“Every evening at 7, I open my stall and before long there are people waiting. Most of them don’t even ask what we have. They already know—they’ve come for our gajar halwa.

This stall is more than 70 years old. My mother, Kamala Bai, started it in the lanes of Begum Bazar Chatri, near Bhagyalaxmi Temple. She made every sweet at home and sold them herself. I grew up beside her, watching her stir milk for hours, shape pedas by hand and never rush, even when there was a queue. That’s how I learnt this work.

When my mother passed away and I took over, I wasn’t scared of handling business because I’d been doing it for years. What worried me was whether someone would take a bite and say, ‘Yeh pehle jaisa nahi laga.’ Even today, that thought stays with me. It reminds me not to take shortcuts.

We still serve from the same place every evening. Along with our gajar halwa, people come for Ajmeri Kalakhand, White Kalakhand, rabdi and peda, all made fresh in small batches. Some tell me our halwa reminds them of home. Others say they’ve searched across Hyderabad but haven’t found kalakhand with the same taste.

I’ve seen children who came here holding their parents’ hands grow up and return with their own children.
I’ve realised people don’t just come here for sweets. They come back for a taste they remember, and the memories that come with it.”

— Anand, Kamala Bai Sweets Bandi