DILIP GAVALI of Imperial Cold Drink House on Kolhapur�s Bhausingi Road, has an ice-cream machine that the British would be delighted to have back. It is an L. D. Wood made by a company in Wembley and which his father, Laxmanrao Gavali, bought in Bombay sometime in 1947. Since then, it has been installed in the Imperial Cold Drink House and has been making ice-cream for the people of Kolhapur non-stop for 57 years.

Gavali tells the story simply. His father, Laxmanrao, used to make and sell soda to soldiers living in Kolhapur after World War II. �This was the old soda-water bottle with the marble stopper,� he said. �He did this for two decades, then some Polish soldiers who were living in the Gandhinagar area encouraged my father to start making ice-cream. We got the machine from Bombay and have been in the business since then.�

Today, Imperial Cold Drink House (he has a thing about the British, this Dilip Gavali!) is a small, pokey little place, but hugely successful and very popular in Kolhapur. He took charge when his father passed away in 1970. His touch has been the addition of eight new flavours of ice-cream to the Imperial�s existing menu. �I make everything here myself,� he says, proudly displaying his British zamana ice-cream maker.

The menu is vast, Imperial has several special ice-creams in which cake, dry-fruits, jelly, fruit-salad, cream wafers and chocolate sauce are added. Plus, plain ice-cream cones in eight flavours. Milkshakes, sherbets, juices, ice-cream floats, Gavali makes them all. The cheapest dish on his menu is Vanilla Ice-cream for Rs. 7 and the costliest, a Dry-Fruit Special for Rs. 40.

All around the small cold drink house, Gavali has put up faded sepia tone pictures of the royalty of Kolhapur and England! A narrow staircase that has to be mounted sideways (it is so narrow) leads to sitting arrangements upstairs.

What kind of people come here? Gavali says, pointing to an old Kolhapur gentleman, �People like him. That�s Ganpatrao Wadangkar, Kolhapur�s most famous artist, his portraits adorn the Town Hall. He is very reputed in the art world. Ganpatrao comes for a fruit jelly every day. People like our fresh fruit ice-creams. Once they come, they become regular customers.�

The same is the story at Solanki Cold Drink House, another landmark in Kolhapur, this one on Ravivar Peth, opposite the College of Commerce. This is a younger business, but more successful, Solanki has seven branches all over Kolhapur. The owner, Amar Solanki, even has a guest house over the main outlet on Ravivar Peth.

Solanki�s claim to fame is the Coffee Beer. A simple enough drink, but very refreshing, and uncannily like beer in appearance and taste. �It has coffee, Bru, sugar, coffee essence that is available freely in the market, and soda. The coffee, sugar and essence are mixed to make a syrup. To this, we add the soda. It is a popular drink. People demand it at all times of the day. A glass costs only Rs. 10,� says Solanki proudly.

The speciality of Solanki Cold Drink House is the cocktail ice-creams. The cocktail is made up of three flavours, vanilla, strawberry and mango. To this, Solanki adds dryfruits. They also do an American Cola that is unique and because it is unique, it is popular among the youth of Kolhapur. �One scoop of chocolate ice-cream with Coco-Cola,� reveals Solanki. The ice-creams are all made in-house, some 15 flavours.