Karachi Bakery outlets weather identity crisis

Reinforcing the roots: 'Proudly Indian since 1953'

- SHEMAIAH CORNELIUS & KHYATI SINGH @ New Delhi

"WE are Indian, always have been. But now, we're having to prove it," says Rajeev Malhotra, manager at Karachi Bakery's Lajpat Nagar outlet, as he surveys the once-bustling shop-floor now marked by uncertainty. Scent of freshly baked biscuits still greet customers, but behind the counter, staff brace for questions that have little to do with confectionery.

The recent vandalism of a Karachi Bakery outlet in Hyderabad, set against the backdrop of renewed India-Pakistan tensions, has cast a shadow over the brand's Delhi outlets.

Founded in 1953 by Sindhi Hindu refugee Khanchand Ramnani, Karachi Bakery was a tribute to a lost home, not a political statement. Yet today, its name has become a flash-point for suspicion and debate in the national capital.