The Hindu Business Line : The latest brand ambassador

The humble lauki (gourd) has been given such an elevated status in Patna by the recent one week camp that yoga guru Ramdev held here, that the vegetable has been selling like hot cakes in Bihar's capital. It has pride of place on the table in the dinner that Adesh Kang, wife of Bihar's Chief Secretary G.S. Kang had organised for this visiting journalist from Chennai. "I don't know if you like lauki or not... I don't much care for it myself, but these days it has become a craze here, after Baba Ramdev extolled its virtues, and you'll find it prominently displayed in every vegetable shop here," says Adesh.

At Hotel Maurya Patna, Assistant F&B Manager Dubey confirms that each morning he has requests for at least a few glasses of lauki juice. He is not amused when you joke about the vegetable and its healing powers and says seriously: "People staying in our hotel are very health conscious; in fact, the amount of non-vegetarian food consumed by our guests has also come down. Baba Ramdev had told people they should keep away from non-veg food."

With the hotel already having stopped serving chicken following news of bird flu, this latest assault on non-vegetarian food would surely leave the butchers of Patna in a limbo! The yoga expert has left the city but hoardings announcing his famous seven-day camp in Gandhi Maidan, where Hotel Maurya is located, can be seen all over Patna.

"In my college, people cannot stop talking about him; the exercises he showed, the medicines he sold, and the health advice he gave," says Renu Ranjan, Professor and Head of the Department of Sociology at the Magadh Mahila College in Patna. When even a local businessman - Vijay Kishorepuriya - that you run into in Patna talks about the magic Guruji has woven over the city and "the fantastic response he got", with people leaving their homes at 3 a.m. to reach the camp venue before 5 a.m, one asks innocently, "Was the camp free?" "Oh no", is the response of the man who is a member of the organising committee. "There were tickets costing Rs 2,100, Rs 1,100, 500 and 250; the tickets alone fetched a total of Rs 2 crore, as there were several sessions a day. Baba Ramdev said he has not seen such tremendous response anywhere in India, and the people of Bihar should be congratulated for their health awareness."

A senior bureaucrat in the State confirms that Ramdev sold ayurvedic medicines worth a staggering Rs 13 crore.

"We missed a good opportunity to get some revenue because ayurvedic medicine attracts no sales tax," he said with a sigh. But the lauki sellers are getting profits alright; the vegetable's price has shot up from Rs 4 to Rs 15 a kg.

As there is enthusiastic talk in political circles about making Ramdev the brand ambassador of the much-maligned Bihar state, Renu has a scathing comment to offer.

"Those who paid Rs 1,100 to participate in the camp said you could not see Guruji bigger than a cell phone; they were so far away." Of course, eight giant screens put up at the venue ensured everybody got a proper view of the various asanas he taught. She disapproves of the political leadership of Bihar "queuing up to meet him. We have huge problems before us and the Government should not forget that people have voted it to power with huge expectations. While it beats the State back into shape, it should avoid the temptation of associating with one religious or sectarian leader as there would be grave danger in such an association," she adds.

There is no denying that the Nitish government needs to do much more than hold successful yoga camps, even though the security arrangements at this crowded venue were excellent and no untoward incidents took place; "this itself is a miracle in Bihar", gushes Kishorepuriya.

K.P.S. Kesri, President of the Bihar Industries Association, says the new government has made a good start in speedily getting the right industrial policies in place, setting up an Investment Promotion Board and so on. When you ask which sectors have scope for investment he says, "We have nothing here, so there are opportunities in every sector."

But wouldn't business houses be wary of Bihar's notoriety for kidnapping and extortion? "Oh, that is no longer a threat. In our private conversations, we don't even talk about it any more," is his response.

(To be continued)

Response may be sent to rasheeda@thehindu.co.in

More Stories on : Alternative Medicines | People | Brands

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Lost childhood

Chennai tops in audio post-production job

The latest brand ambassador