It was a typical hectic Monday at work and as I completed yet another day of my sentence, I craved for something to make me feel better about a day. I passed through host of small shops on my return journey, most existing with nothing exciting to offer, as I thought about what could be a suitable fix for my cravings. I saw a blue freezer with the word Amul on it, and instantly knew what I wanted.
I stepped in and excitedly looked inside the freezer. My heart sank a bit when I couldn't sight it at first glance. I called the shopkeeper and asked him to help me out. It took him a bit of rummaging through the heap of ice creams before he found what I wanted - the Amul Chocolate Tricone.
It was sitting in the center of the pile, like a king among his subjects. I quickly tendered the small amount that I owed to the shopkeeper to buy it and with a deep sense of satisfaction started the ritual of savoring this magical item.
I quickly unwrapped it starting with its cap, ensuring that none of the precious ice cream is lost in the 'paperwork'. The cone looked just right, the chocolate was dark and shiny, the ice cream looked perfectly frozen, and the shape was not at all distorted.
I took the first bite and it took me down memory lane reminiscing about all the years and the tricones I have had. I used to have the tricone much before I realised how much I liked it. In those days the butterscotch tricone was the preferred option, maybe due to the lack of knowledge about other available choices. I remember having a conversation with a friend in those days discussing how great and affordable this product was. This was the time when we had little money to spare as kids, and the tricone mostly acted as a reward for getting useful household groceries.
On one such day, while buying the groceries, I spotted the chocolate tricone alongside the butterscotch one. I was instantly curious and wanted to try it out. I immediately bought it and as I started to eat it I realised it was not just as good as the butterscotch one, it was actually far better.
There are a handful of times in your life when you stumble across a product and instantly know that it is different, and has the potential to be successful. I remember feeling this way about very few packaged food products, kurkure and pulse candy being the only ones I can remember. This is how I felt about the chocolate tricone.
There are a few important reasons why it is such a great product, and these are crucial for its uniqueness. The toppings are thoughtful, chocolates and nuts done right make the ideal combo. The cone itself is crisp and adequately flavored with a chocolate coating on the inside. The heart of the tricone, of course, is the ice cream. And the chocolate center of the tricone is everything that a perfect ice cream should be like. It has the right texture, sweetness and ties in perfectly with the taste of the cone and the toppings. At the bottom of the cone is a tiny layer of chocolate that acts as a reminder of the completeness of the cone. At no point while eating the tricone, do you feel that it is overdone, a key to its perfect flavor.
A key element to the taste of the cone however, is the last mile distribution. Carelessness and storage at the wrong temperature often leads to disfigurement of the cone or impacts the taste of the ice cream, in the worst of cases melting it. I have noticed that it is the newly opened kirana shops that store it with the best quality and it is disappointing to see this deteriorate with time, which I've now realised as something which inevitably happens.
Its difficult to believe that it has been over a decade since I first fell in love with the Chocolate Tricone. Even today, as I go out for work or while I am completing some household chore, I keep an eye out for a shop selling Amul Icecreams, more importantly the Chocolate Tricone. And like all the times that I enjoyed it as a kid, I feel rewarded.
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