IF you are going to be squatting on the road in a dirty and crowded marketplace like I did in Kolhapur, and drinking a glass of buffalo milk that had been, er, freshly dispensed, then you had better be versatile with the facts about the milk�s benefits. Because unless you are, nothing, but nothing, will convince you that drinking freshly-produced buffalo milk is the done thing. Not in India, and certainly not in Kolhapur, where apparently people do it all the time and live to ripe and healthy old ages!

Evenings in the city�s municipal square, milkmen lead their buffaloes out and sit with them beneath the street lights. And citizens stroll up and ask for a tumbler of milk. The buffalo, which no doubt earlier in the day must have rolled around in the city�s dirtiest gutters, is milked there and then. And the milk, which is thick, rich with cream, and frothy, is given to you in a steel glass. You gulp it down, wipe your mouth, fork out Rs. 5 and walk away content. Next time, remember to take your own glass along.

Suppressing a shudder, I sat down on a milkman�s stool and drank a glass for the benefit of this story and to satisfy my innate curiosity about the milk. I understand that much of the milk that is produced and processed in India is buffalo milk. It has a number of qualities that make it more favourable as compared to cow milk. Though the nutritive values of both the milks are the same, buffalo milk has lower cholesterol content, it contains more proteins, more important minerals, more Vitamin A, better whey proteins, and it is more easily digested.

Here are the figures: significantly, the cholesterol content of buffalo milk is 0.65 mg/g as compared to the corresponding value of 3.14 mg/g for cow milk. The protein efficiency ratio (PER) value of buffalo milk proteins are 2.74 and that of cow milk as 2.49. Which means that buffalo milk has about 11.42 per cent higher protein than cow milk. Buffalo milk is also superior to cow milk in terms of important minerals like calcium, iron and phosphorus which are higher by 92 per cent, 37.7 per cent and 118 per cent respectively than those present in cow milk.

Buffaloes metabolise carotein into Vitamin A, which is passed on to milk as such. Buffalo milk is commercially more viable than cow milk for the manufacture of fat-based products such as butter, ghee and milk powders because of its lower water content and higher fat content. Most significantly, the lower cholesterol value makes it more popular in the health conscious market. Also, buffalo milk is more aptly suitable for the production of tea and coffee whiteners than cow milk.

Unlike cow milk which is pale-creamish yellow in colour, buffalo milk is distinctively white. This makes a great impact on you when you are drinking it. The pure, wholesome feeling that it conveys, is like nothing else. Buffalo milk is also a totally natural product that can be consumed like any other milk. Time after time participants in tasting trials pick out buffalo milk in preference to cows, goats and artificially manufactured milks because they just love the taste!

The glass I had was very white and beautifully smooth. I tried to recollect its significant cholesterol and calcium benefits. And remember that buffalo milk is also a rich source of iron, phosphorus and, of course, protein. Somebody had once also told me that it contains high levels of the natural antioxidant tocopherol. But what on earth is tocopherol! And what does it do for the human body? I had no idea. So I tried to remember whether buffalo milk make great dairy products. They do!

Buffalo milk yogurt is naturally thick set and does not require milk proteins or gelling agents as lesser milks do. That�s because, unlike the modern dairy cow, the buffalo can thrive without the need to use high levels of concentrated feed. Grass, clover and straw make up the bulk of a buffalo�s diet.

I understand that Kolhapur�s famous wrestlers come to the municipal square every evening to drink the milk. The evening I was initiated into this healthy habit, they were not there, but that�s because they were fighting it out at the Shivaji Stadium!