Culinary Chronicles
By Yasmin Rahul Bakshi
The Bottled Fortune of Shangri-La, Mussoorie –
In the early nineties, securing a five-rupee profit per bottle was a phenomenal windfall for an eleventh-grade boarder.
Our school cafeteria was the evening epicentre, serving up steaming soups, noodles, confections, patisserie, beverages, et cetera. It nestled within the school premises, away from downtown amidst the sky-kissing pines, with the rugged slopes of Abbey Hill on the side. During the biting winter months, lucky onlookers caught the rare glimpse of a leopard basking over some rock during the day.
The cafe manager authorised us to take the glass bottles of aerated drinks to the dormitories, charging a five-rupee security deposit above the retail price. This amount was fully redeemable whenever the empties were returned—with no deadline to speak of.
Similarly, at a local convenience store that we called “the down shop”, located just below the school gates, the proprietor allowed us to carry away the filled bottles for a ten-rupee deposit again above the marked rate. However, we were only permitted on Sundays or holidays to trek down to this shop.
I often collected these bottles, feeling no urgency to return them. Neither the manager nor the shopkeeper ever pressed for their surrender. Then, one day my entrepreneurial instincts ignited. The strategist within me envisioned a lucrative venture no one in the history of Guru Nanak Fifth Centenary School, Shangri La, had ever dared to launch – buying full bottles from the canteen and returning the empties to the “down shop”. It was a seamless business model that yielded a clear five-rupee profit on every single bottle.
For over three months, the business flourished. Every fortnight, a consignment of empty bottles was dispatched via a dormitory bearer, whom I compensated with a regular stipend.
Yet, ventures are seldom without friction, and an unforeseen hurdle eventually emerged. The canteen proprietor caught wind of my thriving enterprise. Driven by evident envy, he complained to my father, famously remarking, “Sir, if left unchecked, she might just sell off the school one day!” Ironically, he was the first person to truly recognise my commercial potential.
Even now, a simple bowl of any soup transports me back to those evenings in the bistro, reminding me of the mountain air and the birth of my first business.
Ingredients:
- Ripe tomatoes (hybrid variety) – 6 large
- Beetroot – 1 head
- Onion – 1 medium
- Garlic – 2 cloves
- Sweet basil leaves – ⅕ cup (chopped)
- Virgin olive oil – 3 Tbsp
- Black pepper powder – according to taste
- Salt – according to taste
- Cream – to garnish
Method:
- Slice each tomato into four pieces, dice the onion into 1 inch pieces. Peel and chop the beet root.
- Apply the olive oil over the tomatoes, onion and garlic over an oven tray.
- Grill the above in an oven at 200 degrees until they turn tender.
- Cool and blend the garlic, onion, tomato pieces, beetroot and basil in a blender using cold water (with consistency up to your choice).
- Mix in the salt and black powder.
- Sieve the soup.
- Chill and serve with some cream on top.
(Yasmin Rahul Bakshi is an accomplished senior consultant Chef and a food historian. A widely travelled Army wife from the Mussoorie hills with exposure to international cuisines & preserving recipes with the medium of food photography and digital content creation in the form of stories.)
