Amidst the hustle and bustle of the famous Anarkali bazaar, Syed Mohkam Naqvi sits proudly in his shop, which after a time-span of more than 125 years is still doing well. Neither time nor age has been able to diminish the zeal of the Mohkam family with which they are running their baking and confectionery business since 1879. It is but natural that they feel elated in carrying out a business that is like a mission to them. They know well that they are the inheritors of a glorious tradition that occupies a place not only in the annals of Lahore’s history, but also of the whole subcontinent.
“In 1879, my grandfather, Syed Mohkam Din, migrated from Jallandhar and set up a bakery in the same place where it stands today. He laid great stress on the purity of the material that is used in making bakery-related items. To this day, we follow that strict standard,” says the present owner of the shop, Mohkam Naqvi.
A lawyer by training, Mohkam Naqvi did not practise law even for one day as baking compelled him to join the profession of his elders. To further chisel his skills in the field, he went to England and did few baking courses from the Selford University, Manchester. Holding a diploma in baking, Mohkam returned to Pakistan to practise his acquired expertise here. He was quite successful in applying his experience that he gained in the UK to his shop. Therefore, one day when two of his teachers from the UK, Debby Brown and Trevor Taffler, visited his shop, they liked the style and presentation of his bakery. Perhaps that’s the reason why even today some of the items in the bakery — like rich plum cake, khatai, makhan ras and finger biscuits — are sent to friends as souvenirs.
Reminiscing about the old days, Mohkam Naqvi says that Allama Iqbal frequented their shop as his grandfather enjoyed very cordial relations with the great poet. Other distinguished clients included, Nehru, Maulana Zafar Ali Khan, Shorash Kashmiri, Ghazi Ilmuddin Shaheed and a host of many other dignitaries belonging to different spheres of life.
“The breakfast items of our shop adorned the dinning table of our founding father the Quaid-i-Azam, Mohammad Ali Jinnah too, when he stayed at Khan Bahadur Abdul Raheem Khan’s haveli in Anarkali,” claims Mohkam Naqvi with a touch of pride.
On the eve of the Islamic Summit held in Lahore in 1974, states Mohkam Naqvi, many other guests including Edi Amin and Mufti Azam of Palestine visited their bakery. “Perhaps in 1968, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto too visited our shop. He purchased a one-pound cake and said that he wanted to present it to her daughter, Benazir, as a gift,” says Mohkam.
According to him, ex-prime minister Moeen Qureshi likes the bakery’s rich plum cake very much. His brother Salman Qureshi comes to the shop to buy it. Not only that, claims Mohkam, their bakery’s rich plum cake has even made it to Buckingham Palace.
Mohkam and his brother Muhammad Shajar, who run the shop together, are averse to the idea of switching off to another business. Their kids too are proud of their business and are most likely to carry on with the tradition. One of the nephews of Mohkam is in the UK to do few baking courses in order to keep abreast of the latest changes in the art of baking. As far as the idea of setting up more branches of the shop is concerned, Mohkam brushes it aside. “This profession is sacred to us. We adore it to the hilt. Here in this shop, I personally supervise each and everything to maintain our standard. In case of more branches of the shop, I will not be able to take care of all the outlets appropriately. As a result, our quality will suffer. I am quite content to be the owner of this one historic shop,” Mohkam says.
In order to cater to a huge clientele, Mohkam Naqvi tries his best to maintain the standard of their bakery. He has take care of the needs of Muslims, Christians, Parsees, and even Hindus, on the occasions of their respective religious festivals.
Amidst the hustle and bustle of the famous Anarkali bazaar, Syed Mohkam Naqvi sits proudly in his shop, which after a time-span of more than 125 years is still doing well. Neither time nor age has been able to diminish the zeal of the Mohkam family with which they are running their baking and confectionery business since 1879. It is but natural that they feel elated in carrying out a business that is like a mission to them. They know well that they are the inheritors of a glorious tradition that occupies a place not only in the annals of Lahore’s history, but also of the whole subcontinent.
Reminiscing about the old days, Mohkam Naqvi says that Allama Iqbal frequented their shop as his grandfather enjoyed very cordial relations with the great poet. Other distinguished clients included, Nehru, Maulana Zafar Ali Khan, Shorash Kashmiri, Ghazi Ilmuddin Shaheed and a host of many other dignitaries belonging to different spheres of life.
According to him, ex-prime minister Moeen Qureshi likes the bakery’s rich plum cake very much. His brother Salman Qureshi comes to the shop to buy it. Not only that, claims Mohkam, their bakery’s rich plum cake has even made it to Buckingham Palace.
