Amul: Home away from home

There is an Amul dairy parlour right outside my residential society in Ahmedabad. It sells all Amul products, and perhaps as pert of CSR the dairy giant maintains a public park next to it.

A lot of such parlours are right outside such gardens across Ahmedabad.

Having grown up here in Ahmedabad, or Amdavad, as we like to call it, Amul was the most recognisable brands. And why not? It has been the most successful cooperative sector story. Truly empowering rural Gujarat, especially women.

My dad has a few favourites when it comes to food. Some are very peculiar likes and dislikes. He loves orange and pineapple cream biscuits. I hate them. They smell and taste like cough syrup. But he absolutely loves orange cream biscuits.

He also loves ‘rose milk’. There would be a rose syrup bottle in our home round the year and as my mummy was a working woman, growing up we had milk and bhakhri for dinners quite often. No complaints, either. We love it. Even now, it milk and bhakhri would be our go-to comfort food.

Milk, however, for pappa would be usually rose milk.

When I am in Delhi, away from home and I am feeling homesick, and missing my folks back in Amdavad, I will have the rose milk from Amul. That 200 ml bottle is so comforting it feels like home.

Rose milk is home.

Amul is home.