Coke, Pepsi and Me

When I was 13 years of age, I read an article which discussed various ill-effects of consuming soft drinks. The article contained so many facts and backed by research that, it cajoled me not to drink soft drinks again. I decided not to drink any soft drinks again & I have stood by that decision till today at 23.

One more influencing factor other than the health aspect was that of a nationalistic one. As we know, the cradle of all these soft drink industries is the US. As we know the US is an out and out capitalistic country. Those were the times when there existed a hostile environment between India and Pakistan. As we know, Pakistan neither had/has any technologies or money of its own. So it had/has to depend on others. The major supporters were china and the US. The US is a double headed snake and can be rarely believed. So the US was the major supporter of Pakistan in its arms race against India.

The major income to the US was from the MNCs that operate in various countries. The softdrink companies are such giants that their revenue generations can be compared to the budget of some countries. These companies pay huge taxes to the government of US. So, what does this imply? Our own money is routed and is used to destruction of our own people. I thought this was outrageous when I heard Rajiv Dixit (Ajaadi Bachaoo Andolan) presenting the facts. I thought whatever small acts can be done in this direction, let me do those. This is another facet of the decision.

When people hear that I don’t indulge in soft drinks, they often ridicule me and may be I am a stooge in their eyes. But, the fact is that they are the biggest stooges. The reason is very simple. They are just indulging in false and blind imitation. The companies are successful in creating a successful brand image, to which these people are falling prey. But in a society, especially like ours, it is always the say of the majority. If majority is stupid, it is sensible to be stupid.  As someone rightly said “if you are clothed in a place where everyone is naked, you will be ridiculed”! I am in the same jinx always.

Any idiot knows that the carbon dioxide is bad for health. But if you bottle it, and sell it at a premium price, how can it become good? One should have basic intelligence to question these things. The only prop up on which the soft drink industry is standing on is promotion. Most part of the revenues is spent on promotion. The disturbing fact is that even so-called educated are falling quarry to these giants. When I see any person drinking an aerated drink, in my mind the only thought gets entwined is that education and intelligence are two separate entities and in many cases they may not have any relationship at all!!