The squall on Saturday did nothing to dampen Calcutta’s love for mishti with enthusiastic crowds trooping into the Kund area of City Centre Salt Lake for a first-of-its-kind mishti carnival with eight top sweet-shop chains at one place.

Mishti Fishti, the Cadbury mishti festival held in association with ABP and The Telegraph, enjoyed a sweet beginning with more than a thousand visitors digging into the various Cadbury mishtis dished up during the Cadbury Mishti Shera Shrishti contest along with other signature sweets of Ganguram, Girish Chandra Dey & Nakur Chandra Nandy, Sen Mahasay, K.C. Das, Jadab Chandra Das, Balaram Mullick & Radharaman Mullick, Gupta Brothers and Hindusthan Sweets.

Among the sweets with the highest drool quotient was Mudpie Sandesh from Balaram Mullick & Radharaman Mullick; the first lot was sold out in two hours flat!

Day 2 of the two-day carnival started bright and sunny, drawing out an even larger turnout that showed no signs of ebbing even when the rain came down in the evening.

Actress Arunima Ghosh inaugurated the carnival on Saturday and actor Shaheb Bhattacherjee upped the glam quotient on Sunday.

Apart from indulging their sweet tooth, the visitors also had their share of fun and games with interactive contests and a performance by Bolepur Bluez.

Friends Sumana Das, Shreya Debroy (middle) and Sourav Ghosh made a beeline for their favourite shop, Balaram Mullick & Radharaman Mullick. “All their sweets are good. But the Mudpie Sandesh is the best,” smiled research scholar Shreya.	Arunima Ghosh inaugurated Mishti Fishti with some sweet-shop chain owners on Saturday afternoon.She hopped stalls, happily tasting their chocolatey innovations. “I love all sweets. And since childhood I have been addicted to Cadbury,” smiled the actress.
Rain or shine, sweet buffs mobbed the mishti stalls to taste and take away their favourite eats from the stalls set up in the Kund area of City Centre Salt Lake.	The Basu Thakur family came for Mishti Fishti from Dum Dum. “It was not possible to go from shop to shop during the campaign, so this is a great idea,” smiled Sumitra Basu Thakur, enjoying a Chocolate Sandesh from Balaram with daughter Rwiti.
“This Poila Baisakh will be special with Cadbury mishtis added to the list of traditional sweets. Even youngsters who don’t like mishti will not be able to resist the Cadbury-mishti combination,” smiled Arunima in between mouthfuls of Chocolate Rabri from Girish Chandra Dey & Nakur Chandra Nandy.	Shaheb ‘Topse’ Bhattacherjee added star power to the last day of the mishti carnival. “It is a welcome change to see so many people trying out the innovative mishtis. I think these fusion mishtis will become a part of our culture in future,” smiled Shaheb before biting into a Choco Kumbha from K.C. Das.
Director Suman Mukhopadhyay came to the carnival with five-year-old son Nikhilesh and went home with a box of Cadbury mishti from his favourite shop, Nakur. “The idea of a carnival like this is new and interesting.... Nothing in this world can match the taste of mishti,” said the maker of Mahanagar@Kolkata.	Lake Town resident Sangeeta Mittal, with daughters Anushka and Sanjana, declared Mudpie Sandesh their favourite. “There are so many varieties of chocolate mishti in one place, it is difficult to decide what to eat,” laughed the homemaker.
Folk-rock band Bolepur Bluez fit right into the fusion formula with a mix of Baul and rock. The audience clapped and sang along with popular numbers like Hrid majhaare, Kalankini Radha, Golemaale pirit koro na and Dil ki doya from their album The Soul Connection.	Seven-year-old Tanish Jhunjhunwala was in a grave dilemma — which to try first, the Choco Madhuri from Jadab Chandra Das or the Baked Rosogolla from Balaram? “We came all the way from Prince Anwar Shah Road to have the sweets. I loved both of them,” beamed the M.P. Birla Foundation student.