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The
mind Bazaar
A growing tribe of
entrepreneurs are peddling their products with the New age mantra as their
catchline
By Anna
M.M.Vetticad
Instruction
manual for the use of a meditation blanket: Spread the square patch of
wool trimmed with gold on the floor. Take a white one if you're seeking
peace, green for nature's soothing touch, yellow to acquire wealth, red to
control situations and people, royal blue for wisdom, or light blue, as
Promila Badhwar says in all earnestness "simply because it's a nice
colour". Perch yourself on it, cross-legged. Close your eyes. Breathe
slowly. Concentrate. Feel the inner peace and sense of calm? Good for you.
And if you don't, well, you're just poorer by about Rs 1,000 and the proud
owner of a pretty piece of fabric for your home.
Stop awhile. Clear your head. Rein in the cynicism. This is the bazaar of
the mind. Badhwar -- who's in the business with husband Prabodh and
daughter Gayatri Puri -- is one of a growing tribe of entrepreneurs who
are jumping on to the New Age bandwagon, and making quite a packet in the
bargain. Organic foods, "holistic interiors", furniture with
spiritual motifs, stressless rooms, Vaastu cds are all being peddled with
the New Age mantra as their catchline. Moonbeam in south Delhi stocks
"energy candles", spiritual books, wind chimes and tapes. As for
the Badhwars' meditation blankets (price range: Rs 760-1,000 plus) and
carpets to meditate on (Rs 1,000-20,000), if you want some, go visit them
at home. In Mumbai, there's spiritual jewellery to be bought. Also
available in the market are meditation carpets that the makers say are
filled with kusha grass, the stuff that rishis and munis traditionally
would sit on while meditating; even cameras that take photographs of your
aura. Full Circle, a comprehensive three-storeyed New Age store that's
opening in Delhi this week will soon be getting a branch in Gurgaon,
Haryana; another in Bangalore by the year-end; the owners are also eyeing
Pune. The store will sell books, handcrafted stationery, beeswax candles,
organic coffee, herbal cosmetics, conches, even have a Turtle Cafe (the
message is in the name, "slow down man," says proprietor Poonam
Malhotra).
"Most of these people market these products as an adjunct to the
techniques, practices and principles they follow," says Parveen
Chopra, editor and publisher of Life Positive, a New Age magazine.
"These products mostly emerge from the practices." Like
Moonbeam? The house is as imposing as they get in this part of the
country, several storeys high and dressed in flesh pink tiles. A group of
men with the demeanour -- some with the uniform -- of security guards are
hanging around at the huge black gates that lead into a driveway laid with
geometrically patterned tiles. But something changes on the way down the
little staircase into the small room in the basement. The grandeur
dissipates. Others would call it ambience -- a warmly lit up, uncluttered
shop with gentle music floating around, and an air of silence and calm.
Owner Gita Chandra calls it "good vibrations ... or at least that's
what people who come here tell me". Others might call it a store.
Chandra gently points out that it's "a spiritual centre" which
hosts talks and workshops. Others might think the stock on the shelves are
goods like any other: spiritual books, tarot candles, incense sticks. Not
Chandra. She smiles that smile and christens them "soul
aids".
Call them what you will -- if you've got faith, you've got what you want.
Though at a price. Conches at Full Circle cost Rs 3,500-7,500.
The Enlightment and Path for Peace jewellery collections, just
unveiled in Mumbai and to be made available in Delhi, Calcutta and
Bangalore, are in the Rs 8,800-1.75 lakh bracket. The wholesale price for
candles from Mumbai's Manju Mohinani -- available in Delhi and Mumbai --
range from Rs 70-1,000. Expensive? But then they're "energy
candles" that Mohinani has prayed over and with "information
that I've channelled from higher sources", has chosen to label them
Love, Peace, Joy, Hope, Forgiveness, White Light Protection, Knowledge and
Concentration. "I don't have a partner because I've been told by a
higher source not to make this a big thing," says the 28-year-old who
is currently exploring the market in Bangalore, Calcutta and Hyderabad.
Prabodh Badhwar -- who's been in the carpet business for 30 years and in
the paranormal profession for just two -- sagely insists, "If we want
to sell our carpets we can sell an infinite number, but when you go into
something spiritual it is better to do it in a saintly way, so we don't do
aggressive marketing."
The wave is not limited to consumer goods. The Zee TV network is planning
a body-mind-spirit pay channel called Organic in the coming months. And
Life Positive's just-launched website is being developed into a
comprehensive New Age portal -- to be ready by December 2000 -- providing
links to similar sites all over the world and peddling New Age products
online.
But those in the business warn against savvy marketers who are just
grabbing the New Age tag to promote their businesses. Says Shekhar
Malhotra, co-proprietor of Full Circle (primarily publishers of spiritual
and inspirational books): "If someone tries to sell you something
really outlandish, with no remote scientific basis, that violates your
common sense, you ought to be sceptical. The other day I heard of
something called Tantra T-shirts. I was really suspicious. That kind of
thing is either a con job or they're simply using it as a brand name to
cash in on a wave." More like the latter. Can't blame them either.
After all, like "ethnic" became chic about a decade back, now if
it's New Age, it must be neat.
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