Three generations and counting: Hyderabad’s surma seller keeps a family tradition alive

For nearly three decades, Sanjay Kumar Gupta has continued his family’s century-old tradition of selling surma at Charminar and Jummerat Bazaar in Hyderabad. From a horse cart to a moped, his family’s trade has evolved but endured through generations.

Hyderabad: In a city where there are several thousand shops and traders competing for business, a few hawkers have set up their mark and their booming voice and location becomes their identity.

Meet Sanjay Kumar Gupta, who sells ‘surma’ at two places – Jummerat Bazaar and Charminar twice a week and has his own patronage. Surma is derived from the Urdu word antimony, due to its original main constituents being antimony trisulfide and ore stibnite.

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A third generation family member, Sanjay is well known among the masses for his presence in front of Mecca Masjid for at least three decades.

“I took over the business from my father Vimal Kishore Gupta in 1995 and since then continued it except for a break during the Covid lockdown period. My father took over the business from my grandfather Chandrasekhar Gupta,” explained Sanjay Kumar.

Old timers recalled that in the 1970s a horse drawn cart used to be parked near the Mecca Masjid and Chandrasekhar Gupta sold the surma to the people heading to the Mecca Masjid for prayers.

“The tanga was replaced by a rickshaw fitted with a microphone later when my father was into the business. I remember we sold a bottle of surma for a price of Rs. 2 during the early 90s and when I entirely took over the business, I started selling it for Rs. 5,” said Sanjay.

Due to the space and parking issues, Sanjay had stopped bringing the rickshaw and instead used a moped to commute and set up his stall. “On Thursday’s I sell the surma in front of the Rani Avanthi Bai statue at Jummerath Bazaar,” said Sanjay.

The surma was earlier prepared by the family at their house and packed into bottles. “We are getting it from Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh and selling it now due to the huge process involved in manufacturing it. I guarantee the quality is one of the best,” he assures.

Sanjay is a regular face at Charminar during Fridays. “Also, he used to apply surma and charge one rupee from the people. I think they are now more focused on selling packages,” recalled Muneer Miya, a flower vendor who runs a stall nearby.