The first ice cream cup, or what could call itself the first ice cream cup, was found in Egypt in a tomb from the Second Dynasty (2700 BC). This mould consisted of two silver cups, one containing snow (or crushed ice) and the other cooked fruit. Ice creams were made in many ways and people enjoyed this dessert. As ice cream gained popularity in the 19th century, roving vendors began selling it on city streets in a variety of cups and containers. It seemed like cups were the most common way of serving ice cream to people.
Now come to the present. Okay, maybe not exactly the present, but let me take you a few years back. I first had a scoop of vanilla ice cream at Polar Bear when I was two years old and it changed my life. As a child, I hated sweets and desserts because I could not deal with the high levels of sugar. Despite this inability to have sugar, something about ice creams clicked with me, and I became obsessed with them. I would beg my parents for ice cream every time I saw an ice cream parlour and in pure parent fashion, they would tell me that they would buy me it later and never did.
If I recall correctly, when I was seven, my aunt and I went shopping for snacks, and I suggested getting ice cream for the entire family. Then, hearing this, my aunt took me to a convenience store and directed me to the ice cream freezer. I stood there, awestruck, with sparkles in my eyes my aunt. At the time, I did not know the concept of ice cream freezers and was highly fascinated by it. There was a HUGE freezer just full of different types of ice creams!?
My aunt saw me getting overwhelmed by the sheer number of choices I could pick from, so she reached into the freezer and pulled out a Dairy Day Vanilla Ice Cream Cup. I was confused about why she would choose an ice cream with such a small quantity, but I did not oppose her choice. She paid Rs. 10 to the cashier and gave the cup to me along with the wooden spoon you usually get with scoops of ice cream. My aunt watched me intently as I curiously opened the ice cream and ate it. The first bite of that ice cream changed my life, yet again. Ever since then, I always chose the Rs. 10 ice cream cup over any ice cream parlour.
Through the last four years of my life, I have not had these cups of ice cream. The reasons were either the pandemic or I was too lazy to buy one because I was busy rotting away in my room. Now, I am in a campus that forces me to be outside most of the time because of the multiple things that are happening here and there are various places to be present and busy. Hence, I was out with my friends in the dining hall after a long day of work.
That day was sweltering, so we decided to buy ice creams from The Cravory, the only place that serves food in the middle of the night on campus, hoping it would cool us down. As we made a beeline towards the doorway, I saw a familiar cup of ice cream in the freezer. I pushed my friends aside and opened the freezer to see the ice cream cup that had changed my life. I hurriedly paid Rs.10 for the ice cream and started to devour it.
The first bite I had after four years was like Anton Ego having a flashback of his childhood. The joy that I felt when I first ate the ice cream cup was surging back, but in a way that was nostalgic. My friends observed the joy that I felt and joined me in indulging the nostalgia. Since then, my friends and I have been indulging in this little shared joy that we feel when we eat this ice cream and have made it a part of our daily routine.
The bi-daily visit to The Cravory’s freezer with my friend after lunch and dinner has become a ritual that evokes a new type of joy we associate with this ice cream. It had changed me before; it continues to change me now. This ice cream cup will be forever etched in my life.