“I’m Ram Krishna, and B. Satyanarayana Milk House was started by my father, Satyanarayana, more than 75 years ago.

I grew up here with my seven siblings. Our childhood was spent around giant iron kadais, boiling milk, thick layers of malai and customers walking in from morning till night.

Nampally was a different Hyderabad then.

Cycle-rickshaws moved through the streets, people came to Nampally Railway Station with their luggage, families went shopping around Abids and Tilak Road, and the area was always full of familiar faces.

Moazzam Jahi Market was part of that Hyderabad too. Families came here for their shopping, students from Nizam College passed through the area, and Public Gardens was a place where people came to spend time with their families. People were constantly moving between these places for work, college, shopping and travel.

Then there was Numaish. During those weeks, Nampally would get even busier. Families came from different parts of Hyderabad, spent hours at the exhibition, shopped around the area and headed home with bags in their hands and stories to tell.

Our shop was one of those places where people would pause for a glass of milk, a bun with malai or just a few minutes of conversation.

My father believed that food should never be rushed. He would simmer the milk for hours and let the malai form naturally on top. He never liked shortcuts, and that is still how we make it.

He lived till the age of 92.

Today, three of us siblings run it together. We open at 7:30 in the morning and close at 8:30 at night. People come for our Kulhad Doodh with Malai, Rabdi and Bun Malai. Our thick curd and traditional ghee have their own regular customers too.

A lot of that old Nampally has changed. There are more vehicles now, the roads look different, the Metro runs overhead, and everyone seems to be in a hurry.

But every now and then, an old customer walks through our door. Those moments remind me that this shop is not only about what we have been making for 75 years. It is also about the Hyderabad that people remember.”