Flavour of the season: A girl savours an ice Pictures by Deepak Kumar

Patna, Jan. 9: Guess what Patna residents are beating the chill with. Scoops and scoops of ice cream!

The savoury delight is in demand with people of all ages despite the mercury dipping to teeth-clattering levels.

Visit any park or shopping mall and you will spot people enjoying ice cream with friends and acquaintances.

Rajdhani Vatika near the old secretariat remains crowded on all evenings. Ice cream sellers there are doing a brisk business. The cheapest and obviously most in demand is the orange stick, priced at Rs 7.

Pankaj, an ice cream seller, said: “The business of ice cream is as good in this season as the rest of the year. Children as well as their parents are buying the ice creams and we are doing a good business.”

Shreyansh Thakur, a resident of Bakarganj, said: “I like ice cream even in winter. Something really heavy and rich goes best with the season, especially if it’s a combination of chocolate pudding cake with ice cream. Savouring the two in the cold weather feels delightful. Having ice cream in winter is a special experience.” At Maurya Lok Complex, known specially for its Chinese food restaurants, Ahtesam Haider and his wife Chandni Khan were seen relishing butterscotch and vanilla scoops in a cone.

“We love ice cream and don't mind having it at day or night, breakfast or lunch. We ca have it in all seasons. Anytime is a good time for ice cream,” said Ahtesam.

He added: “Having ice cream in cold weather is very exciting because it doesn't melt fast and you can savour it for long.”

Chandni Khan said: “I love having a double scoop cone to feel the real taste of the ice cream. I can have it any time.”

The crowd at an ice cream parlour in Boring Road seemed to be daring the cold north-westerly wind blowing in the Capital. Deepak Kumar, Sudha Dairy ice cream seller at Maurya Lok Complex, said: “The trend of having ice-cream in winter season is new. Earlier, the demand wasn’t so much in the winter. But this year, the sale per cent hasn’t dipped. It is good thing from business point of view.” All other businesses have been hit by the harsh weather as people are preferring to remain inside their houses. Ice cream has managed to survive the chill and keep the sale bar up.

A shop owner said: “There are a few customers who love eating ice-cream on a regular basis. Ice cream consumption in winter is good for some people and bad for some but it’s a wrong perception of many that people do not have ice-creams in winter.”

Prakash Kumar, a resident of Buddha Colony, said: “I love having ice cream in winter and I have a good reason for it. I believe that eating a bowl of ice cream each day in winter allows the body to be more in tune with the cold weather. Regular consumption of a ice-cream decreases the body’s core temperature and therefore helps it acclimatise to the cold season.”