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October 17, 2005
Vishy's Indian English Dictionary: cold drink
cold drink./KOH·ld·REENK/. Any cold nonalcoholic beverage, such as Coca Cola, Pepsi or other sodas (which some weird few call pop). Advertised ubiquitously on Mumbai-area billboards and shop signs in Marathi letters that can be transliterated only as Koldreenk, not cold drink as English speakers say it. When an Indian host receives a guest, they frequently ask them in the vernacular, "Hot? Cold? Tea, coffee, cold drink?", which should be understood as their asking the guest if they want a warm or a cold drink, such as tea, coffee or cold drinks.
As an aside, India has had several indigenously manufactured soft drinks that have a rich sweet taste as elusive as that of New York's pizza. I attribute it to the distinctive taste of sugar from the sugarcane that grows in the Indian heartland. Of course, there's also the healthy Indian urge to experiment with tastes that the Western tongue wouldn't dream of daring to attempt (Coca Cola with garam masala, anyone?). My favorites have been Limca (think 'a nonalcoholic Smirnoff Ice'), Gold Spot (think 'a fizzier orange Fanta'), Thumbs Up (think 'a much fizzier version of Coca Cola') and Maaza (a mango drink available in Indian stores in the U.S.). In Southern India, several towns feature goti soda, a salty carbonated drink sold in a bottle sealed with a glass marble (goti: glass marble, Marathi) and panneer soda, a carbonated drink flavored with a distinctive rose taste (panneer: rose, Tamil). Other drinks, such as Frooti (much idolized by the hilarious Ludakrishna and MC Vikram) are served in paper cartons. Their provenance as a cold drink in the above sense is murkier; only some would consider Frooti a proper cold drink.
In contrast to all the above, several sociocultural groups in India use the bare noun 'drink' to refer generically to alcoholic drinks.
Posted by Vishy at October 17, 2005 01:09 AM