KARACHI: Passing though Gharibabad in the evening, if you look towards your left, near the underpass, you’ll see a row of wooden kiosks selling kulfi or milk ice cream. ‘Delhi Jama Masjid ki Mashhoor Matka Kulfi’, ‘Madina Kulfi House’, ‘Al Madni Kulfi House’ and so many others.

“We are having over guests for dinner at home today so I’ve been sent to get the dessert,” says a chauffeur, holding a bag full of individually-wrapped kulfis, which he requests the vendor to put in another bag of ice chips to keep it cool on the way. In a smaller plastic bag there is also some white vermicelli-like faluda to be served on top of the kulfi.

Plain kulfi costs between Rs40 and Rs50. Photos by Fahim Siddiqi / White Star

As the evening progresses, more and more customers are drawn to the kiosks. Some order from their cars while others prefer to relish the delicacy on the tables and chairs laid out for them on the footpath. Plain kulfi costs Rs40 to 50 each and pistachio kulfi is Rs10 more expensive. There is a Rooh Afza bottle with its seal unbroken and a hole punched in its cap at all the shops. It’s done to drip the syrup over the faluda if a customer demands it.

But strangely enough all this is not there during the day, when it is hot and more sales could be made.

“During the day, we prepare the kulfi. It requires much time and effort,” says Abdul Waheed, the owner of Delhi Jama Masjid ki Mashhoor Matka Kulfi, who asks his grandnephew selling the stuff from the kiosk to also hand him one.

“We get rich, creamy milk for Rs85 per litre, then we cook it on medium heat till it reaches a thick consistency after which we cool it and freeze it. It’s cool in the evenings so the kulfi, too, stays fine in the coolers and ice boxes we bring them in,” he adds.

A fresh wholesome dessert for any sweet tooth. Photos by Fahim Siddiqi / White Star

Up ahead is the Madina Kulfi House and the person selling it looks like the one at Al Madni Kulfi House ahead of him and the other one in the next. Almost all the vendors are elderly and sport long white beards. “My beard is longer than his!” jokes Ghulam Rasool at Ashraf Kulfi House on being asked if the two bear any resemblance.

Abdul Waheed laughs while explaining, “We are all former residents of Delhi’s Jama Masjid area who came to Pakistan after Partition. And we are all progeny of the same grandfather who sold kulfi outside Jama Masjid.

“Chaudhry Farzand Ali, who sells kulfi in Saddar here, is our student, Mullah Kheer Kulfi Wala in Lahore’s Anarkali is our cousin,” he claims.

The art of serving. Photos by Fahim Siddiqi / White Star

Abdul Hafeez of Al Madni Kulfi House adds, “After coming here, we set up shops on Bandar Road [now M.A. Jinnah Road] but it was an expensive spot and pretty soon there was a family row about ownership and all that. The family elders then decided to sell the shops and move. For over 40 years now, we are selling here from these makeshift kiosks. This main road was lined with 45 to 50 kulfi shops at one time. But now after the construction of the underpass there are far less as the footpaths are much narrower now and we don’t get as many customers as we used to.

“Many a time, the KMC people remove our kiosks from the main road by pushing them over the footpath on to the service road during the day. But we carry them back here to the footpath in the evenings,” he shrugs.

“We are here from 5pm till 3am with fresh wholesome kulfi every day. We wake up on an empty stomach each morning. We work, do good business here and go to bed on a full stomach, thanks to God Almighty,” he concludes.

Published in Dawn, May 18th, 2014