Pan loses its sheen to PAN MASALAS

While the Pan Masalas advertise - ments have been flaunted across the city on mega-size hoardings with some of the most renowned celebs of Bollywood presenting them before its patrons, the base of these masalas--the pan is rapidly shrinking in terms of market reach. We rarely find pan wallahs, rather we would find pan masale wallahs.

One of the most common reasons behind it has been, the time taking process to prepare a paan. It takes at least three minutes to prepare a good pan, which may be with or without tobacco. Now people find the same satiation in Pan Masalas. “ Applying kattha, chuna and putting gulkand, sprinkling a special perfume along with gari takes a bit of time, and now most the people are on the run and compromise on pan masalas”, says Sikander, a man who previously used to sell betel leaves at UPTEC Chauraha of the city and now has decided to move according to market’s needs and demands.

Additional care has to be taken so that betel leaves do not leave their freshness in the scorching heat. “ Now we keep myriad of other things such as cold drinks, chips pan masalas and different forms of cigarettes for our customers, who rarely ask for pan. They are content with pan masalas such as Rajnigandha, Sweety Supari, Baba Ilaychi etc”, he adds. Similarly, Asharam Chaurasiya, another pan wala, or say gumti wala says that the demand for pan has decreased among the customers. “The consumption of pan has gone down since the first wave of Covid, however, there has been an increase in the sale of pan masalas. Koi celebrity pan bechne ke liye saamne nahee aata naa, pr paan masala bechne ke liye Shahrukh Khan, Ajay Devgn jaise log aa jate hai”, he adds on a humorous note.

“Selling a pan amid soaring prices has become a less profitable proposition, as the cost of adding all the ingredients and then customising it according to customer’s choices, such as adding more kattha, choona, cardamom and clove has become much costlier and therefore he has preferred selling pan masalas”, he adds.

But then others have been authentically selling pan and have carved a niche of themselves in the market. Demand for their pan has always been on rising and people from far and wide come to relish the juicy flavours of the different kinds of the pan they sell. “We have been in the business for more than 40 years, and therefore customers from all over Lucknow come to visit my humble pan stall. We have been serving different kinds of pan generally and on different occasions and have very loyal patrons”, Mohammed Shami, who has been selling pan in the stall next to the famous Tunday Kebabi in Aminabad, added. His sweet luscious pans cost between Rs 15 to Rs 25.