Food for thought: Maggi

“Long live Indian Army”, exclaimed my army friend, gulping down a big sip of the Old Monk Rum (Buddha Baba as we call it) he’d brought from the CSD (Army Canteen). And then, with all his charm, he smiled at me and said, “Bhai, Indian Army to khadi hi Rum par hai (Indian Army is functional only because of Rum).” And then we celebrated the gala way, with Rum, and raisins. This was a routine bash where we shared endless bouts of sticks, talked about girls and other stuff like advertising and army.

Coming back home with my girl, the svelte Hero Honda Passion, I thought to myself, if the army can boast of Rum, then we, the advertising professionals, can boast of something we can even write home about. And there’s no mega or monsoon dhamaka prizes for guessing. The verdict straight away goes to Maggi (Applause please).

So what does Maggi have to keep us occupied at any hour of the day? The masala, as my friends smirk, yell and rejoice. Bollywood maybe the sole proprietor of ‘masala’, but still, it can’t beat this masala. Its smell plays an important role of a villain (Saara shehar mujhe Maggi ke naam se jaanta hai), enticing us enough to give up our Atkin’s diet and succumb to its rich taste.

Once, my good ‘old’ friend, Vaish, ordered Top Ramen. I asked him why taking in the frustration? He said something very satisfying, just like the taste of Maggi, that if he didn’t eat something else, then he might get bored of Maggi one day. See, Maggi can induce profoundness in your soul.

Well, Maggi can be very addictive. I remember when I got a chance to work on its punch line, I used to gobble up at least 4 or five of them because I needed something to be inspired. No wonder I came up with a sorry line – Andheri Raat Mein, Maggi Tere Haath Mein.

Yesterday, when a ‘been-there-done-that’ friend was telling me about his experience in Himalayas where he paraglided after smoking ‘Manala’, I thought to myself, even we get kicks after having Maggi, and the outcome is what people flip through in the morning while further dirtying the Commode.

So when my army friend was telling me how hard it is to survive in the extreme climate, and there’s only Rum as the medium to survive, it didn’t come as a fabrication. But what he told me next did prick my imagination, that they are not fighting with the neighbors all the time at Nathula-pass, they sing and share gigs over big mugs of Rum with them sometimes.

All along, I was thinking of Indian Advertising as a whole. How important Maggi is for our survival. It is one thing that brings the Creative, Servicing and Studio together. So here’s something that ensures human bond. Here’s something that ties the agency together. Here’s something…umm, forget it.

All this while, I forgot to tell you how Maggi came into existence. Towards the end of the 19th Century, Europe had its industrial revolution and women started working outside the home. With this arose the need for meals that were easy to prepare, but were just as nourishing and delicious. A brilliant businessman with milling experience, Julius Michael Johannes Maggi (say it aloud 5 times) worked on this need and invented the ‘little MAGGI cube’, also known as the MAGGI stock or bouillon cube. Basically, I wanted to tell the readers that Google is the best thing to happen to mankind, and more so to the advertising industry.

If love can make me a poet, then Maggi can make me a writer. And here’s the testimony to the fact, which you are reading, actually wasting your time, go have Maggi instead. My personal advice – just add minutely chopped green chilies and butter to your Maggi, and you will shoot the sales of Maggi in your own small way. Or better still, go to Qutub Institutional Area, and have it at the dhabba next to IIFT.

P.S. - Is there any Maggi Fan Club on orkut?