20 Desi Summer Coolers to Beat the Heat!

(This is an updated repost of an old entry).

I loved the UB Group's campaign in Bangalore…
"Yella OK, Cool Drink Yaake?"
(Everything else is OK, but why cold drink?)

 
But instead of promoting their alcohol beverage, I'm gonna try to list out the alternatives to fuzzy cold drinks here! After all, India has such an amazing variety of beverages to offer, you have no reason to glug down a soft drink or that beer down your throat…

So here goes - a list of non-aerated summer coolers!

Photo Credits: Albert Fernando

1. Nimbu Paani
   Water + freshly squeezed lime + sugar/salt to taste.
   
   
2. Nariyal Paani / Thenge Neeru
   Pure unadulterated tender coconut. Tastes best with malai.
   Scrape it off of the coconut you're sippin' from!


3. Kokam Sharbat
   
   A cousin of mangosteen, kokum is used as a souring agent in Indian cooking.
   
   Just add it to water and add salt/sugar to taste. One of my favourites! More info on Wikipedia
   
   
4. Amla Sharbat / Nellika / Gooseberry juice
   The richest source of Vitamin C, amla tastes great with water too! Recipe here >>
   
   
5. Jal Jeera / Jaljeera
   Jeera powder + salt to taste + Water.
   The ultimate appetizer!


6. Masala doodh
   Milk + masala (saffron, rock salt, etc.) Try the Everest Masala version.


7. Chaas / 'Kutchi beer'
   That's buttermilk for the non-desis. Add jeera/salt to taste.


8. Lassi
   The sweeter alternative to chaas - think sweet liquid yoghurt. There's also flavoured variants.


9. Doodh / Cold Milk
   Doodh hai good for every season, piyo doodh for healthy reason. Remember that cool song?
   
   It's the Indian equivalent for the Got Milk? campaign.
   
   A cuppa cold milk does wonders to beat the heat.


10. Theine Elaner
    Tender coconut with a hint of honey. Bliss.


11. Roohafza / Rasna
    
    Photo courtesy: Roohafza Bangladesh (see recipes)
    
    OK I'm getting into brands now, but these are still the local alternatives to Minute Maid (whose new nimbu paani is excellent too)!


12. Neera
    The most common drink on an average Mumbai railway platform, neera is a natural, energizing coconut drink. I don't see those stalls anymore though :(
    
    
13. Neero
    The fresh juice of the cashew fruit is a summer delicacy in Goa, best had cold pressed.
    When distilled, it becomes urrak and when double distilled, it becomes feni. 


14. Fresh Juice / Phalanso Ras
    Got fruit, will juice. All it takes is patience and a mixer or a walk to your local juice center.
    
    If you're in Mumbai, I recommend (a) Health Juice Center at King's Circle, Matunga and (b) Annapurna at Ranade Road. In Bangalore, I'd go for Juice Junction or Mr.Orange. In Goa, have it anywhere!


15. Nannari Sharbat / Dukshiri (Sarsaparilla)
    I've only had it at 1 place in Bangalore - Muthu's. Nannari Sharbat I'm told, comes from the roots of a tree. That makes it a ayurvedic medicine (for God alone knows what, but I think it's for the soul). In Goa, try it at Tamil Table (Assagao) or Vanakkam Cafe (Morjim)
    Wikipedia / Recipe


16. Piyush
    To the best of my knowledge, this is made from a combination of butter milk and shrikhand, a yoghurt-like sweet. A common drink and delicacy in Mumbai, and best served at Prakash Upahar Kendra & Aaswad Restaurant in Dadar, Mumbai.
    Recipe


17. Chai
    Chai is perhaps the most common drink in all of India.
    That's tea with added milk and sugar. Variants include chai adraki
    (+ ginger), suleimani chai (- milk, + lemon, + spices), masala chai
    (+ spices) and tons of regional specialities.


18. Kaapi
    Filter coffee for the Indian soul. 'Nuff said. Served hot, but gets you going!


19. Aampanna / kairiche panhe Raw mango juice with elaichi/saffron. You'll love it!
    Wikipedia / Recipe


20. Chuski / Gola
    
    
    
    Crushed ice laced with flavored syrup – this one’s the only non-natural one to make it to the list, but there’s tons of places which do natural (including some milk / Milkmaid based ones!)


21. Water / Paani / Neer
    Almost forgot my most favorite summer drink of them all :) Ice-cold water. Available anywhere, anytime. Even for free, offered courteously by most restaurants even if you won’t order a thing!

Besides all these fab coolers, there's always fruit juices and local specialities like sugar cane juice - but let me know if I should add anything more to this list.

Novelty Follows Loyalty

Just like a relationship guru would advice a couple who've celebrated more than 3 anniversaries on 'how to bring back that spark in their relationship', I think there are marketing gurus who think not much differently.

The other day, I was browsing through a local Sarvodaya and was intrigued by variants of some familiar brands.

Close Up Flavilicious

First reaction - flavi-wtf? Whatever! Being a 'connoisseur of brands', I had to pick it up and play guinea pig for the marketers and the greater good of humankind. The Close Up folks have come out with 2 'limited edition' flavored toothpastes - Luscious Lychee and Tangerine Burst. I've started using the Tangerine, and quite like it in the mornings, but I prefer the classic Red before bed. Lychee is too err... pink for me to even look at the box. Will leave it for the sis. And if you are someone from Unilever reading this, I have some suggestions - how about a chocolate flavor?!

Some interesting observations about the packaging and the product:

• The brand is seemingly so well established, that besides in the textual description, there is no mention of the word 'toothpaste' on the box!
• There's a 'do not swallow' instruction :) Hehe. Good advice, since you may forget it's toothpaste!

Taj Mahal Dessert Teas

'Pamper Yourself', says the ad campaign. And indeed, this serious competitor to the cafe mocha makes friends with your taste buds - as soon as you've had your first sip. Priced at Rs.40 for 5 sachets, it comes at a premium, but one that I wouldn't mind paying for. It's still cheaper than a cappuccino and most importantly - I would give it a 10 on 10 on the brand+product experience, which begins at the very sight of the packaging. Housed in a very well designed triangular carton are 5 triangular pod sachets. The box opens easily, so do the sachets. And all it takes is adding a cup of hot water to make yourself a sinful cup of dessert tea. I had picked up the vanilla flavor, and it was definitely better than I had expected. Rich and creamy, without an iota of artificial taste - perfectly blended. Highly recommended (by a self proclaimed tea lover)!

Mumbai Bloggers Brunch Notes + Photos

Today's bloggers' brunch was as much a fun event as it was a gastronomic delight! As always, the superhostesses Melody and Sakshi pulled off a fab 4 hour event with no room for boredom. Lots of familiar faces and newbies alike, and everyone still seemed to have a great time.



The location, Dio's at Tardeo was just perfect, with a homely ambiance and reasonably priced, great food. The starters were fine, so were desserts. What I really liked was their salad and main course and live counters. Wine and beer were also well priced at 100 bucks each. Overall, definitely a place where I'm going again!

While the topics of discussion didn't necessarily focus on blogging, they ranged from Rakhi Sawant to Kanishk's dancing to Deepika Padukone and OSO versus Saawariya to photography to making money online to virginity to social service to profane sounding names of people and beyond. In chaos, we had fun. And made a lot of new friends while catching up with old ones!

Birthday boy Akshay showed up just in time for desserts.

Click here to check out the rest of the photos on my Facebook albums and also check Melody and Sakshi's picks.

Cheers to 07.07.07!

Another update at 3 AM :)
In case you haven't noticed, today's date is in triplicate - 07/07/07!

My friend Shilpa in London tells me she's going for the Live Earth concert which is a special event to raise climate change awareness with 20+ various artistes. Check out www.liveearth.org and make a pledge like I did, to help make a difference.

Additions to my favorites
With thousands of awesome new websites mushrooming every week, my bookmarks - both local as well as the ones on del.icio.us, Spurl and Google Bookmarks have been flooding. Here's some of the best ones you may wanna check out...

Expensr - Log and track your personal expenses. Much needed for me!
Flixster - Write and share movie reviews (and more awesome features!)
Traineo - Fitness community
Vimeo - New and improved video sharing community (prefer it over YouTube)
Burrp - local restaurant, cafe and club reviews from India.
Check out my current reviews or bookmark my profile for updates

• Hae Kum Gang (Korean), Bangalore
• Saapat Raman, Bangalore
• Casa Del Sol, Bangalore
• Konark, Bangalore
• Koshy's Jewel Box, Bangalore
• 3 Storys, Bangalore
• Desmond's, Bangalore
• Golden Star Thali, Mumbai

Notes from Waterworld

The monsoons have hardly arrived and with the first major showers itself, Bambai nagariya is down under and crippled - like the Indian cricket team in this year's World Cup.

I bet you've read and heard newspapers, people and everyone except the animals - about how this looks like a deja vu every year, how BMC sucks and everyone blaming the person to their right. Right. Posterity is going to give us a kick in the posterior for this high thinking.

Cut to reality. I'll take 2 minutes of your time with my 2-paisa thoughts on 'fighting the rains' and 'making Mumbai rainwater free' and all that.

Before abusing the BMC, stop abusing the roads. Stop littering.
I personally believe if there is a drainage line the city has in place - the BMC is already doing their job of maintaing it. But if you and I are going to throw plastic bags, bottles and garbage recklessly, it's going to clog up, duh! The same way you clog your arteries with oil from samosas all your life and one fine day, question life, God and yourself about who's to blame for your heart condition.

Think back when it was nice n shiny. Now think of the number of times you threw refuse saying "Hey, so? everyone does it!" or "one more wont make a mountain of a mole hill" or "hey the street cleaners are paid for this and its my tax money anyways") - Yes I've heard them all. So back off, be proactive instead of reactive. Everyone can see the problem once it goes out of proportion. Stop causing it instead.

Avoid using plastic bags, bottles and if you do - dont throw it off. If you dont see a waste bin, carry it in your pocket or in your bag (you carried that wrapper all the time it was housing a chocolate which in turn is busy clogging your arteries right now. Right?).

If everyone does this little bit, which is hardly asking for much - one would not find it difficult to look out of the window on a day of heavy downpour in awe instead of panic, knowing nature, the BMC and the drainage lines would do their job. Smell the earth, feel the rain spray and feel the scintillating chill.

Welcome the rains! :)

Sidenote: Went to Atria Mall today and had the best ice-cream of the season at the newly launched 'New Zealand Natural' store. Try their passionfruit FruitFlo. Delectable! They've got smoothies n shakes too.

Finding Heaven in Sin City

In a world and time where we're sinning everyday, it's a great thing to experience heaven. And I just found 2 shortcuts to heaven in these divine Godsent products...

1. Pepperidge Farm Milano Double Chocolate

Imagine - rich dark chocolate gently wrapped between a layer of crunchy buttery tender cookies. A lethal combination which was designed to seduce the taste buds into succumbing to the sinful.

I should stop desribing these cookies before Blogger bans me for 'erotic literature on a personal blog' or something.

2. Emborg Danablu Danish Blue Cheese

My Bangalore friends know very well of my intense passion for blue cheese. Especially the Sunny's Special Blue Cheese salad (Sunny's, Lavelle Road). To be honest it's difficult to write about blue cheese. Because it's not the usual "wow that's yummy!" food. You have to really savour it. Slowly. You start with a teeny little helping, forget about worldly things and experience it tickle your taste buds. Here's how I would describe the 3-stage reaction of a person tasting it for the first time...



* Yeeoow - smells like (insert gross word)
* Crinches nose, gets curious
* "Hmmmmmmm...."
* "...ummmmmmmm....."
* The world stops spinning. The tongue doesn't. Experiences nirvana.

So there. That's how you can get as close to heaven as possible while continuing to let your pot of bad karma overflow.

Now I've been dying to find a good store which keeps blue cheese in Mumbai but had failed so far. So when last week I was in Mulund and finally found it at the Shoprite store at Nirmal Lifestyle - I almost cried and thanked my heavens.

Coffee and Craft

Last week I checked out 2 new delightful shopping experiences. Now before you start thinking I sound like a girl let me tell you I had REASONS for going to these places - read on.

City Central Mall

5-10 minutes walk from Mumbai Central station, this new mall has all the usual mega brands and a Big Bazaar. The food court is also pretty good. But I specifically went there because the first Coffee World in Mumbai just opened up here! Coffee World what? My favorite coffee chain. Try it - a bit more premium priced than a Barista, as chilled out as CCD (without the ghastly pink and purple) and absolutely yumazing stuff. My favorites:

* Cookie Crush Frappe
* Veg/Chicken Salad (not yet available in this outlet - miss the Bangalore one for it!)
* The waffles - no words. Try them. They're evil almost.

Having raved about my 'fave coffee chain' and everything I was disappointed with this one - too small, didn't have the laid back loungy experience that the Bangalore ones offer (@ Mota Arcade/Eva Mall) - but then it's still the first one so I'll give them time and hope the next one is bigger, better and stocks my favorite salad!

Hobby Ideas

Remember the old Crossword store at Mahalaxmi? Well good, drop in there now - this place is now taken over by Pidilite, the guys who help fisherfolk catch fish with drops of - Fevicol! Cutting to the point - enter 'Hobby Ideas' - India's first hobby and craft store. It's got everything from paints to glass/wooden things you can decorate, paper craft, modeling clay, party goodies and what not. What was I doing there? (a) I love paper craft (b) Was shopping for my sis (c) was on a secret mission :) Stick around as a good Kronicles reader and you'll know details soon.

Tip: Hobby Ideas has some awesome craft/art workshops for kids regularly. No details on their website yet, but the calendar's up in the store. They also have another store at the InOrbit Mall, Malad.

Things I'll miss about Bangalore!

It's just been 3 weeks since I moved back to Mumbai from Bangalore (with a week in between in Assam), but I already miss the city which I otherwise found boring while there - ah well, you know - the grass is always greener on the other side ;) In no particular order, here's what I'll miss badly...

• Lalbagh Botanical Gardens - Simply beautiful - would offer something new every week!
  
• My bachelor pad :)
  
• Haggling with the autorickshaw guys - oh it's a royal freakin' pain
  
• Sangria nights at Olive Beach
  
• Sunny's Special Blue Cheese Salad at, well, Sunny's
  
• Roadside food at V.V. Puram and Chikpet
  
• Brigade Road, Church Road and M.G. Road - my daily haunts
  
• The St.Mark's Road Barista which perhaps has the best interiors I've seen for a café
  
• The Coffee World at Mota Arcade which reminded me of Central Perk. By the way although they are not as popular as Barista and Cafe Coffee Day I rate them the best!
  
• Microsoft colleagues and acquaintances! Made so many awesome friends here :)
  
• Friday morning break-feasts at the office pantry. The only day I used to reach on time. Sometimes.
  
• The Cha Bar, Barista, Oxford Bookstore, Spa and Athena at The Leela
  
• The gorgeous view and the expanse at Ista
  
• The lazy Sunday brunches with friends - Oberoi, Chancery Pavilion, Casa Del Sol
  
• Taika's awesome dance floor - although they don't allow you to dance anymore!
  
• SoCare - an NGO all of us visited and spent a day with kids. Wish I spent more time :(
  
• Breakfasts at Koshy's and Konark (highly recommended)
  
• A million restaurants - Bangalore is truly a foodie paradise!
  
• 3Storys - Amazing homely restaurant on Lavelle Road with a Goa -like ambience and the yummiest coastal cuisine which'll leave you smacking your fingers. They didn't bribe me to say this really :) Recommendations: Fish meal, 'bibinca', 'dodol' (desert), kadlai curry
  
• Walking from the Airport Road to Shantinagar frustated with autorickshaws who wouldn't stop for a fare or overcharge. That's a cool 7 kms. At least.
  
• Inox, Lush, CookieMan, Tresspass and pretty much all of Garuda Mall
  
• Hint, Bombay Blue, Namma MTR (now closed) at Bangalore Central
  
• Weekend getaways which were just a thought away from the city
  
• Magazines - My favorite store which sells virtually every mag under the sun (Church St.)
  
• The awesome bookstores - Blossoms, Crossword, Oxford, Higginbothams... tons more!
  
• More restaurants - 100Ft. Boutique, The Beach, Cosmo Village, Biryani Merchant (closed)
  
• .... and last but most importantly... all the fantastic people I met and made friends!

Bangalore through my lens - Click here for my photoblog on Flickr.

I is for Indulgence

I have a confession to make. I've been having this whirlwind romance with good food lately, and today it reached its point of climax. Then again climax seems like a weightless word in comparison.



"OK bub, what in the name of sweet devil are you talking about?"



Patience, perky patron! Great stories are never told climax first. Aaah, that word again. OK fine, let's cut the clutter and get to the point...



Had the most amazing salad today at Sunny's. "Huh, salad? Pthooey!"
Aah, now not just normal salad that. They call it Sunny's Salad with Blue Cheese. I call it heaven's gate. The Big O. Bliss on a plate.



Follow this with a rightly-observed aphrodisiac - the tiramisu. And what have you? Poetry in motion. Hedonism to the max baby!



I'm flying. You're zonked. Get back to work.

Unlimited Dhoklas

Last week I was in my hometown, Mumbai. So I decided to drop by the one place I've been wanting to try for Gujarati food (thali) - Golden Thali.

The ambience was relaxed, well lit and the waiters were dressed in traditional clothing: pagadi, dhoti et al. The fare was medium-spicy and a feast to say the least. There were some 4 types of 'shaak' (vegetables), the typical yum dal, chaas (butter milk), dal dhokri, dhoklas, dahi bati, scumptious alphonso mango 'aam ras' and finally some dal khichdi. I couldn't possibly describe in words how awesome the food here tastes. But one word of caution - do NOT eat anything for at least 5-6 hours before landing here. You'll not have any more room for even a 'paan' - the absolute must which usually follows a typical Gujarati dinner.

My favorites here - The dal and khichdi. I could live on that diet.

The damages? Rs.170 for an unlimited thali. Well worth it, take my word! Location: Bang opposite Grant Road station. 2 mins. walk from Opera House by road.

Ganapati Bappa - Gimme more ya!

Modak laddoos :) For the uninitiated - Yum sweets made of some white dough and coconut and jaggery fillings.