Girl, Go & Grow

My experiment with Rs5.

                                           By Prerna Mishra 

                      (written in college 5th sem, 2013)

In last 31 years, they have only asked for your 2 minutes, now as an added topping with just Rs5 in your pocket.

 In the interiors of Jharkhand, a true Indian village lacking in almost everything, where survival is with bare minimum resources, Life goes on because it has to.

A few government schools established under “Sarva Siksha Abhiyan” shabby building, teacher sits outside the classroom with hand-fan. I saw Students having their cherished meal. A big bus carrying thousands of packets, parked outside the school. Yes it was Maggi; these children were having and of course free of cost. Mid-day meals have perhaps become very boring for these children! They too deserve the fun, which city children enjoy out of Maggi.

   An initiative taken by Nestle to feed thousands of school going children in villages spread across the country. Is Switzerland repaying black money by feeding all poor mouths of India?No, it was not. 

Within a span of a month, these very children are addicted to having Maggi everyday. And, then those big buses move out of that village in search of some other victims. Abandoned kids cry everyday for Rs5. They no longer enjoy home cooked foods. Their parents are trapped, the money meant for buying fresh vegetables is buying Maggi instead. This marketing strategy blew my head.

I realised that wherever you go, they follow, the tag line of Vodafone. It was being complimented by products like Maggi, Pepsi, Kurkure and Lays. These FMCG products were really moving fast. Even if, it is some remote area or some adventurous tourist spot.The tourist might take hours to reach that adventurous spot but Maggi packets are already hanging. If you are tired enough, you can have them by paying double the price. 

I remember, I visited the Nohkalikai falls in Shillong, with my entire family.The cold wind made us shiver very badly. If we were lucky enough the fog would subside showing the falls. I waited impatiently, on those isolated mountains. Moving here and there for a clear view. I caught better one. My siblings were busy having Maggi and chips. This was it! Wherever you go, how so ever the place is, don’t worry. You will get Maggi.

Julius Maggi. What a creation I must say!In 1884 Julius Maggi and Fridolin Schuler thought of improving the nutritional content of foods consumed by working class. They came up with noodles made of leguminous flour. The objective was to look after health conditions of workers in Switzerland. This was soon forgotten. When the company merged with nestle in 1947. In 1982 Maggi brought the noodle culture in India. Very soon, the traditional food lost the battle against junk food. Now it occupies more than 75% of 2500 crore market.

Ohh yes aabhi! Priyanka Chopra, Ranbir Kapoor and Dhoni. They all are asking you to grab your Pepsi right now. Ranbir Kapoor charges 3 crore for saying that. You can do your calculation now!

I visited one of these soft-drink companies official website. It said, “We give more than we take”. I couldn’t stop smiling. Jokes on official pages! Million litres of freshwater are taken out everyday to clean the bottles and make carbonated coloured water. The farmers of south India were affected badly by the plants set up by these industries. The big motors took out million litres of fresh water and left the farmers with nothing at all. The World Bank reported that if the water consumption continues at the current level by these MNC, fresh water would be depleted by 2050 in India. So alarming is the scenario.

I wonder why nobody speaks out. I am not writing this article to make you hate these companies. I believe companies will be coming in and moving out. What if there remains no resource to exploit? All I want to say is let's have a sustainable development. There should be strict laws be it in agricultural or waste management. A proper collaboration with locals and environment, can make the bond even stronger.

These MNC products are more than just products for us.We connect emotionally with them and the same is expected out of them.

The new advertisements can be on results of Social corporate responsibility also. Dancing Katrina Kaif is not a must for advertisements. The fancy packet made out of cutting thousand trees has lost the conspicuousness.We need you to take care of our environment.

Lets play the fair game. No hidden conditions applied. The game of sustainable development. Take our care and we will take yours.