Drinking Sodas in India

In India, "soda" or "drinking sodas" generally refers to clear looking fizzy drink with a dash of lime and salt. Indian cool drinks are a bit different than what you get in the western countries. You can get a variety of soft drinks in India, apart from the usual Coke and Pepsi. Most of these soft drinks are carbonated ones, with added flavors and sugar.

An early drink modeled on the famous Coke is the Thumbs Up. Unlike western fizzy drinks, Indian fizzy drinks are a lot sweeter. This because of generous doses of sugar they put here. You can get your favorite diet coke over here too. The local soda drink is called "Banta" and is offered with a dash of lime, salt and sugar. It is easily available on roadside sold on pushcarts by vendors. Other fizzy drinks are Coca Cola, Miranda (orange fizzy drink), Sprite, 7Up, Fanta (like Miranda) among other lesser-known varieties.

There is a non-fizzy variety of cold drinks available for those who don't like carbonated drinks. These drinks are usually made from fruit extracts. Popular ones are Maaza, Slice and Frooti that are mad essentially from mango extracts. They are available in any grocery store by the roadside and are also sold by many vendors on their pushcarts. Do not forget to check the manufacturing date on it.