Inside the red-brick maze of Kolkata's Hogg Market, the once-bustling flower lane is losing its sheen. Near the Simpark Mall entrance, this corridor emanated the fragrance of fresh roses, orchids, lilies and chrysanthemums a decade ago, with customers making a beeline outside small shops to grab bouquets and bunches of fresh flowers.
Cut to 2025, the lane and the few shops left on it struggle to draw crowds. Elderly shopkeepers, who worked through nights before the festive and wedding seasons, now wait through long stretches of the day without a single customer approaching them.
For Samriddha Dutt, the fifth-generation owner of flower shop SK Dutt, the battle is personal. His family's shop has stood here for more than a hundred years. He grew up watching his grandfather and father arrange flowers for weddings, pujas, anniversaries and Valentine's Day. Today, he worries if the legacy will survive at all.
"This entire stretch had flower shops only. After the lockdown, only a few remain. Come after five years, I doubt if you will find any at all," he said. What he remembers is very different from what he sees now. Samriddha recalls mornings when fresh flowers arrived in sacks from Mullickghat flower market in Howrah. He remembers the scent of tuberose and customers rushing in to pick up bouquets for their loved ones. "There was a time when we ran out of roses by noon," he said.
Read more at The Telegraph Online
