighbourhood. He was also a visionary who visited Germany in 1958 and introduced, on his return, imported refrigeration machines and hot case counters to keep food warm. At that time, these were novelties in Delhi. Now we take them for granted! You can't beat their gulab jamun and sohan halwa.

As far as the evolution of the market is concerned who else can better write about this aspect of the market than someone who has spent thirteen years of her life, thats almost her childhood, visiting this cultural hub. Yes, I'm Tarini Bhatia, 'The Communicator' of this versatile group.

I was Studying in Modern School Barakhamba Road from 2002-2015 so Bengali Market had become a very important place for each one of us and the visits I personally made there are innumerable!

From the delicious matar kulcha the street vendor right outside my school used to make, to the mouth watering golgappas of Bengali Sweets, to the best bhature chole of delhi in Nathus, to the perfect coffee of costa- my list of all the amazing things that I ate there are never ending..

I remember my mom telling me that the dry cleaners there are the only ones she goes to, even today, only because of their service. Fruits in the house still come from Bengali, only because of their perfect quality!  And how can I not mention the role Janta Book Depot and Raj Book Point Stationers have played in my schooling years by providing me with best quality stationery that was readily available. 

Bengali market is 20kms away from where I stay, yet my parents and I still visit this place because we haven't found another market area that provides all this with the same taste, quality and service.

As I go back to the first time I visited Bengali Market, it was really different from what it is today. I remember the sitting areas of Bengali Sweets and Nathus was so different. There were no Air conditioners in these shops back then. So many of the newly opened shops were not there either.

Even the roundabout was so different a decade ago. There was no greenery in the market and proper zebra crossing was also missing. All this has been added by NDMC in the recent years only.
As far as shops are concered, there hasn't been any old shop that shut now except one tea stall, which clearly shows that the market provides good business to the shopkeepers.

Going back to when it started, the market in 1930 just had temporary shops and that too 2-3 of them out of which only Bengali Sweets still exists. 

In 1939 Nathu Sweets opened in the market. With time other shops came in and the shops were made with permanent constructive material. Bengali Sweets, Nathu's and Brij Fruit shops are amongst the oldest of them all 

After which came shops like Beekay dry cleaners, Krishna Store, Raj Book point, Janta Book Depot and Costa 

Rise of the market up the social ladder can be proved by the fact that last year in 2015 In 2015 two new shops opened up: the chain from Affinity Salons and Habibi Restaurant.

Over the years the place has developed, new shops have built in, the ambience and construction of the existing shops have changed. A lot of movies have also been shot in this cultural hub.

Tarini Bhatia
(taken  reference from India Today and Wikipedia)