The Hindu Business Line : When they sleep, shouldn't we be awake?

THIS week, there is an unusual mail from a reader with a link to Horlicks. How I wish I simply clicked it and presto a hot cup of the drink materialises on my desk, reminding me of schooldays when we downed litres of it in pursuit of the mirage of an ambition to score better marks. Those were days when proud moms would show up on the telly to proclaim the correlation between the off-white beverage and top-notch scores in exams.

"Horlicks, also known as `The Great Family Nourisher', is a nutritional drink made from wheat, malted barley and milk," informs www.gsk.com.my. "It is the primary malt beverage in Malaysia and is fortified with iron and eight essential vitamins. One serving of Horlicks contains twice the calcium content of a glass of fresh milk."

I also learn from GlaxoSmithKline's site that in Malaysia the beverage is available in a variety of jars ranging from 200 g to 2 kg, as well as 3-in-1 sachets and Malties tablets. "Malaysians are the third largest consumers of the brand, after India and the United Kingdom."

A `Nourishment For Life' brochure available at the site tells me more: "If you walk into the kitchen of a Malaysian home, there's a 70 per cent chance that a bottle of Horlicks is lying around somewhere. Of course, this affinity that Malaysians have with the brand wasn't built in a day. For over 50 years, generations after generations of children wake up to a mug of Horlicks prepared by mothers in their own special way, yet providing the same nourishing goodness unrivalled by any competitive products."

A good morning drink, one may say, that has its origin in James Horlick, a chemist who worked for a company into dried infant food. It seems the recipe that he and his brother William invented `saved the day' when in the 1870s, "babies often got sick as fresh milk went bad very quickly". As the brand evolved, Horlicks has shifted its focus from "great taste and nutrition" to "preparing your child for a promising future" which is reflected in the more recent tagline, "one for now, one for the future," informs the brochure.

Okay, let me return to my correspondent who's asking me to visit www.horlicks.com, which I promptly do. It shows UK and India, as two options. To know what's happening closer home, I click `India', only to learn from a pop-up, "This region is under construction. Please check back soon." Well, nothing unusual, because building a site takes time.

"Go to the UK site," guides the mail, and www.horlicks.co.uk springs up with a disturbing message on a sleepy moon that reads, "Do not disturb"; but there's an inviting `enter' to lead me to a different screen.

"Sleep is an important influence on our well-being," it states. "Find out more about it and how Horlicks can aid restful sleep."

Suddenly, I become alert and explore the site further: "The association between Horlicks and sleep is deep-rooted - people have drunk Horlicks as part of their bedtime ritual for many years." Also this: "Drinking a mug of Horlicks is an excellent way to help relax and unwind and one of the most enjoyable ways of helping yourself off to sleep."

Just the `Things You Didn't Know About Horlicks', but the brochure on GSK's site highlights these: "In India, two billion cups of Horlicks are drunk every year... In Britain, South Africa and Australia, Horlicks is positioned as a sleep enhancing night time drink."

I think we may need some education on how when they sleep, we can say `good morning, mom,' unless the beverage has a magical way of working in sympathy with the time zones.

Meanwhile, don't be surprised if your best attention through mugs of liquid doesn't show on your child's report card.

E&OE@TheHindu.co.in

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