Gambler’s cart.

[Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi]

Nizam had appeared on this page a year ago. Why put him up again?

Why not.

Nizam operates something rare, that too only at this time of the year. In fact, he is usually the only one in this big wide city to be seen with it. The genial man is one of the last flag-bearers of an almost disappeared summertime tradition. This week, as one more summer season begins, Nizam has again launched the rarity into the city streets—the game wali kulfi.

Every Delhi walla is familiar with the icy creamy meethi tasty kulfi bar. But not everyone has experienced the game wali kulfi. This particular kulfi cart is unique. It has its ultra-slim kulfis spiked with real nail-biting thrill. The cart used to be quite common, but has lately become so uncommon that it is now truly a heritage item. It comes equipped with a very elemental roulette wheel. The customer has to double up as a gambler to engage with the cart. A set amount of money (five rupees, 10 rupees) is handed to the vendor, who hands over a kancha to the customer. The tiny glass ball is tossed into the cart’s spinning chakri. The number into which the kancha ultimately falls is the very number of kulfis the vendor must give to the kancha thrower.

Nizam’s cart, sighted this afternoon (see photo) in Old Delhi’s Turkman Gare bazar, doesn’t have a roulette wheel. It has a pinball arrangement on its place. You drop the kancha along the plywood plank, hoping for it to roll down into the highest value square. If the kancha lands into the square that is chalk-marked five, you get five kulfis. You get one kulfi if.. it’s all luck.

Whatever, Nizam’s kulfi is ultra-sugary. Maybe that’s why the neighbourhood children are his staunchest loyalists. If not the most honest. Last year,, this reporter witnessed an angelic looking child slyly putting the kancha into the square numbered six. Nizam caught him red-handed. The kind-hearted vendor still gave the boy a consolation kulfi.

To be sure, Old Delhi has at least 2-3 game wali kulfi carts (hopefully there must be some elsewhere as well). These few vendors keep moving from one labyrinthine gali to another. All you could do is to walk patiently along the Walled City alleys, hoping to spot the rarity, which almost always tend to be mobbed–by who else, but the alley’s little gamblers.