campa cola : nostalgia and gossip

Still remember how happy we were, the George Fernandes infused ban on Pepsi and Coke was finally lifted...by the time coke launched in India,  i think i was in high school.

still remember the cool internationalism associated with Coke, the spreading smiles on the faces of the freshly blooming neo liberal middle class.
Still remember that the soviet union had just collapsed and my aunt used to say see...(with a glee) socialism is (was always) nonsense.
Still remember  being happy that Cuba still survives.
Remember being sad that Coke bought  over Parle drinks and began disbanding their brands...sadness when they killed Gold Spot.

Remember being younger still, remember my neighbourhood granddad who used to call me home to watch TV and drink Campa Cola...then Coke came to India and the Campa Cola truck stopped comming. 

Then i hear this news ..in the form of a credible gossip. 

In those days there were no pet bottles, the glass bottle ruled, and all the companies had their recycling system worked out...but when Coke came in (saying apparently out of the fear of getting sued) , within a week they broke Campa Cola's backbone by paying higher prices and buying up their bottles from the market and just crushing them....(remember all the branding and all were printed on the bottle itself)

Within a week Campa Cola had to shut business...the entire 

learnt this over chai from an old friend. 

Childhood came running back.