Back in time: How Kolkata's only 'sharbat' place is quenching thirsts since 1918

A quick, chilled glass of beverage from Kolkata’s only sharbat place — Paramount needs no introduction. You will rarely come across a person who isn’t acquainted with this 106-year sharbat place on Bankim Chatterjee Street near College Square. Categorised into malai, curd, and syrup-based drinks, the place makes around 32 kinds of cold sharbats, flavoured with inhouse fruit crushes and syrups. One can even grab a bottle of their syrups to take back home. But honestly, the end product obviously would’nt taste the same as the one you would get at Paramount.

As you enter the space, both walls are adorned with cut-outs of newspaper and magazine columns, accompanied by a list of distinguished visitors who have graced the venue. Boasting of wooden furniture with marble table tops, the place speaks highly of olkata’s heritage and its preservation. The place, started by late Nihar Ranjan Majumder, opened as a facade for the freedom fighter. The founder, a member of the Anushilan Samiti, named the establishment Paradise, originally and later changed to Paramount in 1938. t is said that the British army had probably spotted Paradise, which led to the name change.

A century has passed, but some of the recipes still remain the same and are also the most popular, for example, the Daab sharbat or the Vanilla malai (previously known as just malai). Currently run by the second and third generation of proprietors, Partha Pratim Majumder, the former’s grandson says, “My uncle introduced passion fruit flavour, which is currently the best seller. Other than that, malai has got a number of new flavours, along with a recent addition, tamarind. n a hot and humid climate like ours, many prefer the cool tamarind syrup drink.”

The place that had received the heritage tag by INTACH a few years back, believes that the goodwill is a strong reason for their sustainance. “Not every day is a good day in the kitchen. Even we make mistakes. But we ask our customers to inform us of our slightest of mistakes. We would try to rectify it,” Partha adds. While we could spot a number of youngsters enjoying their Cocoa malai and tamarind sharbats, the elderly people go for green mango sharbat and daab sharbat. Made using the recipe by chemist and educationist Prafulla Chandra Ray, due to unavailability of the right kind of coconuts, this particular drink is only available 2.30 pm onwards.

With the growing population of modern-day cafés , Paramount is posed with a lot of competition, “Because of so many options otherwise, the business is hampered somewhat. But we have no plans to open more outlets or give franchise options. quality gets compromised that way and we can never let our goodwill get hampered,” concludes Partha.