As a kid I was fascinated by golas and never allowed to eat them. Perhaps the two are inevitably connected. My parents did not trust the water used to make the ice at the road side stalls and they were probably right. But, when one is deprived of something, it automatically becomes that much more magical and special. In my twenties I still had never eaten a gola and a friend called me a poor deprived soul. By the time I was in my late twenties I was too much of a germophobe to eat one. Then one time I had a gola at a fancy restraint and it did not live up to it's hype.

A few years ago I needed crushed ice for something and I decide to try giving the ice cubes a whirl in my mixer. To my surprise the mixer did a great job of crushing the ice in to a fine snowy powder. It was beautiful.

This October has been unusually hot in Mumbai. The girls were enjoying ice cream both homemade and store-bought but somehow it did not seem good enough. They wanted something colder and juicier. For a few days I made cold coffee with snowy crushed ice from the mixer but then I thought of giving those enigmatic golas a shot.

I got some Mapro kalakhatta and mango syrup from the grocery store.

I have a fridge with an automatic ice maker. I fill a tub in the fridge a few liters of UV treated water that undergoes reverse osmosis in my water purifier. Take that germs! About twelve hours later a tub in the freezer is magically filled with loads of ice cubes.

I fill up about two thirds of the mixer with ice cubes and run it till we have the pristine snowy powdered ice. Then, using a spoon I scoop it out in to glasses.

Next I pour syrup and voila, my golas are ready. I grant you they are not gol. We eat it with a spoon, and they taste great. They are a great way to beat the October and summer heat in Bombay and they are so easy to make.

Aren't you eager to give them a try?