It was August 1977 and I was returning to the US after working 3 years in Australia. Traveling by bus from Nepal to London (or vice versa) was very popular. There were about 20 people on the bus as it left Kathmandu. After 2 stops for a night each in Nepal, we entered India. Coca-Cola was not allowing its soda into the country because India demanded to know the secret recipe. On our second day in the country we were driving in the middle of a desert and getting very thirsty. In a tiny village we spotted an old man selling drinks. We yelled to the driver to stop the bus and we all piled out and were amazed to find the guy had Coca-Cola. We bought his entire supply and when examining the change we were given found it was British Indian coins. I looked out from the rear of the bus and nothing remained of the drink stand or the man.
This was only one of the mysterious things I experienced in India and Pakistan. How did the old guy know there would be any thirsty travelers suffering from Coke withdrawal that day (the road was all but deserted and Indians had their own cheaper soda brands), how did he have just enough Coke to satisfy us, why did he make change in British Indian coins, where did he disappear to so quickly?
None of us were into coins at the time and like most foreigners just accepted what we were given. It was later in the day we realized something was weird about the change. I think we asked the driver about it and he said it was from British times. I think we gave it to him as a tip. I know I did not hang on to it.
Some of my other memorable experiences in India and Pakistan involve a pet mouse in a hotel, a mind reader in Jaipur, a young boy and his sister selling mango juice at the Taj Mahal, a magician in Lahore, the gunsmiths of Landi Kotal (trying to sell real guns that looked like pens for souvenirs). We paid into a kitty at the start of the trip and the driver and guide would arrange hotel rooms. They mixed and matched people throughout so that by the end of the trip we had each shared rooms with one another regardless of sex or marital status. Hotels were cheap enough that we got money returned in London.
I'm so glad I decided to spend 3 months on that trip, 3 months when I had no fixed address, after Pakistan going through Afghanistan, Iran, Turkey, Greece, former Yugoslavia, Italy, Austria, Germany, Belgium and finally UK. On return flight to US my biggest worry was my North Korean suitcase (purchased legally in Australia) would be confiscated by customs.
It sounds to me like a variation on the old "give the tourist the wrong amount of change" scam. Only in this case the joke was on him; he didn't expect to find a coin collector!
Quote: "Coinman48"It was August 1977 and I was returning to the US after working 3 years in Australia. Traveling by bus from Nepal to London (or vice versa) was very popular. There were about 20 people on the bus as it left Kathmandu. After 2 stops for a night each in Nepal, we entered India. Coca-Cola was not allowing its soda into the country because India demanded to know the secret recipe. On our second day in the country we were driving in the middle of a desert and getting very thirsty. In a tiny village we spotted an old man selling drinks. We yelled to the driver to stop the bus and we all piled out and were amazed to find the guy had Coca-Cola. We bought his entire supply and when examining the change we were given found it was British Indian coins. I looked out from the rear of the bus and nothing remained of the drink stand or the man.
This was only one of the mysterious things I experienced in India and Pakistan. How did the old guy know there would be any thirsty travelers suffering from Coke withdrawal that day (the road was all but deserted and Indians had their own cheaper soda brands), how did he have just enough Coke to satisfy us, why did he make change in British Indian coins, where did he disappear to so quickly?
Will
that’s a very interesting story indeed... sure you didn’t just see a mirage and it was all in your head? Haha
i like your take on Coke in India. I wasn’t around at that time but I always thought they were kicked out because of the leftist parties that didn’t want any American capitalist companies in the country (and who bigger an icon than coke). On the other hand, I can imagine that the govt may have insisted that coke partner with an Indian company which translated into sharing the secret recipe. I grew up on Thumbs Up, the local brand. It was and still is actually better tasting than coke haha. However, I think Pepsi bought it over and while it’s still sold, it’s hard to come by. Eitherways, I quit soda/pop a long time ago
The popular soda brands seemed to be Lemu and Orange Spot, if I remember right. And they were sealed with marbles in a rubber washer. You pushed the marble through the washer into the bottle to open it. Or else I was so prejudiced against these sodas that I just made it up. Anyway it was cheaper and safer to drink chai, as well as tastier.
Quote: "Coinman48"Ashlobo,
The popular soda brands seemed to be Lemu and Orange Spot, if I remember right. And they were sealed with marbles in a rubber washer. You pushed the marble through the washer into the bottle to open it. Or else I was so prejudiced against these sodas that I just made it up. Anyway it was cheaper and safer to drink chai, as well as tastier.
Edit:
I was mostly right about the bottles. https://makezine.com/2012/03/01/reusable-codd-neck-soda-bottles/
Will
Lol, I've never seen those kinds of bottles. We just had the regular bottle caps (though no cans) growing up in the 90s and 2000s. And those brands are Limca and Gold Spot haha
Judging by the most recent posts this should be renamed 'Soda stories'.
One of my relations used to sip the contents of the old cola glass bottles with a straw and he would get away with it as the content varied slightly in volume.
Recently whilst going to a restaurant in town a man was carrying a crate of empty glass coke bottles which suddenly fell with a crash, no one was hurt however it gave me quite a shock.
'We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give.'
Sir Winston Churchill
