I’m dying for a glass of thanda-thanda nimbu paani. Yes, a bank loan for the same has been applied for, thank you. When I decided to skip a lunch plan fearing a heat stroke and asked for nimbu paani instead, there was panic in the kitchen. I was offered chilled champagne instead. ‘It’s much cheaper,’ I was told. The same thing happened at a fancy wedding reception when the bartender looked deeply embarrassed and said he’d been instructed to decline any such unreasonable request. ‘Offer guests beer, whiskey, gin, vodka, tequila — but strictly no nimbu paani.’
A few guests had sneaked in bottles made from their own stash of hoarded lemons. Some were offering tokris of lemons as a pricey wedding gift.