The Dessert Hawker and the Ice-Ball Man

 A much-awaited vendor was the one selling desserts. His routine was one visit a week, and his arrival was much anticipated. The quinessential hawker took great pride in his pushcart which was immaculate. The pots and ladles he used were all made of brass, and they were always highly polished. It was obvious that he took pains to keep his stall spick and span. He was also meticulous in dishing out orders.

He took pains to ensure that every bowl he sold had exact quantities of the ingredients. That earned him the nickname "countng seeds" which aptly described him as an exacting hawker counting the number of pieces of his offerings to the last seed. I am not quite sure whether his behavior was profit driven. I would surmise that it grew out of his meticulous ways.

He had two powerful pressure lamps to light up his stall and the lights from these brought out the shine of his utensils. I got to know that he used tamarind to polish his brassware as he could not possibly use chemical polishers on utensils that were used to contain or handle food

His visit was timed to coincide with after-dinner snacks or dessert. On the days of his visit, many would forego their desserts at home and ate his offerings either beside his cart, or brought containers to buy them to enjoy in the comfort of their homes. He had an interesting range of sweets. They included green and red bean soups, dried longan, ginko nuts and lotus seed soups and also steamed and caramelised yam and sweet potatoes.

The street hawkers certainly had character!

The ice-ball man was a favorite among young boys like me. His specialty was to make balls out of ice shavings. The balls would be splashed with a multitude of colored syrups with sweet flavours. He had an interesting array of paraphernalia that he used in his trade. 

To prevent the blocks of ice from melting away in the sweltering heat, he had them wrapped in gunny sacks, covered in sawdust, and stored in a box. To make the ice balls, he improvised with a device somewhat similar to a carpenter's wood planer.

This was inverted with the cutting blade facing upwards and mounted on a small wooden stool. He also had a small piece of wood with rows of the exposed pointed ends of nails to clamp the block of ice. This was to prevent the ice from slipping from his hand when he shaved it over the planer. One hand would hold the ice and scrap it repeatedly over the planer, while the other would be beneath the planer to collect the shavings.

To make the ice ball, he would use both hands to pack and shape the ball and then splash it with the colorful syrups. He had customised implements to do this. These were very tiny ladles made of brass and always maintained at a very bright shine. 

One had to have some experience to enjoy this snack as the ice would begin to melt and the ball had to be sucked from different spots to avoid spillage and wastage. It was fun sucking the sweet ice-balls.