Ramkuwar loved the cool weather as a child. And he loved the mountains. Though it was only once that he had visited the Himalayan mountains with his family during his summer vacations, the cool air, the smell of the pines, the flavour of the mountains had stayed with him. Kharkhoda is extremely hot in summers. So, Ramkuwar’s family, when they were well off, went to the mountains to escape the heat for some time. Later on, when the business of his father declined and they became extremely poor, Ramkuwar didn’t get a chance to visit the mountains again till he was of a ripe age, but as I told you the coolness, scents, and the flavours of the mountains stayed with him.
Now, he had to take care of his family as well because of the declining health of his father. He must find some business to start, but when he started looking for a suitable business for himself in the summers, the weather was extremely hot, it was as if the Sun God himself was filled with rage, bent on burning and boiling all that lives. Ramkuwar wasn’t able to do anything with this much heat in the weather, and at some time the heat went to his head and he started fighting with anyone he met with even a slight disagreement. The going was getting more and more difficult for his family, when one afternoon, something happened…
Ramkuwar visited an old halwai shop in the neighbouring village where he had gone to look for some job or some business idea, with his friend Tillu, where there was a gathering of people all listening to a Storyteller guy. He was narrating the story of ‘The Legend of Andy’ which is one of the most popular myths of Kharkhoda. He also started listening to the narration - of how Andy used to bless Kharkhoda and do great deeds while always sipping his favorite Lassi. The narration of this sounded heroic to Ramkuwar and he suddenly knew what he wanted to do. When he returned to Kharkhoda, he started a halwai shop with the help of Tillu, the special offering of which was ‘The Himalayan Lassi’...
He flavored his Lassi with rare ingredients - other than the basic ingredients like Curd and dry fruits, he also added one drop of a mysterious syrup - the ‘Tantana Thanda Pahadi Jhatka’ he called it and it is heard that he was provided this syrup every night by the ‘Goddess of the mountains’ during his dream of the Himalayas and when he woke up the very little bottle that he kept under his pillow was filled with the syrup…
His Lassi was loved instantly and till today we say that Ramkuwar’s Lassi is the cool drink of Gods. Whenever we visit his Halwai shop, we feel as if we have entered a shop in the mountains and when we taste his Lassi, we reach almost to the Kailash mountains where Shivji dwells, meditates and blesses us all…
© Manan sheel.
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