jaipur barely 200 meters from the revered shrine of khawaja moinuddin chishti in ajmer is a centuryold shop named lala sitaram ayodhya prasad the shop is run by a hindu family and sells ittar scent to devotees visiting the sufi saints shrine for visitors the name ayodhya prasad means just one thing the only place to look for quality scentsoriginally from kannauj the founder of the shop ayodhya prasad came to ajmer in 1851 with the sole aim of selling ittar to the devotees of the khawaja over the years ayodhya prasads ittar has become a brand name among the khawajas devotees the shop has a dedicated clientele most of whom are muslims in the last 60 years the templemosque dispute at ayodhya may have been a source of discord between the two communities but the sellers of the ittar have never faced any problem because of the shops name or its owners religion in dealing with the clientsafter demolition of babri masjid our relatives suggested dropping the name ayodhya from the shop fearing a drop in clientele the family however decided not to change the name said rajendra gupta a fourthgeneration owner of the shop in the muslimdominated areaeven today the youngest family member of the shops founder is called as ayodhya prasadji the family has two shops located in dargah bazaar and madaar gate areas with the same name and both are located on the route that leads to the shrine at first glance the shops look like antique museums with 1500 different kinds of fragrances besides a centuryold collection of decanters flasks made from camel skin imported from france and the middle east respectivelythe most expensive scent in india costing rs 8000 per 10 gm has found many takers here their largest clients are from pakistan mumbai lucknow kolkata and ahmedabad our family shares a beautiful relationship with the pilgrims from pakistan they understand the value of the ittar and purchase in bulk said gupta exchange of gifts between the indian hindu ittar selling family and the pakistani muslim clients is also quite normal they never forget to wish us on our festivals nor do we miss to wish them on their festivals gupta said