A baking unit of an NGO has already received orders for 550kg of cake this Christmas, a rise from 410kg last year.
Kolkata Mary Ward Social Centre (KMWSC) gives slots to those who come to their baking unit in central Kolkata’s Entally with bags full of ingredients, which they mix and bake in their machines.
The orders started coming in October and all the slots are booked.
“Since we give slots, people can come accordingly instead of standing in queue for long hours. We try to create a Christmas-like ambience with music and coffee so that the wait while the cake is being made is enjoyable,” said Samata Bali, programme lead, human resource and livelihood, KMWSC.
She said demand was higher this year compared to the last two years and all the slots were booked. In 2020, they had baked 300kg of cake.
“If we have pre-booked orders we have an idea of how much we are baking and we can have the personnel ready accordingly,” said Bali.
In addition to these orders, the NGO is baking cakes to give to the 4,000 beneficiaries that they work with. This includes victims of trafficking and children of sex workers.
“Many of these children do not get cake like this. They are nicely packed and every child is being given one pound of cake wrapped in a beautiful packet,” said Sister Monica Suchiang, director, KMWSC.
The unit started baking in the first week of December. The baking starts at 6 or 7am and continues till 10pm.
In the run up to Christmas, a diverse group comes to bake their cakes at the unit — from a couple in their 80s to a three-year-old boy who came with his parents to bake Christmas cakes. The elderly couple, whose children live abroad, baked cakes for their neighbours.
“In January 2020, we came to Kolkata from Jhansi and we knew nobody here but heard about this place. Since then we have coming here to get our cakes baked,” said Malvika Roy, mother of the three-year-old.
Bali said: “The whole baking process is done in front of them. The people tell us how much butter or caramel they want and we follow their instructions. The cakes are made as per their requirements.”
Medical students call off protest
The students of the Calcutta Medical College and hospital ended their hunger strike on Monday, the 12th day since they started the protest but vowed to conduct the students’ union election on their own on Thursday.
The students sat on a hunger strike demanding that the student’s union election of the college is conducted on December 22, a date earlier declared by the college authorities. The students’ union election was last held in 2016.
The strike was preceded by a gherao of the principal, vice-principal and senior doctors of the medical college-cum-hospital, after the authorities reneged on the commitment to hold the elections on December 22.
On Monday, the protesting students said since the college authorities have failed to keep their word, they would go ahead and hold the elections on their own.
“We will be able to conduct the elections on our own. We will take the help of four eminent people who will act as neutral authority to conduct the elections,” said a student.
