Kamar ghat juice, a new fascination for commuters in Santosh Nagar

Santosh Nagar: The commuters taking the road Santosh Nagar towards Chandrayangutta are fascinated by the new kind of health drink, the ‘kamar ghat juice’ in this part of the city. The main ingredient aloe vera combined with many other ingredients tailor-made in front of the customers is slowly making this to be a refreshing experience and substitute to lassi and faluda enjoyed traditionally by locals.

Even though the benefits of aloe vera are known to the general public, as is being sold in the form of packaged product for the last two decades by different companies, the local populace finding this roadside drink fresh and easily available at the price of Rs 40 per glass and for the customers with additional delight of dry fruits it costs about Rs 100 per glass.

Aloe vera is a succulent plant species of the genus aloe. It originates in the Arabian Peninsula but grows wild in tropical climates around the world and is cultivated for agricultural and medicinal uses. It is also used for decoration and grows indoors as a potted plant. It is found in many consumer products including beverages, skin lotion, cosmetics, or ointments for minor burns and sunburns.

Mohammed Saleem, the vendor of juice stall said that the raw aloe vera is brought from Chennai and other surrounding villages. This health drink he says is prepared with the main ingredient aloe vera and grinded by adding curd, sugar, salt, black pepper, black salt and lemon. It is garnished with basil seeds, just like the faluda to give a refreshing effect. All the ingredients combined beats the bitter taste of aloe vera. The final taste after adding all the ingredients gives it a similar taste like lassi.

“This aloe vera juice can be consumed without adding any other ingredients, but the concoction helps the people drink is easily. While the patients suffering from chronic ailments prefer without any additional ingredients, some others prefer this juice to taste like a refreshing drink,” he explained.
With the ever increasing demand for the aloe vera juice, similar stalls have already appeared in areas close to Dilsukhnagar and Secunderabad recently, while some more areas like Malakpet and Chandrayangutta are expecting stalls similar to the one in Santosh Nagar.

According to Nalgonda based Unani doctor, Mohammed Raheem, the idea behind the making this drink a tailor-made with additional ingredients at this stall said that this health drink controls blood pressure and purifies blood, digestion, gas trouble, stomach heat problem, joint pains, skin diseases, ulcer etc. He remains the guiding force for the vendor in Santosh Nagar. N Ravi, a regular customer and resident of Champapet said that her mother a diabetic patient takes this drink in the form of medicine to control the ailment. “Earlier I used to buy the packaged product for entire family, but ever since I came to know that it is available fresh here, I travel all the way from Champapet to buy this freshly made drink,” he said.

Shaik Basith, another customer said that this stall started selling the drink for the last one week and given the health benefits linked with Aloe Vera, he started drinking regularly. “Besides health benefits, I find this refreshing like lassi,” he said.

BY M M Farooqui