Ramzan sweet endings: Seviyah makers get busy

HYDERABAD: In Old City, the art of making vermicelli, or ‘seviyah’, by hand, during the holy month of Ramzan is a tradition that has has been passed down over generations in a few families.
As you cross the bridge over the Musi River towards Chaderghat, a curtain of thin white strands of seviyah greets you. Seviyah is used to make ‘sheer-kurma’, a special dish made with milk, dates and seviyah which is served specially on Eid, which is celebrated at the end of Ramzan.
Catering to the demand of handmade seviyah are a few families that reside near Chaderghat, Tolichowki, Afzal Gunj, Dabeerpura and Yakutpura areas. The families have been practising the age-old tradition handed over generations, and stick to making the seviyah by hand despite the invention of machines that not only make the task easier, but also and budget-friendly.
According to traders, despite being available for half the price, machine-made seviyah is not as much in demand as it becomes hard and sticky when mixed with milk.
“Both machine and handmade variety look similar, but the machine variety fails when it comes to taste. The handmade variety tastes much better. We have honed the skill of making this with our hand over years,” said Syed Jafer, who says he has been in the business of handmade seviyah for over 20 years now.
While a machine-made roll of seviyah can be available in the market for Rs 50 to Rs 60, the same for handmade variety is sold for Rs 150 to Rs 200. The families who are in this business start their work at least six months before the start of the holy month of Ramzan.
Razia Begum, a 52-year-old, third generation seviyah maker said, “Making seviyah by hand is not an easy task. A lot of strength is required to pull the maida and stretch it out to finer strands. It takes about five minutes to dry before we roll it into bundles and sell to traders nearby. It takes a lot of patience, time, and energy. It is an art in itself. And since there are only a few families involved in its preparation, we start the preparation months before the festival season.”