Dadu Halwai

Dadu Halwai has been sitting here at Shop No. 3306 in Aryapura for a long time. Being near the Balaknath Mandir means we hear the temple bells every day, which is a nice background to the work we do. Roshnara Road is always packed with people, and our shop is no different. We are mostly focused on the traditional stuff, so you’ll see big iron woks filled with oil or syrup most of the time. It’s a hot environment, and the floor is often sticky from the sugar. We don’t have much room to move around in the back, so we have to stay organized. Every morning starts with lighting the fires and getting the milk to boil. It’s a slow process, and you can’t really rush it if you want things to turn out right. Sometimes we run out of a certain sweet by midday and have to tell people to wait or come back later. We don't use any fancy machines; it's mostly just our hands and a few old tools that have been around forever. The walls could probably use a fresh coat of paint, but we spend our time on the food instead. People in the neighborhood know us as the place where the steam is always rising from the front. We just keep doing what we’ve always done, without any extra fuss or modern gimmicks. That’s just the way it is here in Aryapura.