A brand in its own right - The story of Water Pump’s famous watermelon juice

Karachi
The Water Pump area seems to be for “Tarbooz ka Sherbet” (watermelon juice) what Burnes Road is for food. One can't mention food in Karachi without Burnes Road and, apparently one also cant mention watermelon juice without referring to the place where the drink is believed to have originated — Water Pump.
Even though every watermelon juice vendor, be it in Saddar or Sohrab Goth, will claim to sell “Water Pump Ka Mashoor Tarbooz ka Sherbet” (Water Pump’s famed watermelon juice), the place synonymous with the traditional summer drink is a false positive.
Who knew, that the drink sold in pushcarts at almost every location in the city — roundabouts, bus and railway stations — realised in Karachi in 1998 when a member of the Bohri community visited Saudi Arabia.
According to a watermelon juice vendor, Nafay Agha, who has a stall at Shahrah-e-Pakistan of the original Water Pump brand, a member of the Bohri community set up the first stall of watermelon juice in Bohri Bazaar in 1998. “He is said to have gotten the inspiration for making the drink during a trip to Saudi Arabia,” he said.
“But it was one of his workers, Jummah Khan, who later attached the tag of Water Pump with the drink.”
Jummah Khan is now Agha’s boss and a pretty known name in the watermelon juice business.
The elderly Agha, who stands by his stall decorated with fake flowers hanging around a heap of watermelons on his pushcart and cuts the fruit while chatting with The News, Jummah Khan used to work for the Bohri man who introduced watermelon juice in Karachi.
Jummah Khan spent five years working with the watermelon juice founder and learnt how to perfect the drink, before breaking away and setting up his own business.
“One day he decided to start his own chain of watermelon juice pushcarts,” said Agha. “Since he also had a fruit selling business, it wasn’t difficult for him to acquire fruit or invest heavily in it. In 2002 he launched his own chain of watermelon juice pushcarts with the famous tagline of ‘Water Pump Ka Mashoor Tarbooz ka Sherbet’. And the location has stuck with the drink since then. Now everyone who opens up a stall uses the name.”
The drink became famous in the city and business for Jummah Khan was booming. “Most of the pushcarts were his own while he rented the others and leased them out to vendors,” Agha said.
But in 2006 when the law and order situation deteriorated, Jummah Khan’s business slumped until he was left with the only original Water Pump’s watermelon juice, now managed by Agha.
“When we launched we used to sell a small glass for seven rupees and ten for the big one,” he said. “Now we sell the small glass for twenty rupees while the bigger one for thirty.”
He claims to get customers from all across the country and to maintain the flavour and quality of the drink at all times.
“Once a media team came for inspection along with the assistant commissioner and other related officials who took samples of our product,” Agha said proudly. “They later got the samples checked by a well-known laboratory and issued a certificate of approval to us.”
So what does he put in the drink so famous that people from all over the country come to have a taste of it?
“The two main ingredients are watermelon and the famous red sherbet. Usually the watermelons sold in the market comes from Punjab, otherwise it is brought from Balochistan’s areas, Quetta, Khuzdar and Naal. We have a contract with the company which manufactures the red sherbet so we get it directly from there,” said Agha while surprisingly revealing the recipe.
“First we make sugar syrup with sugar and water, and then put the red sherbet in. Then we blend watermelon and the juice is then mixed with the already-prepared syrup, before finally adding little chunks of the fruit itself.”
As for other vendors who sell Water Pump’s famous watermelon juice, Agha says, they are only cashing in on the brand set up by his boss, Jummah Khan. “When you drink it, you will be able to tell the difference!”