Winters don’t fetch good business for me. Summer is the time when people throng my shop for goli sodas. I have 35 years of experience in making goli sodas. I worked at Mapillai Vinayagar, the famous Madurai-based soda company for a decade and later started my own business. Everyday I station my cart near the Corporation swimming pool on Gandhi Museum Road at 10 in the morning. My day goes on till 5 p.m. I go home and start making sodas. In five hours, I can make about 360 bottles. On an average I make four cases totalling to 150 bottles in a day depending on the need. The process is simple. Soda is nothing but water sealed with compressed air.
Goli soda has lost favour among locals these days. People see this as some antique drink. It’s a desi soda which is not harmful like the chemically flavoured ones. I add fresh lime, salt and ice to the soda and some find it refreshing on a sunny day. I make business for Rs.400 per day by selling 50 bottles on an average. I have a son and two daughters whom I have managed to educate. My son is the first graduate in our family and I am proud of him. I only hope people understand that there’s no harm in Goli soda and start patronising the desi drink. I plan to open more outlets. The prices of lemons have gone up and hence I currently sell a glass of soda for Rs.20, which I used to sell for half the price. I have started offering sherbet too, as people demand something sweet along with the salty soda.
