Antiseptic season

Everyone’s trying to take advantage of the festive season, it seems. Even, apparently, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), which splashily launched gift packs of soaps and other beauty products during Diwali. The special VHP twist? The products – all organic, of course – feature various products of the cow. The GouBrands Organic Products Company has named its soaps Maharani, Maharaja, Rajkumari and Rajkumar. Some of them have jasmine, lavender and chocolate (“Rajkumar soap expresses the naughty and sharp Rajkumar with a rich chocolate flavour”), but VHP assures its customers that all the antiseptic properties of cow urine (“arka”) are fully retained in the soaps. The soaps are being sold in “limited edition” boxes during Diwali and Pongal till the New Year. And, of course, you could buy them for Christmas gifts, too.