Famous munching bhujias, Haldiram Bhujiawala (Pratik Food Products, Kolkata) owner Mahesh Agarwal died in Singapore on Friday, a little past midnight. He was suffering from a critical liver ailment and was undergoing treatment at a hospital there for three months.
Agarwal was to turn 57 on Saturday.
Given the current circumstances, the distraught family could not think about anything other than to cremate the body there on Friday itself, following rules of that country, that does not follow the Hindu cremation system.
Agarwal’s bereaved wife Meena and daughter Avni, who had been with him through this time, are desperate to return home but are finding it impossible to do so in the current situation.
The mother and daughter duo have been cribbling with anxiety, trying their best to reach out to the embassy by filling out a form online that all Indians stuck in Singapore are doing.
The country is supposed to go in for a lockdown from Tuesday and as per the news that Meena and Avni have been able to gather, Indians have been told that a flight would be organised to bring them back to Delhi in the wee hours of Wednesday, for which there has been a lot on board for it.
Kolkata’s Prabhuji, Bikaner’s Bikaji, Nagpur’s Mopleez etc, all originated from the same family that founded a small shop in 1937 and grew it into an empire of sorts.
The store was set up by Gangabhisan Agarwal in Bikaner. The Kolkata chapter began when his youngest son, Rameshwarlal Agarwal set up Haldiram Bhujiawala in the Burrabazaar part of the city. Today, the family’s Kolkata operations has further expanded into three separate brands.
Rameshwarlal Agarwal’s son Prabhu Shankar ran HBL, while his brother Mahesh Kumar had run Pratik Food Products. A third company, Haldiram & Sons Bhujiawala is run by Prayagdas and Mahendra Kumar, who are the children of Satyanarayan, another son of Gangabhisan.
There are also sub-brands in Delhi that are run by other members of the family.
There have been disputes over the usage of the Haldiram trademark amongst members of the family. In 2013, the Intellectual Property Appelate Board had ordered that the trademark registration against the Kolkata’s Haldiram Bhujiawala be removed.
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