MANGALURU: Will Tokyo Olympic bronze medalist PV Sindhu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi dip into Mangaluru’s own delicious and multi-layered Gadbad ice cream when they sit for “ice cream pe charcha” after the ace shuttler returns to India?
The popular Ideal Ice Cream (Pabba’s) chain on Monday tweeted that they want to treat the “India’s best badminton player with the best ice cream of India”, recalling Modi’s promise to Sindhu that he would have ice cream with her if she returned with a medal.
During a virtual interaction with Sindhu and her parents before the Tokyo Games, Modi asked her about her preparations for the Olympics and whether she was allowed to eat her favourite ice cream. Sindhu replied that she couldn’t as she had to control her diet. That was when Modi assured her that he would have an ice cream with her after her competition.
Ideal Ice Cream proprietor S Mukund Kamath told The New Indian Express that he is waiting for a response from Sindhu and Modi and is ready to send Gadbad to Delhi by flight. Kamath said that he struck upon the idea after coming to know about Sindhu’s liking for ice cream and her interaction with Modi. Mangaluru is known as the ice cream capital as it is home to several ice cream brands with Ideal and Hangyo being the most prominent ones.
Kamath said Modi had relished their ice cream when he had come to Mangaluru in 1999 for a political rally. “That was before he became the chief minister of Gujarat. We had our outlet on GHS Road in Balmatta then. He, along with other leaders, sat in our office chamber and had the ice cream,” Kamath recalled.
A visit to Pabba’s is on top of the itinerary for many people, including VIPs, who visit Mangaluru. It offers over 175 ice creams in 40 flavours. Just a few days ago, Domino’s had offered free pizzas for life to Mirabai Chanu, who opened India’s medal tally at the Tokyo 2020 Games by bagging a silver in weightlifting.