Free 'telebhaja' from Netaji's favourite shop

Kolkata: About 5,000 people were distributed telebhaja free of cost from Lakshminarayan Shaw and Sons in North Kolkata.

It is the tradition and almost a custom with the 100-year-old shop to distribute fritters without charging anything on Netaji's birthday.

It is said that Netaji used to come to the shop and enjoyed telebhaja. In the late 1920s and 1930s, Netaji used to address the public during various political meetings in north Kolkata and once they got over, the Congress leaders used to treat him with telebhaja.

Lakshminarayan was a devout follower of Netaji and after Independence in 1947, he made it a point to treat people with his fritters free of cost on Netaji's birthday every year.

Mohun Kumar Gupta, Trinamool Congress councillor of Ward 17 and the owner of the shop, said around 5000 people were given free telebhaja from 8 am to 3 pm. There were long queues of people to get a packet as it has become almost like a ritual to have telebhaja on Netaji's birthday in north Kolkata.

Besides telebhaja, chops made from different vegetables are also famous. Lakshminarayan and Sons on Bidhan Sarani has become a brand name and many foreigners visiting the city often drop by to taste telebhaja, one of Kolkata's very special preparations.