Amidst the din at MJM circle, Old City denizens cool off

HYDERABAD: The busy Moazzam Jahi Market circle gets a tad busier every summer evening. Headed to a corner near the clock tower are a constant flow of people, all waiting to savour a scoop of the season’s favourite __ the fruit ice cream. Never mind the jammed roads, constant honking of vehicles and pollution all around, the ice cream shops here are chock-a-block all through the summer months.
Apart from ‘Famous’, the oldest and the most sought after ice cream shop, the enclosure is shared by three other comparatively new members – Shah Ice Cream, Gafoor and Bilaal. “The fresh fruit pot ice cream sold here is as delicious as it is inexpensive. The extra creamy texture and over sweetened taste make the ice creams here a one of a kind. We can easily polish off at least three ice creams in a row,” says 60-year-old Abdul Khan who had come here with his grandfather as a child and now comes here with his grandchildren. No function in his house is complete without the ice cream from the Old City, he says.
Explaining the special technique used in the making of the hand-made ice cream, M A Saleem of Shah Ice Cream says, “The pot ice cream is made in a wooden barrel place in a steel enclosure. There is a handle on one side. On rotating this handle, the ice cream gets collected in the steel can within.” His shop has been around for the last 20 years and he comes from a family of ice cream makers who once owned the Gafooria Ice Cream at Chowk near Charminar.
Owners of Bilaal Ice Cream, a known brand which has branches at several other places in the Old City, say they chose to open a branch three months ago at Moazzam Jahi Market as this is where all ice cream lovers of the Old City come to. While they initially tried to market to a more sophisticated taste, with their ‘Love Dale’, ‘Nutty Naughty Sundae’ and ‘Made For Each Other’ variety, customer demand forced them to venture into pot ice creams. So in came chickoos, mangoes and water melons for Rs 10 a scoop.
But if such is their popularity in the Old City, why have these joints not ventured out to other parts of the city? Aizaz Ahmed from Famous says, “For sixty years, people have been coming to us. We are unanimous with brand Hyderabad. If people come to us on their own, why do we need to go to them?” He feels that because it is not easily available everywhere, it adds to the brand value.
Saleem from Shah Ice Cream thinks that because of their location in the Old City, they can afford to price it low and yet maintain quality. “Venturing to other parts of the city means more investment and no guarantee of returns. People have a variety of big brands to choose from and even vendors with their ice cream carts are available at their doorsteps. But customers here are drawn to the fact that this is something exotic. And the Old City adds to the charm of our product,” says Ahmed.
Mainly non-descript in appearance, these stalls are not exactly what one can call hygienic. Here waiters don’t wear use-and-throw gloves before scooping out the ice cream. Neither does the ice cream come in a hot-from-the-oven bowl. Presumably there are no regular checks in place with the GHMC struggling with inadequate number of food inspectors for the more than 30,000 food joints in the 18 circles of the city. But no one is complaining, as long as they get a mouthful of the easy-on-the-pocket freshly made pot ice cream. Says the philosophical Ahmed from Famous, “There is only one Charminar in Hyderabad and people from across the world come to see it, so is true for our ice cream.”