After a long train spotting session I was headed towards my car parked near Shankar Market in Connaught Place. As I walked past the now familiar ruins of the Campa Cola factory, I couldn't help but be reminisce the good old school days when we drank that stuff by the liters !
Back in the eighties Campa Cola and its sister brands ruled the roost in India, with competition only from the Parle stable comprising Thums Up, Limca, Gold Spot and others. While I wouldn't go into which was more popular, here in Delhi - Campa ruled supreme, perhaps due to its Punjabi connections.
In our school, Campa brands had a monopoly in the school canteen and Campa Cola accounted for more than 95% of the sale. In school - Campa (hereafter referring to the Cola version only, except when indicated) was part of every aspect of our lives. Back then, one bottle of 200ml was 4 or 5 rupees, which meant we could have one virtually everyday! To spend a day without it was unheard of. We looked forward to functions in school - especially house functions when we would stay back late in school and be served loads of patties or chola bhaturas from Nathu's downed with liters of what else but Campa.
Sports days meant Campa, free periods meant Campa - but birthdays were the most special. Any friend's birthday meant a crate full of Campa for all and sundry. But this lot was hardly ever consumed - instead it was used to drench the birthday boy and girl to the point that his clothes would stink of the stuff for weeks. That done, the were carried off to the school pool and dunked in a ceremony worthy of the Republic Day parade!
Campa was what we grew up on, but the fizz for the company didn't last forever. The liberalization of the 90s meant that Coke and Pepsi returned to India with a vengeance. While Parle rolled over and played dead within months of their arrival - Campa soldiered on. While the generations that grew it, stood by for a few years; Gen -X all but fell prey to the new age marketing of the Cola giants. Poor ol' Campa stood no chance, and its internal feuds only hastened its demise. It struggled somehow into the late 90s but it was too much to ask for. Our school canteen too gave up on Campa and switched to Pepsi, who even ended up being our hockey team sponsor and then one fine day, there was Campa no more....
But wait... did I see some freshly painted Campa signs? Were they really Campa bottles stacked neatly in a stall situated in one corner of the factory? My curiosity got the better of me and I asked the person manning the stall if it was really the real thing? Well almost - news is that a Haryana based group has taken over the rights to the Campa name and its formulation. Campa is alive again and being bottled in a plant in Haryana and being sold in Delhi in limited quantity.
Of course I bought a bottle and drank it straight down. The taste seemed alright, in fact good and certainly very different from Coke / Pepsi / Thums Up !! But was it really the same taste? Well frankly, I don't know.... after all I was having it after nearly 12 years !! Whatever it was.... it did bring memories of those days back again.
Don't know how long will the bubble last, but while you can... go have it
