The concept of summer is very different in India, vis-a vis the west. In Europe, the gardens are in full bloom, flowers everywhere, restaurants, pubs, street cafés are full of people. Families bring out their picnic baskets, the meadows, the parks have children running around, there are plenty of great street music gigs and dancing and the world seems to go on a party mode. Everyone has summer holiday plans including the taxi driver and your building janitor.
In India, summer is a very cruel season — people die of sunstroke, heatstroke and a lot of diseases that come up because of the extreme heat. In some parts of Central India, temperatures go beyond 45/48 degrees. One can probably fry an egg on the runway.
However, kids being kids, don’t shoulder world’s burdens. For them, summer is a time to play outside till very late (as the sun sets late), and more importantly, it is a time to eat ice-cream.
There is a eureka moment in every child’s life when s/he is introduced to an ice-cream. For me, it was the day I had my tonsils removed. I went through a botched-up tonsils operation and almost lost my voice for two days but after eating a lot of ice-cream and wolfing down cold milkshakes, my voice finally returned. My earliest memories are of an orange ice-cream that cost 25 paise, a choco bar was vanilla ice-cream with chocolate cover on it, that cost 50 paise, and for 10 paise you could get a little plastic tube with a sweetened frozen water – called Popsicle.
There was also a gola, an icicle with a black currant sherbet or a red rose sherbet with chaat masala and little fresh lime juice squeezed on it. Gola cost 6 paise.
Each of these ice treats, left their distinctive taste in my memory.
A Coke cost 25 paise. The ice–creams were mostly made by Kwality.
Then, there was an ice-cream sandwich that was sold outside the Brabourne Stadium by a company called K Rustom. Somewhere off Mohammed Ali Road, there was a shop called Taj ice-cream that sold handchurned ice-cream. In the custard apple season, he created a custard apple ice-cream. They were so delicious and sold out so fast one had to almost make a booking.
The Taj ice-cream shop still exists – no branches. His malai kulfi was simply worth the trip. Around the shop were vendors selling heavy meaty stuff — an egg paratha stuffed with kheema, baida roti, bheja masala, bheja fry and assortment of kababs. These delicacies were eaten and gulped down with fresh sugar cane juice and finally we finished off with Taj ice-cream.
Parsi Dairy Farm on Princess Street, Mumbai also has its own version of Malai kulfi that was so popular that it was served at rich Gujarati/Marwari weddings.
The owner of Swati restaurant also sold handchurned ice-cream in a studio of Calico Mills in Ballard Estate, her kesar pista and malai kulfi were top class, plus she also served sev puri and bhel. People made a meal out of it. Much later, she set up a Swati Snacks restaurant in Tardeo. There is also a malai kulfi cone on a stick that a man would go selling door to door; chilled sweetened frozen milk. It still exists. Little hand carts that sell a hand churn ice-cream in a steel cup was another summer trend. Another popular Mumbai ice-cream concoction is the falooda – milk, ice-cream vermicelli, rose sherbet. The best falooda is served opposite the Crawford Market, at the Badshah Colddrinks. Do give it a try.
The Natraj Hotel on Marine Drive opened an ice-cream parlour in the early 80s, it was called Yankee Doodle. We Mumbaikars were introduced to new ways of eating ice-cream, from banana split to all kinds of fruit sundaes. And a large variety of chocolate combinations. It was immensely popular, unfortunately they did not innovate and the place shut down. Post Yankee Doodle, a lot of South Bombay clubs introduced ice-cream sundaes on their menus.
Years later, Kwality introduced the softy ice-cream. There is something about eating a softy twirling your tongue around it. It is perhaps the most romantic form of ice-cream – as we put it into our mouth and lose our tongues and hearts. Eating ice-creams is an act of a complete surrender of your senses. For a moment, you forget the world and allow pleasure to rule over you.
In those five minutes, the world takes on the dreamy quality of time moving in slow motion. There is nothing intellectual or negative and the world looks like a good place to be in. An ice-cream evokes an age of innocence and we go back to our childhood and feel nostalgic about the simplicity of the good old days. Vanilla and orange were the most popular ready ice-cream flavours. Whereas kesar pista was the topper in the handchurned variety. Many Gujarati and Marwari households actually had handchurners at home. Much later, the world progressed and chocolate overtook all other flavours.
Ahmedabad is the ice-cream capital of India. The Gujaratis have perfected the art of creating flavours. Take an after-dinner stroll around the Kankaria lake, and you will find hundreds of ice-cream parlours serving all kinds of flavours – chikku, sitaphal, orange, jamun, guava, rose, almond, roasted almonds, strawberries, tender coconut, blueberries, butterscotch and all kinds of chocolate combinations. Despite all these varieties the kesar pista would still be the topper. (Maybe the rest of India needs to learn something from the Gujaratis!)
India with its huge knowledge of Ayurveda, has a large variety of summer drinks that have hydrating, probiotic and curative qualities. This is my list of 10 drinks I am sure there are a lot more than these and if I miss out on any popular drink, do write to me.
- Lassi: Each region has its own version of lassi, the Punjabi lassi is made with malai and sugar. The South Indian lassi with tadka of rai (mustard), ginger, curry leaf, asafoetida (hing), a sprig of pudina to cool the stomach. Between these two, there are many versions of the lassi. There is also the Kutchi lassi – milk diluted with sugar and ice which is also consumed in large quantities.
- Sherbet: The most common summer coolers are sherbets – khus, rose, chandan, badam. These were homemade varieties. Enterprising women made orange and lemon squashes at home and proudly showed off their skills.
- Rooh Afza: It is a favourite summer drink that every home serves. One added tulsi seeds (Sabja) that were soaked in water for a few hours. These seeds also help in cooling the stomach and relieving constipation. Rooh Afza has been around for over 100 years and I think it will continue for another 100.
- Aam Panna: Almost every region in India had their own version of Aam Panna, a sweet-sour-spicy flavoured drink made of raw mango and jaggery. Wherever aam grows, panna will be available.
- Bael sharbat (wood apple): A summer fruit filled with nutrition is a great cure for heat stroke, upset tummy, dehydration. Once you have broken though the outer shell, soak the pulp in water. Add jaggery and lemon juice and it becomes a great cooler.
- Falsa sherbet: Falsa is a blueberry that grows in Central India and is a popular drink made in many homes. It has a tangy taste and is good for digestion and dehydration.
- Thandai: The thandai is a drink made of milk, almonds, pepper and khus khus (poppy seeds). All these are ground together mixed with milk and saffron. Traditionally served on Holi and Maha Shivratri, thandai is often laced with bhang (cannabis). And it is sold in all of Central India and Northern India. The vendors have a pounding stick to grind the cannabis. At the end of the stick there are bells that jingle advertising that bhang is available here. In the summer month these vendors also have dahi wada laced with bhang. The vendor’s question to every customer would be – “do you want a plain thandai (sada thandai) ya masaledar”?
- Kokum Sherbat: All around the Konkan coast in Maharashtra, Goa and parts of Karnataka grows the kokum tree from which fruit is ripened and a black rind is produced that is used in dals, curries to give it a tangy taste. In summer this is used as a sherbet, a little sugar, a dash of lime and the red colour add to its appeal. Kokum can also be mixed with coconut milk and consumed as sol kadi as a digestive to a spicy meal.
- Kala khatta sherbet: A sherbet made out of black currant is a basic ingredient of ice gola and is sold combined with chaat masala, sugar and lime. A famous cold drink throughout Mumbai sold by brothers from UP opposite VT station now CSMT. This was made of black currant, served ice cold and quenching your thirst like no other!
- Jal Jeera: Roasted jeera soaked in water overnight with tamarind, black salt, black pepper and jaggery mixed together. It can be served with boondi or mint leaves. A readymade masala is available off the shelf and often mixed with soda or cola and sold as masala cola.
Besides the above, there are carts that sell Nimbu Paani, fresh lime water, soda. Also, fresh fruit sundaes are usually on a large stainless-steel pot with a block of ice. Pieces of muskmelon, diluted with milk and sugar. Similarly, water melon with ice and rose sherbet, orange with pieces of oranges and orange sherbet, apples with milk and sugar. In all our Indian summer drinks, the distinguishing taste is a combination of fruits, sweet, tangy, chaat masala and ice.
My personal favourite is a combination of milk and soda. Take a bowl, open a bottle of soda and pour the milk and soda simultaneously into the bowl. Make sure both milk and soda are chilled. Don’t need to add anything else. Homegrown drinks continue to survive despite Coke and Pepsi and the likes of them. Thank God for that.
