I always wanted to read about the story of the brand Haldiram’s and there was no way I couldn’t have picked this book up. When I first saw a packet of bhujia in Mumbai, with “Haldiram Nagpur” written on it, I was taken aback – I always thought that Haldiram was from Bikaner. So I concluded that this Haldiram from Nagpur is definitely an impostor and trying to cash in on the popularity of the Bikaner one. Little did I know of sibling rivalry and the business of food back then.
As the author has summarily written, “Ganga Bhishen Agarwal, aka Haldiram began selling bhujia in 1941 in Bikaner and his products became popular by his nickname Haldiram, with most customers. In 1956, he formed a partnership firm with all his three sons, Moolchand, Rameshwarlal and Satyanarayan, trading under the name of Chandmal Ganga Bhishen. In 1955, Haldiram, along with Shiv Kishan and Rameshwarlal, went to Kolkata and within a few short years, quickly tasted success”. In 1968, “all of Haldiram’s three sons were settled, each managing a piece of the family’s business – Moolchand looking after the shop in Bikaner, Rameshwarlal set up with Haldiram Bhujiawala in Kolkata and Satyanarayan managing a tiny piece of the business in the name of Haldiram & Sons, which eventually became independent from the businesses in Bikaner and Kolkata”. It was later Saraswati Devi who played a major role for the expansion in Nagpur.
As they say, family businesses have a great role in breaking up the families which created them, and the Haldiram family is no different. Siblings, and cousins, fighting amongst themselves and passing on the legacy to their children. The court cases, the heartbreaks, the jealousy – everything is there in this tangy mixture of money and riches.
However, I do wish the editing was better – the author keeps going forward and backward in the narration. With so many similar family names, it becomes confusing after a while and you start losing track of them. Also, a more detailed analysis of the finances of the the Haldiram’s could have been done to make this book more business-like, rather than a lighthearted read.