The Sherbet Shop Where Indian Resistance Fighters Met

One of the last witnesses to India’s freedom struggle, Paramount Sherbet & Syrups, was an underground front for India’s independence revolutionaries. Today, this 104-year-old accomplice still brings a refreshing swig to modern-day Kolkata.

Paramount Storefront (Source: LBB)

Sharing an address with a trail of shops lining Kolkata’s Bankim Chatterjee Street, Paramount Sherbet & Syrups is easy to miss. Inside, odd furnishings — antler trophies, news clippings, low-hung fans — surround the shop’s tables. Famous Bengalis, hung on yellow-tinged walls, overlook customers while waiters hurry past the narrow corridor. Outside, a worn-down signage welcomes the diners, reading: “Cold drinks and syrups. Best in the town — next to none. Since 1918.”

This is Paramount, a century-old shop and one of the last remaining accomplices to India’s freedom struggle. In 1918, a young man, Nihar Ranjan Majumder, packed up his belongings and relocated from Barisal to Calcutta. He opened a small sherbet shop here called Paradise Sherbet and Syrups. But ‘sherbet’ was the front for a much more radical plot.

In the years that followed, Paradise served as a secret meeting quarter for revolutionaries. Well-known names like Subhash Chandra Bose and Pulin Behari Das would scheme to overthrow the British government inside this hideout. But when the shop’s cover was blown, and authorities were on the trail, Ranjan changed the name, and ‘Paradise’ became ‘Paramount’. Over 100 years later, Paramount is now run by Ranjan’s son, Mrigendra Majumdar. A man well in his 70s, Majumdar is still gleeful as ever when he recollects the rich legacy behind his father’s shop:

“My father had ingrained in us the ‘mantra’ of using quality ingredients, and that is what has stood us in good stead all these years.”

Other than swapping out the worn-down German fridge for a modern one, Majumdar says the shop has stayed the same. So has its piece de resistance — daab sherbet. Named after its key ingredient, the cool summer drink was made with green coconut sourced from Ranjan’s hometown. Then, ice shavings, a flavoured syrup, and lashings of white pulp from the green coconut are added for a refreshing touch.

During the freedom movement, Prafulla Chandra Ray, the Bengali chemist-turned-revolutionary, invented this recipe for the shop and suggested that Majumdar’s father, Ranjan, sell it at a budget-friendly rate to students from Calcutta University and other neighbouring educational institutions. Even today, daab sherbet is served in Paramount with a spoon to cobble up the leftover pulp.

Before, misconceptions about cool drinks leading to a cold kept Bengali residents away from the shop as winter rolled in. Today, however, Majumdar says his business does well all year round. When asked about his margins, he teases:

“I won’t share the profit numbers, but I can tell you that four generations have flourished because of this shop.”

Paramount is no stranger to the artistic circle either. Satyajit Ray, Arundhuti Roy, and Rabindranath Tagore have all strolled into its doors during the 100-odd years the joint has remained open. Cocoa Malai and Vanilla are some of the other crowd-pulling flavours prepared today, with some new entrants like the tart yet sweet passion fruit. Backed by these flavours, Majumdar continues the revolution that his father launched into the modern world — one sherbet at a time.