The four-decade old sweet shop in Visakhapatnam

Life took Dayaram Daswani on a sweet journey all the way from Pakistan to our own Visakhapatnam to open this famous sweet shop.

In the narrow bylanes of Poorna market, a sweet shop stirs up memories of a rich past. Set up in 1975, Dayaram Sweets brings to mind memories of the earliest sweet shops in the city. The store was set up by Dayaram Daswami, who after a 12-year stint working at his brother’s sweet shop decided to set up on his own.

Dayaram Daswani was a resident of Pakistan, and a few political issues led to his migration to India. After living in Delhi for a couple of years, he next headed to Madhya Pradesh, where he lived at Ratlam from 1965 onwards. Work brought him to Visakhapatnam, where he started to help his brother run Chandu Sweets. He settled there with his two sons and four daughters, and after twelve years of working with Chandu Sweets, he decided to move up the economic ladder and set up on his own. Dayaram Sweets thus came into being.

The start was small, with just one counter, but it grew and gained popularity with time. The varieties of sweets that were being offered included the basic Ladoo, Kaja, Mysorepak, Amarthi, Badshah, and Jalebi. However, with time, the store began to expand and started to include sweets like malai roll, chamcham, malai puri, ice cream barfi, gulab jamun, rasmalai, dry fruit ladoos, chocolate roll, halwa and much more. In fact, one of their milestone moments was when they started their new manufacturing unit eight months ago. However, they all agree unanimously that perhaps the moment at which the shop was incepted was the best moment for them ever.

Business has been growing and future plans are to take it forward.

Today the store is run by Govind Ram Daswani, son of Dayaram; Rajesh Daswani, Ashok Kumar and Roshan Daswani. While the store still stands where it was 41 years ago, it did open more branches and has added to the list of sweets and savouries. Future plans include upgrading their manufacturing with new machinery, continuing their dedication to quality and hygiene, and setting up many more branches as they go along.

Living together as a joint family, Govind Ram shares that, “Business has been growing and future plans are to take it forward”. Their children however are young and whether they take the legacy forward or not is something only time will tell.