Tale of oldest Dhakai <i>halwaiwalas</i>

There is much debate about the oldest sweet shop in Dhaka.
According to Hekim's book two halwaiwalas, Mathar Baksh and Alauddin, came to Dhaka from Lucknow, India during 1885-90. Alauddin opened his sweetmeat shop in Chawkbazar in 1896. The first Alauddin outlet was a small bamboo-hut store named Alauddin Halwai.
Some of the other oldest sweet shops are Kalachand Gandha Banik and Sitaram Mistanno Bhandar of Islampur, Latmiar Islamia Mistanno Bhandar in Nayabazar, Maranchand Gosh and Co in Nababpur Road. All of these shops opened before 1945.
Amidst the frenzied atmosphere of today's Chawkbazar still stands the modest-looking sweet shop, Alauddin Sweetmeat Ltd, the oldest dry sweet shop in Dhaka. There were sweet shops before Alauddin but they could not sustain.
In the maze of Rothkhola, Nababpur, the Adi Maranchand Gosh and Co stands lonely bearing clear marks of dejection while the others like Kalachad, Sitaram, Latmia disappeared from the scene long ago. Many karigars moved to Kolkata during Liberation War shutting their business and ending the journey of scores of sweet flavours in Dhaka.