Say Cheese

An alien animal in the Indian mountains, Old Hills Cheese is making inroads in more ways than one

Gruyere, Gouda, Parmesan, Cheddar. Pronouncing the names is a tongue twister so now they have their own "pet names" for each one. Each has a distinctly odd smell and all the four women scrunch up their noses as they try to describe these somehow. And to say, the final product they are creating and packaging tastes "peculiar" is putting it mildly: they've never tasted anything even remotely similar or as "ajeeb" before.

For Hira, Deepa, Hansi and Neema, four young local hill women who have learnt the art of cheese making and are employed for the first time in their