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Continuity marks the relation between tradition, culture and humankind. A practice that stays for long becomes a tradition and a tradition that is handed down generations becomes a part of culture. Siddhartha Rai reports.

Continuity marks the relation between tradition, culture and humankind. A practice that stays for long becomes a tradition and a tradition that is handed down generations becomes a part of culture.

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Gurdeep Singh has donned the mantle of continuity for Sardar Jalebiwale, a small corner shop in Sadar Bazar. "We have been serving jalebis for the past 68 years. My grandfather, the late Arjun Singhji, had come here after the Partition and settled here. He had set up the shop back then," says Gurdeep.

Every city is known for some or the other delicacy —Lucknow for kebabs, Mumbai for pav bhaji, Delhi for parathas (Parathewali Gali) offerings and so on and so forth. But it seldom happens that a shop defines the culinary identity of a place. But, Sardar Jalebiwale marks the idea of old Gurgaon even in the face of the juggernaut of development symbolised by new Gurgaon.

"I am proud to be a part of something that goes back so far in time. What makes me feel good is that octogenarians come and eat my jalebis with the same spirit as they used to have in their youth. They say that the taste has not changed a bit. I feel like a bridge between the past and the present," chuckles Gurdeep.

About diversification - into other products and in other cities — Gurdeep is very clear: "We just make jalebis as we have always made only jalebis and we will make just jalebis in the future as well."