COLORES INFINITUM
It is a product that was there
since I started understanding the worldly place around me – my parents, my kin
and my family. It was always there on kitchen shelves as a staple food item
along with the regular stock.
It was one of the favourites among
all eatables and we loved to have it the way advertisements suggested - the
taste that would last longer after eating this stuff that took two minutes to
cook and 10 minutes to eat.
Maggi has been there in every stage
of life. It was so inherent and essential that we never felt we needed to ask
especially for it.
Yes, it was rationed like other food
items - but rationing was done to inculcate discipline. Childhood days needed
more of it as we were easily won by regular communication materials appearing
in print and on television. After all, the childhood urge is almost universal
in some cases, on some issues.
The response to have it was more
disciplined during teen years. And when I say ‘it’, it means Maggi’s ‘instant
noodles’. That also meant eating it became less frequent though it remained an
essential part of the shelves. Milk was never my favourite and I tried to have
it somehow whenever I was given a glass of it. Now it is natural that
'whenever' had to be a regular affair, like it happens.
In our school days, the emphasis was
on giving us nutritious food for our growing years and as we were absorbed more
by school, teachers and books, we had a sort of seriousness and growing
indifference to what was being given to us to eat. As we grew up, there were
many other food items that entered our food habit outside our home that we
liked to have them regularly. Even Maggi looked and tasted different at eating
joints with its different experimental preparations. But, then it was
occasional only - eating it outside home - as it was available at home - and
tasted perfect with its '2 minute recipe'.
In college days, though it continued
to remain a household product, it got even reduced preference in my daily
routine. Parents and elders had told us from the beginning that we should be
disciplined with any food material made from fine flour and the sense had an
enhance recall value when we were around 20 - some years before and some years
after. Though, they had a soft approach for Maggi as it was from a credible
multi-national company and was seen as okay replacement.
Later on, Maggi became for me what it
is for many in grown-up, independent, professional years – yes, it became one
of the regular replacement food items when time was less or when people didn't
feel like cooking anything else. There were many food items vying for it, but
Maggi was the first preference in almost cases. The occasional eating-out
experiences, like in my college days, though to lesser extent now due to
availability of time, continued.
Maggi is under scanner now. It all began
from Uttar Pradesh when an official collected Maggi samples in March 2014. A complaint
was lodged after Monosodium Glutamate (MSG), a food enhancer but with negative
health effects, was found. Nestle claims and prints on Maggi packets that MSG
is not added. A lab in Kolkata later found much higher level of lead than
permitted in the same sample. Soon there were reports, sample collections and
tests from all over the nation.
Delhi has banned it for 15 days. It
biggest single purchaser, Indian Army, has banned it from its canteens.
Negative test reports are coming from many states. Many retail chains have
taken it off the shelves. Its consumption has plummeted. Even the street food
vendors are not stocking it for the time-being. I didn't find at any shop in my
office area.
Maggi is a strong brand. In our
lives, it has had a presence in varied ways. And it is not just limited to
India. It is a strong brand globally, one of the most profitable for Nestle.
And yes, Maggi is a profitable brand
that is associated with nostalgic moments and memories in many lives.
The next course of Nestle's crisis
response should be driven by that.
