A gift shopper’s Saturday in Malleswaram
Flowers on 8th Cross, temple streets, filter coffee and our packing room: a short walk round the neighbourhood we work in.
Sending sweets outside Bengaluru: what travels well
Which sweets survive a three-day courier ride, which do not, and how we pack hampers for other cities.
About a third of our Deepavali orders leave Bengaluru, for parents in Chennai, siblings in Pune and friends in Delhi. Sweets behave very differently on a three-day courier ride, so we change what goes in.
Dry sweets travel well. Motichoor laddoo in pure ghee keeps for about ten days at room temperature, as do Mysore pak, besan laddoo, kaju katli and coconut barfi made without khoa. Chikki, roasted dry fruit and murukku keep for two weeks or more. These are what we pack for outstation hampers.
Milk sweets do not travel. Pedha, kalakand, rasgulla and anything with fresh khoa or cream can sour within a day or two without cold storage, and a courier van in October is not cold. We leave them out of every outstation order, even if you ask, and suggest a dry sweet of the same price instead.
Packing matters too. Each sweet box is sealed in a food-grade pouch, then cushioned with crinkled paper inside the hamper so laddoos do not crush against brass. Diyas are wrapped separately in corrugated sleeves. Outstation hampers go by express courier and usually arrive in two to four days. If a box arrives damaged, send a photo on WhatsApp the same day and we replace it. During the last week before Deepavali, couriers slow down everywhere, so book outstation boxes by 20 October.
