‘Brand’-ucts- Our Desi Way

I had gone to my cousin’s place and when it was time for some evening snack, my aunt promptly came to us and asked “Do you like to have Maggi ?” We still had that usual ‘Indian Kid’ feel in us that makes us get excited at the mention of Maggi  So when finally we were called to eat it… The first few strands made me realise its actually not ‘Maggi‘… Its some other noodles (I guess Yippee or Top Ramen… Not sure  )

Certain brands that are first of their kind and been in market for long, have become the identity of products on their own… ‘Maggi’ has become a generic term… which is equivalent to noodles here. ‘Am making Maggi‘ refers to ‘Am making noodles’…

‘Cornflakes for breakfast’ doesn’t sound as good as ‘Kellog’s for breakfast’  Yes, kellog’s has by far been the famous Shhhtylishh desified breakfast 

I had gone to a hotel and a lady in the table next to me asked the waiter ‘Is it Bisleri?’ pointing towards the glass of water that he placed on the table… He mumbled an yes and left the place… The ‘Bisleri’ in this context refers to ‘Mineral water’ and not the brand ‘Bisleri’.

My mom still asks me to check whether the clothes are soaked in ‘surf’ water… ‘Surf’ is a synonym of ‘Soap powder’ regardless of whether you use the one that a lady in a stiff cotton white saree suggests to other ladies who would look like they have lost 5 kgs cos of brushing clothes or the one that puts a dhobi to shock with its extra white promise  Choice is yours… But all come under the generic term ‘Surf’ 

And we know only one medicine for fever from ages… Yes ‘Crocin’ … You tell you have fever to anybody… You will get an immediate reply “Put crocin and sleep”. Dare not ask back whether Will it not be ok if I have any other paracetamol… It will be misunderstood as passing a sarcastic comment at them  Yeah… I have tried it  We are a bunch of sensitive lot you see 

Baby soap is never only baby soap… Its ‘Johson’s baby soap’ always  And Jam is never only jam… Its Kissan jam 

If you go to a shop and say ‘I want petroleum jelly’… Am sure he’ll say ‘We don’t sell it in our shop’ and don’t be surprised if he asks you to find it out in the nearby petrol bunk   Instead if you ask ‘Can I have Vaseline‘… He’ll surely hand over it to you and will also suggest equivalent to ‘vaseline’ (not petroleum jelly) 

Few years (not few…many ) years back… ‘suzuki’ referred to bike and ‘maruthi‘ referred to car…Any japanese who visited India at that time would have remarked ‘Ureshiii !!! Waell daone muay buoy’ (Pronunce properly… ‘buoy’… I know it rings a bell…Yeah.. ZNMD  ) and bowed at us 

These brands have become products on their own which I term as ‘Brand’-ucts… I don’t know whether its cos they have been in the market for ages, or as they are very popular or cos they are the first of their kind…

These names are no longer proper nouns atleast for we Indians  This kind of substituting products with brand names are an unique attribute of our language . And if this is used with people outside India they give a    expression… But trust me after a month’s stay here, my cousin asks for ‘Maggi’ instead of noodles and ‘Kellog’s’ for cereals in Atlanta… Such is the influence 

May be this is also a part of our act of ‘desifying’  Though the brands may be foreign ones, the way we use it makes it a pakka Desi product 

I stop it right here… As the time has come for me to go to pantry and say “Anna… One maggi ” and he’ll promptly open a packet of Yippee noodles and say 2 minutes… It will be ready