R
Rudhran
Guest
Customers are now switching their loyalty….. back to Panneer Soda but not in the thick heavy goli soda bottle with a curve at neck….
Somemay feel 'old is gold'....
Panneer soda: Tamil Nadu boycott of Pepsi, Coke has elated the lovers of a local soda drink
The rose-flavoured beverage is a favourite roadside refreshment in several parts of the state.
“Every day at least one bottle would break and somebody would get hurt,” said Ravichandran. “During warm summers, the bottles would suddenly burst. Also, when gang wars broke out onto the streets, people would run into our shop to grab soda bottle as weapons. We had to close the shutters immediately and run.”
With fewer goli bottles in circulation, the supply of Panneer soda also dropped over the years. But while goli bottles may not be worth the trouble for shopkeepers, local soft drink companies are expected to bring traditional flavours back with new vigour.
One such local brand is the 100-year-old Tamil Nadu-based soft drink company Kalimark. Though popular for its grape-flavoured soft drink Bovonto, Kalimark also sells ginger, orange, lemon and rose flavoured drinks.
Last year, Kalimark decided to give panneer soda brand a new look. Instead of the old colourless bottle, Kalimark presented the drink in lavender packaging with a new name – Vibro.
“To market our product in cities, we wanted the name to be a little stylish,” said M Lakshminarayanan, the marketing manager of Kalimark in Tirunelveli. “But in Southern Tamil Nadu cities like Tirunelveli, Thoothukudi and Kanyakumari, we still sell it under the name Panneer Soda. It is an all-time favourite in these places.”
Even though the new packaging has boosted sales for panneer soda, many customers have not forgotten how more than two decades ago, Kalimark goli soda bottles were carted through the narrow streets in Tamil Nadu towns. The tinkling sound of the soda-seller’s bell would bring children running out onto the streets, urging their parents to buy them a soda.
“This was one distinct thing that Kalimark used to do at that time,” said AM Aditya, a 31-year-old chartered accountant. “If you ask anyone who is in the city today who has spent a good part of their time in small towns and districts, they will have a story about how on hot summer days, panneer soda came freshly delivered to their doorsteps.”
Read more at: https://scroll.in/article/831083/in...have-lost-equal-numbers-to-political-violence
