Lahori Ice Cream Parlour

Out here in Sagarpur near Vashist Park, the heat gets pretty intense during the summer. Our shop on Pankha Road in Gandhi Market is basically just a row of big freezers. We spend the morning checking the temperatures and making sure the lids are closed tight. The floor is usually a bit sticky because kids are always dropping their cones. We don't have fancy air conditioning, just some wall fans that try their best. People come in looking exhausted from the sun and leave looking a bit better. We have the usual flavors and some local ones that people around here seem to prefer. It’s a family thing, so you’ll see my brother or my nephew helping out behind the counter most afternoons. The noise from Pankha Road is always there in the background, but you stop hearing it after a while. We have a few plastic stools for people to sit on, but most just stand outside on the pavement. Sometimes the power goes out and we have to scramble to get the generator started so nothing melts. It’s a bit of a headache but that’s how it is. We aren't trying to be one of those expensive parlors in the malls. We just sell ice cream to the people in the market and try to keep things moving. We have to be careful with the deliveries because if the truck is late, the whole batch could be ruined in this weather.