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.”

Source: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/food_and_drink/article5707554.ece

Originally posted 2009-02-12 16:04:23.

Popularity: 1% [?]

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Here’s a job opportunity you won’t need to buy a new wardrobe for.

Hoping to take advantage of Rhode Island’s floundering economy, owners of the Foxy Lady strip club in Providence plan to hold a job fair on Saturday.

They say they’re looking to fill around 30 positions, from strippers and waitresses to disc jockeys and bartenders, at that club and two others in Massachusetts.

“I need more managers, I need more competent staff, and I need more attractive waitresses to go along with the ones I have right now,” said co-owner Tom Tsoumas.

The naked truth is that Rhode Island’s economy is among the worst in the nation, with an unemployment rate of 10.3 percent in January.

The Providence club isn’t immune from the recession but is still drawing customers willing to drink and pay for lap dances, said manager Bob Travisono.

“It’s taken a hit,” he said. “It’s not as bad as restaurants and stuff like that. In times like this, they seem to drink their sorrows away.”

Tsoumas said he hopes some who might shun strip clubs when the economy is good might consider shedding their clothes now — or at least working as a floor host or bartender.

Source

Originally posted 2009-03-23 09:56:08.

Popularity: 7% [?]

A baby who had been found alive after being declared dead by doctors has died in Paraguay, the BBC reported Monday.
The strange and sad saga began last week when doctors at a state hospital in Asuncion, Paraguay, told Jose Alvarenga on Friday that his premature baby had been pronounced dead shortly after birth, the Telegraph reported.
The hospital delivered the baby’s body in a temporary coffin to Alvarenga’s home a few hours later.
Mourning relatives were shocked when they heard the baby cry, The Associated Press reported.
“I opened [the coffin] to look at his remains and found that the baby was breathing,” Alvarenga said. “I began to cry.”
But Angel has since lost his fight to live, the BBC reported.
Officials are investigating to determine whether there was any negligence involved. The AP said that doctors also had initially told Alvarenga that the baby was a girl.
“This is a very unusual case,” said Ernesto Weber, head of pediatric intensive care at the hospital, according to told the Agence France-Presse.

Source

Originally posted 2009-08-11 14:50:18.

Popularity: 1% [?]