India, March 6 -- Over the last few years, I have been fighting a (losing) battle with restaurants across the board. Every time I order a drink - sparkling water or Coke Zero - I always specify: "Ice but no lemon." And every single time the drink is brought to my table with a slice of lemon bopping around in it. When I remonstrate, the most common response is: "Oh, I'll just remove the lemon." When I ask that my drink be replaced, the wait staff looks incredulous; the unspoken criticism being that I am a bit of a madam to make such a fuss about a slice of lemon.

In case you are thinking along the same lines, allow me to explain why I don't want a lemon slice contaminating my drink. And yes, I use the term 'contamination' advisedly. Most ...