Khimad, that spicy winter punch that heralds Christmas for Mumbai’s East Indian community

Bolstered by spices, sugar and orange juice, the generous splash of alcohol is ‘almost’ undetectable

Before I retroactively get my parents into trouble, let me fess up that my very first sips of alcohol, as a curious 12-year-old, were rather surreptitiously procured. A tiny sip here of the cola-seeming port wine when no one was looking or a dribble there of the beer-lemonade shandy from an unattended mug were not really my initiators into the world of alcohol.

That ‘honour’ I reserve for the very unique fruit-punch-meets-hot-toddy drink called khimad. This clove-cinnamon-cardamom enhanced, orange-hued alcoholic drink made from country liquor occupies prime position in almost every East Indian celebration. And while I am not an East Indian, I am surrounded by enough of them here in my home in Mumbai to make me an honorary one.

The East Indians have nothing to do with East India, geographically speaking. They are the original, Marathi-speaking Christian inhabitants of Mumbai. Many of their ancestors worked for the erstwhile East India Company, and hence the name, reinforced also to distinguish them from Goan Catholics, who were Portuguese subjects at the time.