Tinkling the bell tied to their bicycles as they walk the streets of the city, a small band of ice-cream sellers from Uttar Pradesh have enchanted the children of the city with their small treats.
Around 10 young men, all aged about 30 from various parts of Uttar Pradesh live in a “rather large room” in Bunder, where they make the ice-cream they sell. Not even 20, Govind stood at one of the gates of Mangala Stadium with his box of ice-cream tied to the back of his bicycle. At the other gate stood four or five others, all waiting for dozens of schoolchildren who came in groups to buy the coned treat.
The men sell ice-cream in cones as well as kulfis, some of them double-coloured. Cones come in two sizes, one priced at Rs. 3 and the large one at Rs. 5. But the price of the same cone of ice-cream can go up if the “party (group of customers) is good,” says Vishal Dev (19).
“My uncle has been coming here for around seven to eight years. It was he who taught me to make an ice-cream,” says Mr. Govind. He said he hails from Mainpuri district in Uttar Pradesh. “You must have heard of Mulayam Singh Yadav. His house is only 34 km from my house,” he says. He says that they arrive in Mangalore a little before Diwali begins and stay on till the onset of monsoon.
Small economies have a way of functioning and thriving without the glamour and extravagance of advertising.
Asked how he knew when to come to Mangala Stadium, Mr. Govind says: “Kabhi kabhi, bacche hi bulate hai (sometimes the children call us).” But sometimes, he has to walk 20 or 30 km a day to sell all the ice-cream.
Doesn't the ice-cream melt? No, he says. Indicating a chamber surrounding the box where ice is kept, Mr. Govind says: “The ice-cream will remain frozen as long as I want.”
Mr. Vishal, however, says he has a “chakkar” of his own — a few schools in Kudroli, Mannagudda, and a hostel in Lalbagh.
Meanwhile, children walked up to the ice-cream sellers in groups of two and three for ice-cream.
Anjana Y. of Sacred Hearts School came with two of her friends for a cone ice-cream. She says they don't get ice-cream near her school.
Asked if her parents did not forbid her from eating the Rs. 3 ice-cream, she says: “I won't tell them.”
However, she says she will eat only one.
