India to launch cow urine as soft drinK

[5711-Marine]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/lif...cle5707554.ece



Jeremy Page, Delhi

Does your Pepsi lack pep? Is your Coke not the real thing? India's Hindu nationalist movement apparently has the answer: a new soft drink made from cow urine.

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."


ETA link

[slicknick131]

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.

Nothing says you're at the bottom of the social structure like eating shit, huh?

Seriously, I see the purpose in cow dung for fuel, but consuming urine and feces? No wonder healthcare is an uphill battle in India.

[reels18]

I'll bet it tastes great with a hamburger.

[camper]

So India is producing "Red Bull", what's the big deal?

camper

[762xIan]

So India is producing "Red Bull", what's the big deal?

camper

I was going to say budweiser myself!

[camper]

I was going to say budweiser myself!

They did say non-carbinated, so that made most american beers and mountain dew ineligible

camper

[Frenchy]

Gives a whole new meaning to Piss on it.
Not to mentino who gives a piss...

Maybe they can make a beer too, or should i say a pissener...

What ever Ales your Lager...

[ungawa]

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.

Reminds me of "trickle down" economics.

[bogey1]

I was going to say budweiser myself!

its more like buttwiper..

[Robert Kayland]

So India is producing "Red Bull", what's the big deal?

camper

More like Yellow Bull.

Cow Urine? Didn't we used to call that "Milk"?