Not only did he take up the opportunity but also established one of the rare cultural icons of modern Kathmandu: Ranjanako guccha soda. [break]
“Some Rana minister got this as a present while on a tour of Europe,” says Suresh Suwal, son of Buddhi Raj, patting the antique looking machine with pride. And why not? It has been his livelihood for as long as he can remember.
The Ranas handed over the soda machine to someone performing chakari to them, but nobody really made good use of it until Buddhi Raj got his hands on this German made Little & Co manual soda machine.
All that the machine does is mix carbon dioxide and water. Long before Coca Cola arrived in Kathmandu, it became the city’s favorite drink.
Buddhi Raj first opened his soda shop adjoining Nepal’s first cinema, the Janaseva Cinema that stood at the space occupied by Bishal Bazar today. One day, Janaseva Cinema caught fire, and closed down.
Later when the Ranjana Cinema opened in New Road, Buddhi Raj moved there. With time the soda inherited the name of the alley heading towards Ranjana Cinema and became a sure stop for all who visited the New Road area.
The machine is mechanical and filling each bottle requires a human hand. While filling a bottle with a mixture of mineral water and carbon dioxide, Suresh claimed that during summertime he doesn’t get even a minute of rest as sales reach up to 2,500 bottles per day.
Buddhi Raj used to make the soda in only two flavors - plain soda and lemonade - but today Suresh produces the soda in almost thirty flavors. While the favorite local flavor is cola, he makes his soda in peppermint, guava, strawberry and pomegranate flavors among others, not to mention Suresh’s favorite - fruit beer - which he says he has to drink with each meal.
Buddhi Raj probably hadn’t imagined during his humble beginnings that his son would take it up as a serious business. Things were tough for him when he started. Suresh remembers his father carrying old soda bottles in a kharpan, either taking them to the durbars for the Ranas who liked to mix the soda in their imported liquor or to the coroner shops around Kathmandu that kept the bottles for those who had developed a taste for the bubbled water.
Suresh has many tales of hardships that both his father and he have encountered to keep the soda business going.
“My father was an expert as far as distributing the soda filled bottles was concerned but he couldn’t collect the money back, which made us incur a lot of loss,” remembers Suresh.
Although things aren’t bad as they used to be, Suresh has been through his share of tough time as well. One of the worst times was during the Indian economic embargo in 1989, when he didn’t have access to carbon dioxide cylinders required to make the soda.
“I had to resort to selling club soda made by the Coco Cola Company,” says Suresh regrettably, as if uttering something sacrilegious.
An instance that Suresh can’t forget at all is when a Nepali national daily carried a story saying that drinking his soda increases sexual drive.
“Oh ya!” snaps Suresh. “Then what’s the need for Viagra?”
There are many instances in Nepal where ideas have been copied because of the success of a product. Suresh, with a sure product like his soda, was a victim of this as well. He recounts being thrown away from where his shop used to be at Ranjana galli, and the person who he used to rent his shop from opened his own soda business at the place that Suresh and his father had made famous.
This is why he has shifted his shop further away from his old spot at the Ranjana galli. Now he has even opened a coffee shop along with his soda business to serve the hoards of teenagers who are his regular clients.
“I have always wanted to give our soda a brand name but haven’t been yet due to financial constraints. My wish is to establish a modern facility so that I can produce a lot more of this soda. I will do it very soon,” asserts this man who has unknowingly become one of the living cultural heritages of Kathmandu.
At a gathering of South Asian journalists six years ago at Patan Dhoka, Suresh says journalist Kanak Mani Dixit honored him as a cultural icon.
“It was the most memorable moment in my life,” Suresh recalls with a glint in the eyes.
Many in the Kahmandu Valley who have grown up drinking the guccha sodas share Dixit’s sentiments.
Suresh has served his soda to the likes of Haribansha Acharya, Kiran KC and Neer Shah. Suresh claims that Narayan Gopal regularly frequented his stall in the mornings to get rid of his hangover.
“Indian actress Kimi Katkar was here during the shooting of ‘Khoj’. When she drank the soda, she was eager to learn the process of preparing it,” shares Suresh.
Though it is not proven whether the guccha soda from Ranjana galli is a substitute for Viagra, this bubbled water in a strange looking 170 ml bottle with a marble stopper is surely a delight that many in Kathmandu can’t do without.
Related story
We are helping consumers share their feelings with Coke
