Roll-a-cola

I was in the office, seated at my desk, completely engrossed in my work. I saw my colleague, Prachi running towards me. She was grinning from ear to ear. She stopped at my desk, while catching her breath she said, "look what I found," she showed what she hokding. I was surprised and that immediately brought a smile to my face.
I looked at her and asked her, "where did you find it?"
She said, "in our office cafeteria. They have launched it again. I checked on Gemini. Man I am so happy. I feel like my childhood has returned". Prachi unwrapped and gave one to me.
As soon as I rolled it over my tongue, the taste transported me back to my childhood. What I ate was 'Roll-a-cola'. The OG cola candy.

When Roll-a-cola was launched, I was in school, maybe in Grade 1 or 2. One day I saw the newspaper. There was an ad on the front page, young men and women at the beach, carrying surf boards, and one of them had a pack of Roll-a-cola in their hands. The young and beautiful people showing off the product at a scenic location, was definitely the best way to make the product popular. I immediately thought that I should have that candy.

Later I watched the ad on TV. That too had similar concept. A young and beautiful people sharing the candy. The ad had a catchy jingle, "Roll-a-cola, cola ka gola". The jingle became so popular that everyone was hooked to it. Everybody was singing it.

The ads have become so popular that the everybody wanted Roll-a-cola. The stores would run out of it. I wanted to get it but 2-3 times I got disappointed because all stores had run out of them. I had told a shopkeeper near my home to keep a packet for me. He did and next day he gave it to me. It felt like a reward. The first candy of Roll-a-cola I tasted was heavenly. It was nothing like I had anything tasted before. Aeriated beverages (Pepsi, Coca cola) were never given to me so I did not know how the "cola" tasted. Roll-a-cola was closest to understanding the cola flavour. It was not too sweet, yet the taste was amazing. I loved Roll-a-cola and it had become my favorite candy.

Roll-a-cola had gained popularity quicker than expected. It was the most desired candy among all age groups. It was at the pinnacle of the popularity and suddenly we got the news that the company has stopped the production of Roll-a-cola. The reason was unknown (it was not known to me). The company had not made any official announcement or press release regarding the discontinuation. We heard fron the shopkeepers that they had stopped receiving the supply of Roll-a-cola. It was a phase of disappointment. Though the iconic candy disappeared from the counters, it never disappeared from the memories.

A couple of years ago, Roll-a-cola made a comeback. The iconic 90s candy was relaunched. However the response was lukewarm. People bought it for the sake of nostalgia. But it did not taste the same or maybe we did not connect with our childhood with it. However, Roll-a-cola did not disappear from the market this time. Even today, in shops and supermarket you can still find it on shelves.

This was the story of Roll-a-cola. I still buy it sometimes when I want to remember older days.