Pune: Kolkata biryani is often identified by its distinctive addition of a large, tender potato, sometimes accompanied by a boiled egg, alongside fragrant rice and meat. But for natives of Kolkata, there is no single version that defines the city’s biryani.Iconic establishments such as Arsalan, Mezban and Dada Boudi have their own distinctive flavours, shaped by their spice blends, cooking methods and the balance of meat, rice and seasoning. A stronger note of clove here, an extra dash of cinnamon in the garam masala, and the taste changes. Each establishment has a loyal following that swears by its own favourite, making biryani as much a matter of restaurant allegiance as regional identity.For Bengalis in Pune, therefore, finding Kolkata-style biryani is not enough. The craving is often for a specific restaurant’s preparation, one that another kitchen cannot quite replicate.For Saumik Bose and Samit Roy, both settled in Pune, the solution was to bring the biryani here rather than keep wishing for a taste of home. In April, requests from friends and members of the Bengalis in Pune Facebook group prompted them to organise a delivery from Kolkata. What began as a community initiative has since delivered more than 1,500 biryani boxes to Pune.“The taste we want is not something we can get at any of the restaurants here, unfortunately. So, we decided to take the initiative for the community,” Bose said, adding, “The arrangement is straightforward. One can place advance orders and pay only actual costs of packaging and transportation, with no profit margin added.”The first step was to approach Arsalan and establish whether the restaurant could prepare and pack the biryani for air transport. After gauging interest within the community in April, the organisers arranged a pilot delivery of 300 packets with a vendor. The response encouraged them to expand the operation.They subsequently approached IndiGo-authorised cargo vendors to negotiate rates and eventually began coordinating directly with the airline’s cargo operation. The restaurant prepares and packs the food before handing the consignment to the authorised cargo team at Kolkata airport. The organisers book the shipment and pay the applicable charges, with a late-night flight bringing the consignment to Pune early the next morning.“Perishable food requires particular care during transit. We tell the restaurants to give it in flight-packing, for which they use airtight containers. We also ask them to remove the potatoes from the biryani and pack them separately. This helps prevent excess moisture from affecting the rice and meat during the journey. The packed food is placed in dedicated thermocol boxes, which are sealed to retain freshness,” said Roy.Weekend deliveries make the logistics easier. Orders are collected in advance and finalised by Saturday, allowing volunteers to coordinate the Sunday distribution. “Some volunteers, including those based in Dhanori, collect the consignment from Pune airport before dividing it by area. Our network then delivers the boxes to customers across locations including Hadapsar and Dhanori. From the initial 300 packets, the operation has grown to around 800 packets per drive. On Aug 22, the team organised a Dada Boudi biryani delivery, followed by another drive around Mahalaya (Oct 10),” said Bose.The initiative has since expanded to Bengali sweets from Girish Chandra Dey and Nakur Chandra Nandy, popularly known as Girish-Nakur. Founded in 1844, the Kolkata establishment is renowned for its jolbhora sandesh, filled with liquid date-palm jaggery. “We brought more than 200kg of sweets, including jolbhora, aam sandesh, mousumi and chandrapuli, to Pune for Mahalaya,” said Roy.The volunteers coordinate directly with the establishments to maintain quality, with restaurant representatives overseeing consignments before dispatch. “An anticipated delivery of hilsa, however, could not be finalised because the fish was unavailable in the Kolkata markets. Our aim is to make specific Kolkata favourites accessible to Bengalis in Pune without adding a commercial margin or compromising on quality,” said Arun Chakraborty, admin of the Bengalis in Pune Facebook group.
