To quench thirst during summer months, people generally stock up on lemon juice, cold drinks, squashes and jal jeera but tribal households concoct different drinks.
Apart from family members, guests and visitors to their houses are also offered these drinks.
However, in a tribal house in districts like Koraput in Odisha, there is a different drink altogether for a cooling effect that has many takers.
The tribals, rooted as they are in the earth, keep themselves cool with one of the special diets known as 'mandia peja' or ragi gruel (a soup made of ragi powder mixed with water and kept for few days to taste sour).
"Buying cold drinks from market is very expensive. These contain chemicals and are harmful for the body. Also, these are not available in our village. To keep our body cool, we drink lots of ragi gruel. It is prepared in all households," said Harish Chandra Hantal of Dalaiput village in Koraput block.
The preparation is also very simple. After powdering ragi, a paste is made by mixing the powder with cold water.
Then the paste is kept covered in a container for a couple of days. Once the paste tastes sour, it is mixed with boiled water and is ready for consumption.
Apart from keeping the body cool it is also very nutritious. "During summer we reduce rice consumption and instead drink ragi gruel sufficiently," said another villager Rabi Hantal.
