A man buys tilkut from a Sakchi shop on Sunday. Picture by Bhola Prasad

Craving for some sumptuous pithe puli or patisapta?

Do not head for the kitchen. Make your way to a Misti shop near you instead.

Misti — a Jamshedpur-based popular confectionery chain — has decided to treat the taste buds of the city by selling puli and patisapta in all its eight outlets starting Monday.

The sweets, the owner said, would be available for a limited period and were basically being put on sale to test the reaction of the city clientele on the occasion of Poush Parbon.

“There are urban families with working couples. Women who work do not find time to make delicacies at home. So, we have decided to lend them a helping hand,” said Achintam Gupta, proprietor of Misti.

He added that the patisaptas (roasted rice pancake stuffed with sweetened coconut and cream) and the doodh pulis (rice dessert made of stuffed coconut dumpling) would be priced at Rs 10 each. “We will be open to customer feedback to make our products better,” Gupta said.

Interestingly, while Misti plans to tickle the sweet tooth of the residents, a number of other food joints of the city have decided to down shutter altogether for 10 days at least for Tusu Parab and Makar Sankranti celebrations.

The shops in the city usually down shutters two days before Tusu celebrations — the harvest festival of the tribals — that is scheduled to be held on Monday this year, sources said.

“Most of our workers are tribals and Tusu is their main festival. We suffer losses. But we have no option but to give them leave for at least six days. The restaurant will remain closed from Monday till January 22,” said Jayesh Amin, the owner of the popular eatery Anand in Bistupur, which specializes in South Indian delicacies. He added that he had 23 workers in total, most of who would be on leave during the Tusu festival.

Amin’s concerns were shared by the 60-odd small and big food joint owners in Bistupur, Sakchi and other places.

But for the foodie, there are binge options galore. Markets are flooded with delicacies like tilkut, ladoos, muri ladoo and gud-badam for Makar Sankranti. “This is the only time of the year when we sell these items. Rice flakes are selling like hot cakes because tomorrow almost all Hindu families eat dahi-chura for breakfast,” said Raju Singh, a Sakchi-based shopkeeper.