No fizz in this biz
CHENNAI : While driving past the unassuming facade of a building on the quaint Srinivasa Road, off PV Koil Street in Mylapore, we come across a blend of sounds — clinking and clanking of bottles, a recurring fizz and the sound of water, like an endearing tune of staccatos. We walk past a number of green cycle-carts, open the steel door and enter Vasu Soda Company, one of the last few soda manufacturers in the city.
We make our way through a pile of plastic crates with goli soda bottles and enter the company’s workshop. Tulasidas, Rathnam, Gopal, Chandra Sekar, and Sekar are working methodically and manufacturing 300 bottles of soda, for a delivery. Sekar meticulously cleans the soda bottles, Chandra Sekar fills them with different flavours of goli soda — cola, orange, paneer, and lemon — Rathnam compresses the bottles with carbonated water, while efficiently flipping it in a machine, Gopal rubs his hand on glue and sticks labels on the thick-snouted bottles, and Tulasi packs them in crates. “Most of us have been here for close to 40 years. The soda sales are dipping these days,” says Tulasi.
Chandra Sekar hands us a thick, translucent bottle of paneer goli soda. Holding the bottle by its curve, right below the neck, we take the stairs adjacent to the workshop, leading us to the owner, D Balakrishnan’s house. “Back in the late 1950s, there was a soda company called RS Mohan soda Company, opposite Star Theatre. My father used to sell goli soda for a commission there,” he says.
A bottle of soda was sold at half anna (approximately 3 Paisa). “I was seven years old back then and used to help my father after school. Though soda manufacturers were popular in the city, it was tough to make even `10 by the end of the day. Imagine `10 being your daily wage today,” he shares.
By 1975, Balakrishnan and his family opened their own factories. “My brothers set up units in Saidapet and Nanganallur. But, they are shut now. This is the only unit and we are struggling to survive,” he sighs.
After soft drinks replaced the humble soda and bigger players like Coca Cola, Pepsi and Kalimark set foot in the city, the once flourishing soda companies dwindled in number. “Most companies bid this business good-bye and set up other businesses. From a whopping 500 soda companies that once existed, we’ve come down to a handful,” he rues.
Popping the most important component in the glass bottle — the goli — and gulping the soda to quench thirst has now become a thing of the past. “We did great business back then. The soda was the go-to drink during special occasions and festivals. We used to get good orders. But now, disposable bottles of soft drinks have replaced soda. Even stores we supply to are hesitant to buy goli sodas,” he says.
The soda bottles are sourced from Uttar Pradesh and their decreasing availability are becoming problematic, he shares. “One bottle costs `75 and recently, we have had to wait for a long time to procure even 100 bottles. This is one of the main reasons we don’t give away bottles to the shops or customers. We take it back and reuse them. Another shortcoming is that the bottle is fragile…so, if during delivery, a crate of bottles break, we’ll lose `1,950,” he explains. On an average, about 10 bottles break a day.
Sometimes, due to the low availability of goli bottles, soda is even filled in cork bottles. “The only time we do average business is during summers. From September to February, the business is close to nil. We sell the goli-soda at `6. But, the retailers can price it how they seem fit...some price it at `10 while some even sell it for `30,” he shares.Ask him about the future of the company and he smiles bleakly. “My son has settled in the USA. No one is interested in the soda business anymore. So, I am not sure about its future...but, I will try to do whatever I can to make it survive. Maybe the goli soda will make a comeback...not just as a decor piece, but in its original glory,” he adds.