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Fun under the sun

This summer, beat the heat with a mind-boggling range of traditional cooling drinks, advises M. Raghuram

GO NATURAL That refreshing sip minus chemicals PHOTO: V. SUDERSHAN

Shivaratri has gone by and summer has officially started. There are many ways of handling the scorching days ahead — either you could curse and blame the gods for the wretched weather, or you could be the big-time loser and abandon ship for cooler climes or you could stick (ouch! wrong word!) it out and indulge in tried and tested summer time stuff.

In coastal Mangalore, one tends to sweat a great deal. Again one could either feel miserable with the many salt maps on clothes or look at it as an extended stay in a natural sauna — it is all in the attitude dude!

Thirst-busters

Long ago, before the MNCs came with their coloured poisons masquerading as soft drinks, we were super-clued in on the many natural thirst-busters. Like the goodness of lime squeezed into a glass with a pinch of salt and a goli soda prepared with local treated water and served with a smile by the shop owner himself.

Then there is the all-time favourite bonda juice made of tender coconut water mixed with lemon, sugar, a leaf of tulsi or pudina garnished with the flesh of tender coconut. Bonda juice is available in street corner juice shops (the best is still the one opposite Suchitra theatre) where the tall glasses sell like hot neer dosés.

And how can we forget birinda juice? In traditional Mangalorean houses birinda, a wild fruit — ts international cousin is mangosteen — grows in the back yard. Children pick the fruit and the lady of the house makes puree of the fruit and preserves it in bottles. A dash of sugar, a spoonful of puree and water and voila! you have an instant thirst quencher. One could add ice or go the whole hog with water from earthen pots.

Over 50 varieties

Dried birinda is available in vegetable shops during summer. Giridhar Shenoy, who owns a shop of traditional drinks on Car Street, says he remembers at least 50 summer drinks that were available some years ago. However, they have been edged out of existence by the artificial flavours of the MNC brigade.

Drinks like kama kasturi that is soaked in water overnight, mixed with lemon juice and garnished with crushed kalu menasu and yellakki and yellu rasayana made of til paste, jaggery and some spices are just what the doctor ordered to beat the heat. In some households, muskmelon pulp mixed with beaten rice and jaggery is a common drink in summer.

With the dairy industry booming, local dairy owners have started marketing masala buttermilk. You can also choose from the ginger and jaggery combination in the local goli soda version as well. There is no need to worry about the water as it is treated. The Mangalore City Corporation's Health Department has made it compulsory to use treated water. So go ahead and glug away without a care in the world!

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