In its glass bottles, Ardeshir's flavored soda, now renamed Ardy's, nevertheless conveys nostalgia and excellent 'old fashioned sweetness.'

The British soldiers had made themselves at home in the 'Poona Camp' by the late nineteenth century. The troops gathered in pubs after a long day's labor to unwind with their whisky and soda. When bars ran out of soda, British soldiers would become enraged, engage in brawls, and demand more soda water.

Ardeshir Khodadad Irani arrived in Pune at the same time to try his luck. He noticed the need for soda water and decided that it may be a profitable business to start. By 1884, he had established Ardeshir's soda, one of the first soda enterprises in Camp, which was located two buildings away from the Sharbatwala Chowk.

From consumers reminiscing about happier times over an orange soda to the notorious raspberry served cold at Parsi weddings, the soda company has been a familiar name in the camp for four generations. Ardeshir's flavoured soda, now known as Ardy's, has been around for 137 years and still carries nostalgia and quality 'old fashioned sweetness' in its glass bottles.

Ardeshir Irani came from a wealthy family in Yazd and worked as a money lender. After an unintentional event in Persia in the 1860s. Ardeshir escaped Iran with only the clothing on his back to Quetta (now Pakistan) and then to Bombay (now Mumbai) to look for work. After failing to find work, he moved to Pune's cantonment district, which was a hotspot at the time.

"In the nights, the British soldiers, the army chappies, liked their drink," my great-grandfather remarked. Only one firm, Rogers soda, produced soda water back then. Rogers either made the soda water on the spot or had ready-made soda syphons delivered to the Bombay docks. "Ardeshir noticed a demand for this product and realised it was something he could produce," says Marzban Irani, the factory's fourth-generation Irani and Ardeshir's great-grandson.

Ardeshir's soda gained widespread favour among the troops in just two years, necessitating the creation of a larger battalion. He agreed to pay a premium price for the old officers' barrack, which was then owned by another wealthy Parsi gentleman named Sethna. Ardeshir improved his manufacturing by importing better machinery and bottle-washing machines from Europe.