The habitat of Bengalees- Bengal- surrounded by Assam, Bihar and Orissa and Bangladesh, is often remembered for its pioneering role in the flowering of Indian renaissance in 18th century. We know Kolkata has been a harbinger of sweetmeat industry where new innovations have been made during the last three centuries where Muslim,and British rulers and other Indian babus created an ambience that went
into creations of new items and won the hearts of all and sundry. It is no wonder, like very few manufacturers of sweetmeats, Messers, Felu Modak of Rishra have left a deep impression on the people of riverine south Bengal for the last three centuries. Like Swiss cakes, Bengal’s contribuition to the manufacturing of sweetmeat /candy /savouries has assumed legendary dimensions not in one day but through many days and nights of perspirations. As a matter of fact, many families in the trade had hit the hoglines when such fooditems became a part and parcel of Bengal’s cultural life, patronized by stalwarts like Rabindranath Tagore, Gandhiji, Subhas Chandra Bose and others in the annals of Indian history. About 160 years ago, the scion of the Modak family, engaged traditionally in sweetmaking, Felu Charan De, started his own enterprise on the southern part of Rishra whose father was Kartick Chandra De.The traditional business has crossed nearly five generations and their present location is situated at the junction of Srimani lane, G.T.Road and N.C. Having an innovative mind and the palliative anthpology of Bengalees, Felu Charan invented scores of sweetmeats by facing various contemporary odds by way of sheer honesty and dexterity. Eaters had criticized may of the sweets he manufactured and accordingly he modified them to give maximum taste without sacrificing the quality and the health aspects of the eaters. This attitude of Felu went down to his future generations and as a result the present assortment of sweets are not only superior in quality but also leave a lasting memory in those who have had the opportunity to eat them. His son, Nandalal Moira alias khyada, continued his father’s philosophy and took the entire operation to new heights by way of injecting enriched taste and purity and thus the fame of the sweets went beyond boundaries from Rishra.The tradition continued with his son Madhusudan De who lived for only 44 years. But his sons, Baidyanath, Shankar and Amarnath and Amitava De are very much in the forefront to consolidate the brand of Felu Modak with the help of modern technology and business acumen. As such the brand has reached every nook of Southern Bengal and beyond.
