Basant Sweet Shop

If you know Jagraon 9, you probably already know where Basant Sweet Shop is located. We’ve been here for a long time now. Our day starts well before the sun comes up. The big iron vats are filled with fresh milk and we have to keep stirring them for hours on end. It is very hot and sweaty work in the back kitchen. The smell of cardamom, sugar, and frying oil is everywhere in the building. By the time people are walking to work or school, we have the first batch of sweets ready on the counter. We don't have any fancy packaging or bright ribbons. We just put the sweets in plain cardboard boxes and tie them up with a bit of string. Customers come in for a quick snack or to take something home for their kids. In Jagraon 9, word travels fast if the sweets aren't fresh, so we have to be very careful every day. Sometimes we run out of the most popular items by the middle of the day. We don't have a huge staff, just a few local guys who know how to handle the heat of the stoves. The shop floor is always a bit sticky no matter how many times we wash it. That’s just part of being a sweet shop. During the festival seasons, we don't get much sleep. We just keep the fires going and the trays full of food for everyone.