How I met happiness with Ice-creams

Sometimes when you wanna scream into the void, to escape from everything around you, there exists only one thing to make you happy: Ice-creams.

I have always wondered why we love ice-cream so much. What is it about this cold, delicious, freezing ice that makes every child wish for it, every single day. Why can’t they sleep until this irresistible craving is fulfilled?!

Everyone of us has bought a kid ice-cream to make them happy. Maybe it is because we felt the same way about ice-cream in our childhood? Or is it the nostalgia transporting us to our past with all the lovely ice-cream memories we have which make us happy again. Is? it a universal feeling?

My earliest memory is when as a kid in Multan, our family dinners ended at this famous Baba’s ice-cream parlour with a vanilla or a chocolate cup. You were lucky if your parents bought you the Tutti Frutti. This mutual joy and excitement would remain suspended in the car the whole way back home.

Also, the Wall's ice-cream trolley with Beethoven's fur elise, singing happiness in each street as we dashed to our moms for money and rushed towards it.

My absolute favourite has always been Jet Sport! It’s crazy good, the only ice lolly to ever have stood up the test of time, in my opinion. In hot sweltering summers, whether in Lahore, Multan or the humid beaches of Karachi, Jet Sport will always be my top choice.

My elder brothers loved Feast or Magnum, on a rich day. Though premium in those days (even now I suppose), Magnum and Feast were an absolute treat to have.

My sisters however, loved Cornetto - every flavor of them, from chocolate discs to the strawberry or caramel toppings. Especially that last, heavenly bite. Hands down the best cones available in-shop till date! I don’t think I’ve ever met someone willing to share the Cornetto tips. If someone ever does that for you, it is truly unconditional love.?

Let’s not forget the underrated Choc Bar, the middle child of the family, or at least by the ways it has been treated by most of us.

But as all underdogs, ChocBar is the perfect vanilla and chocolate blend for our icy cravings… affordable and delicious!

As me and my cousin grew up together, we explored a lot of cones and Gola Gandas. Our favourite was this golay wala in Gulgasht.? He would make a bowl of crushed ice, add all our favourite flavors and top it off with some khoya. We’d go crazy waiting for every Sunday to go there

The ice-cream tubs on special occasions and the random Wall’s 1 litre my chachu would surprise us with, only on Eid or special Dawats of course. I think Wall’s tubs represented the epitome of childhood joy with its excitement and anticipation so overpowering, you didn’t care what food was for dinner. Though, the more delicious the food was, the more satisfying these desserts felt.

These were the best of times and it has become even better now will all these crazy Paddle Pops and Jiggle Jellies. To find this careless happiness as an adult has become hard. Maybe, our preferences for desserts have expanded, the choices so limitless now. I don't know about you, but I'm definitely ordering ice-cream right now to simply feel happiness all over again.

If you do find the reasons for why we love ice-creams, send them our way!

Written by Asad Shaheen