Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Fancy a cup of cow urine?

Does your Pepsi lack pep? Is your Coke not the real thing? According to the Times online, India's Hindu nationalist movement apparently has the answer: a new soft drink made from cow urine. MMM yummy, just what the doctor ordered.

The bovine brew is in the final stages of development by the Cow Protection Department of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), India's biggest and oldest Hindu nationalist group, according to the man who makes it.

Om Prakash, the head of the department, said the drink – called "gau jal", or "cow water" – in Sanskrit was undergoing laboratory tests and would be launched "very soon, maybe by the end of this year".

"Don't worry, it won't smell like urine and will be tasty too," he told The Times from his headquarters in Hardwar, one of four holy cities on the River Ganges. "Its USP will be that it's going to be very healthy. It won't be like carbonated drinks and would be devoid of any toxins."

The drink is the latest attempt by the RSS – which was founded in 1925 and now claims eight million members – to cleanse India of foreign influence and promote its ideology of Hindutva, or Hindu-ness.

Hindus revere cows and slaughtering them is illegal in most of India. Cow dung is traditionally used as a fuel and disinfectant in villages, while cow urine and dung are often consumed in rituals to "purify" those on the bottom rungs of the Hindu caste system.

In 2001, the RSS and its offshoots – which include the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party – began promoting cow urine as a cure for ailments ranging from liver disease to obesity and even cancer.

The movement has often been accused of using more violent methods, such as killing 67 Christians in the eastern state of Orissa last year, and assaulting women in a pub in Mangalore last month. It also has a history of targeting foreign business in India, as in 1994, when it organised a nationwide boycott of multinational consumer goods, including Pepsi and Coca Cola.

The cola brands are popular in India, now one of their biggest markets, but have struggled in recent years to shake off allegations, which they deny, that they contain dangerous levels of pesticide.

Mr Prakash said his drink, by contrast, was made mainly of cow urine, mixed with a few medicinal and ayurvedic herbs. He said it would be "cheap", but declined to give further details about its price or ingredients until it was officially launched.

He insisted, however, that it would be able to compete with the American cola brands, even with their enormous advertising budgets. "We're going to give them good competition as our drink is good for mankind," he said. "We may also think of exporting it."

Good luck with that. Wonder if it will take off???

6 comments:

Andrew said...

Bovine urea has long been a part of Indian medicine. They say all things that come out of a cow are healing.

And I think it is a matter of perspective. I'm sure they would consider drinking the cow's urine to be like drinking the cow's milk. Killing the cow and eating it - now that would be repulsive.

Anonymous said...

Yeah - i agree with my vegeterian friend there - then again, KFC is vegie isn;t it PK? ;-)

Andrew said...

Sometimes. :-)

Rob Good said...

Either way, drinking urine would not be my cup of tea.... Would you try it Andrew, Craig?

Andrew said...

I am a practitioner of auto-urine therapy. Why? Because it is highly beneficial and time-tested. There are many studies validating it and nobody disputes its therapeutic benefits.

And it produces MIRACLE results for many people for all kinds of complaints. Google it and see for yourself.

BTW if you have a bad diet, then your urine will taste bad. If you have a plant-based diet then it is like drinking water. The whole gag-reflex goes away entirely with practice, but if you start with a small amount and hold your nose and chase it with a bit of toothpaste, then there is no smell at all.

Obviously, people are afraid to talk about it, which is a shame because it can alleviate so much suffering. And it is free!

Rob Good said...

Thank you Andrew.... I do understand that there are some benefits, but I guess it is something that as you mentioned is not really a western thing.