Pakistan and India have fought three wars and countless skirmishes, but their people are united by love for a cooling 115-year-old pink libation with a secret recipe.
The ultra-sweet concoction of herbs and fruits, Rooh Afza — which translates as “refresher of the soul” — has not only survived the 1947 partition of the two countries, but thrived on both sides of the border.
On a furnace-hot recent day in Old Delhi, a formidable vendor named Firoza chops up in a metal cauldron an ice block delivered to her by motorbike down the tight alleyways.
Photo: AFP
She then stabs the top of a bottle of Rooh Afza and squeezes in the viscous, lipstick-red concentrate before attacking a milk carton and adding that too, along with pieces of watermelon.
This is the 50-year-old’s own special version, “Sharbat e Mohabbat” (“Drink of Love”) — every vendor has their own — which she sells for 20 rupees (US$0.25) per plastic goblet.
“We use more than 12 bottles of Rooh Afza and 20 boxes of milk, even 30 at times, and up to 40 when business is good,” Firoza told reporters in her booming voice, hoarse from hawking her elixir.
Photo: AFP
“I took over this shop a decade ago when my husband passed away,” she said. “He started selling Rooh Afza here some 40, 50 years ago. It’s my only source of income.”
In Pakistan, the drink is a particular favorite during the month of Ramadan, when it is served as an evening thirst-quencher with the Iftar feast, when Muslims break their fast.
However, served in desserts, milk and custards, it remains popular throughout Pakistan’s summer season, during which temperatures can reach 50°C.
At one roadside stall in the megacity of Karachi, owner Muhammad Akram handles a hectic cash flow of dog-eared banknotes proffered by eager customers.
“A homeless man once suggested that if I blended Rooh Afza with diced watermelon, it would be delicious,” he told reporters. “The taste was marvellous.”
At the same stall, Abdul Qahar works 12-hour shifts commanding a dozen staff serving tankards of Rooh Afza brimming with chunks of ruby watermelon, topped with a date and speared with a straw.
“It soothes the spirit,” said 25-year-old housewife Neelam Fareed, who traveled 5km on a moped with her husband just for a drink.
Rooh Afza was first sold in 1907 in Old Delhi, the congested heart of the Indian capital, by Hakim Hafiz Abdul Majeed, a traditional healing practitioner.
In 1947, with the partition of British India, one son stayed in Delhi while the other departed for the then-new Pakistan.
They set up factories in each country — as well as one in East Pakistan, which became Bangladesh in 1971 after a bloody independence war — under two firms, Hamdard India and Hamdard Pakistan.
Hamid Ahmed, a great-grandson of the founder, who runs the Indian business, said that the recipe has not changed in the past 115 years.
“It’s a big secret; even the people at the factory will not know it... There would be, I think, three people who would know it,” the 45-year-old told reporters with a chuckle.
Apart from being served ice cold, the drink’s blend of fruits and herbs is thought to help with the northern subcontinent’s dusty summer winds, which are known as the loo.
“I think with global warming, temperatures are increasing ... the relevance of Rooh Afza is not going anywhere soon,” Ahmed said. “Sales are increasing.”
Yemen’s separatist leader has vowed to keep working for an independent state in the country’s south, in his first social media post since he disappeared earlier this month after his group briefly seized swathes of territory. Aidarous al-Zubaidi’s United Arab Emirates (UAE)-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) forces last month captured two Yemeni provinces in an offensive that was rolled back by Saudi strikes and Riyadh’s allied forces on the ground. Al-Zubaidi then disappeared after he failed to board a flight to Riyadh for talks earlier this month, with Saudi Arabia accusing him of fleeing to Abu Dhabi, while supporters insisted he was
‘SHOCK TACTIC’: The dismissal of Yang mirrors past cases such as Jang Song-thaek, Kim’s uncle, who was executed after being accused of plotting to overthrow his nephew North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has fired his vice premier, compared him to a goat and railed against “incompetent” officials, state media reported yesterday, in a rare and very public broadside against apparatchiks at the opening of a critical factory. Vice Premier Yang Sung-ho was sacked “on the spot,” the state-run Korean Central News Agency said, in a speech in which Kim attacked “irresponsible, rude and incompetent leading officials.” “Please, comrade vice premier, resign by yourself when you can do it on your own before it is too late,” Kim reportedly said. “He is ineligible for an important duty. Put simply, it was
The Chinese Embassy in Manila yesterday said it has filed a diplomatic protest against a Philippine Coast Guard spokesman over a social media post that included cartoonish images of Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Jay Tarriela and an embassy official had been trading barbs since last week over issues concerning the disputed South China Sea. The crucial waterway, which Beijing claims historic rights to despite an international ruling that its assertion has no legal basis, has been the site of repeated clashes between Chinese and Philippine vessels. Tarriela’s Facebook post on Wednesday included a photo of him giving a
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa on Sunday announced a deal with the chief of Kurdish-led forces that includes a ceasefire, after government troops advanced across Kurdish-held areas of the country’s north and east. Syrian Kurdish leader Mazloum Abdi said he had agreed to the deal to avoid a broader war. He made the decision after deadly clashes in the Syrian city of Raqa on Sunday between Kurdish-led forces and local fighters loyal to Damascus, and fighting this month between the Kurds and government forces. The agreement would also see the Kurdish administration and forces integrate into the state after months of stalled negotiations on
RSS