Bhubaneswar: Raja celebrations are never complete without the traditional Raja Paan. Eating paan is a ritual and betel shop owners come up with a variety of innovative paan flavours to draw customers. This year, Ramakant Senapati of Banarasi Paan Bhandar has come out with the first ever paan app www.upahar.com in Odisha.
With the launch of this novel app, Ramakant aims to offer online service to his clients by delivering their favourite paan at their doorsteps. According to him, the service is available for paan lovers who place a minimum order of Rs 200. “Once the order is placed, we will deliver the paan within 4 hours in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack,” he said, adding, “The app is becoming popular as I have delivered 25 packets and bouquets of paan in Cuttack in the morning itself.”
After the launch of the paan app, people no longer need to wait in queues to buy this mouth watering betel preparation. “I even prepare gift packets for corporate houses. In future I will make my Raja paan popular across India as well as abroad,” says the ambitious paan trader.
The shop offers about 70 varieties of paan like Dilkhush, Dilruba, Dil Dewane, Dilwale, Naratna and Moti Mahal.
Giving details of his venture, Ramakant said, “I get the paan (betel leaf) from Kolata and procure the different masalas (ingredients) from Jaypore. Apart from Bhubaneswar and Cuttack, Banarasi Pana Bhandar has branches in a number of places in the state, including Baramunda, ITR and Nimapada.”
Paan lover Shankar Hota, a friend of Ramakant, is excited over the launch of the new app. “Now my family members can place orders online at reasonable prices. They won’t have to venture out for their daily paan,” he remarked.
Homemaker Usha Mallick also found the app interesting and useful, but she feels that the minimum order should be reduced from Rs 200 to Rs 150. Even kids like Trisha and Smarak Mohapatra who came all the way from Old Town to Sahid Nagar with their uncle Subrat Mohapatra feel that the cherry topped paan is alluring and their mother would definitely love it.
“I am patron of Banarasi Paan Bhandar and have come all the way from Achray Vihar to buy Raja special paan for my wife and mother-in-law. This app is very helpful as my cousin sister has already shopped betel leaf worth Rs 500 using the app,” avers Hrishikesh Patra.
