Thursday, August 18, 2005
Life Is Misinformation, or, Whatever They Put In Coke, It's Delicious (Updated)
Update: This entry needed a preface after a young couple I met today, friends of Michele who have been living in Bangalore a year, that someone living in the U.S. wanted to bring down Coke and Pepsi and made up a huge story about how farmers are using CokePepsi as pesticides. His story got in top newspapers, it was a whole scam. I'm still not sure whether CokePepsi contains unusual amounts of pesticides; it could be that they contain the normal amounts of trace pesticides of water, and/or that India just has more pesticides in the water, and/or that they don't process the water in a way that would get the 'cides out. In any case, the acid in the drinks might act as a pesticide. Dunno.
***
I'm sitting here waiting for the man next to me to get off the computer I was on last night, as I know the blog I started last night is saved on there but the guy who runs the office insists it's not. So I'm being patient and writing you the first things that come to mind, two (I should warn you) very non-escapist things:
1) The more uplifting one: There was so much else about the quick trip through Amritsar, but I have to say the greatest thrill for me was meeting the student who led the 10-person Nader campaign at Brigham Young University. His name is Neil Ransom; he and his friend were travelling to Dharamsala so we went together, and at one point I realized that unlike, it seems, most US travellers to India, they may have voted for Bush--in which case if they admitted as much they might have some interesting conversations here. (Not that all India dislikes Bush; for instance I've met two who thought he might be protecting Americans by being in Iraq.) So I asked them as much, and Neil's friend did vote for Bush but not because he likes him, so he wasn't likely to have cool weird conversations here. And that's how I found out Neil voted for Nader. He said it sooo (I think justifiably) proudly--what a maverick! They said only about 70% of campus is Republican, but there's no network or organizing force for Democrats so they're not heard on campus.
2) Downlifting: In many places CokePepsi (two-headed monster, Cerberus who guarded gates of hell) has bought up all the other brands of bottled water so you have to buy theirs if you want any. Otherwise I don't typically drink soda and was able to resist the incredible star-studded cross-village marketing campaigns they have here until I got to Amritsar, where (see previous entry re: wet hot heat) I had three in one day and ooo were they good. For my five days in Rishikesh, where it was also extremely hothumid, I would sometimes buy one, but I don't like to have too much sugarcaffeine and they started to gross me out. (In some backpacker's-budget take on wearing diamonds on the soles of one's shoes, I'd take only a few sips then hold the bottle to my neck till it lost its chill; this would fascinate and bewilder the shopkeepers who would immediately start discussion, probably about whether to rechill and sell the rest.) But I began to wonder whether there was something in CokePepsi or any of the carbonated drinks, besides even the carbonation, cold, or sugar, that was making me feel so refreshed.
I wondered this aloud over lunch one day, and someone answered, ironically, that CokePepsi in India contains huge amounts of pesticides, such that some farmers have taken to diluting it and spraying it on crops--cheaper than pesticides themselves. Yes, even with the sugar. Urban (rural Indian) legend? I didn't find the article on the web about farmers' using it but found several about much pesticide use in CokePepsi. When I have a chance I'll poor some CokePepsi near a bug and check (very scientific). In the meantime, I saw that my traveller's health guide claims carbonated drinks have small but useful doses of electrolytes. So that might be why they quench so.
***
I'm sitting here waiting for the man next to me to get off the computer I was on last night, as I know the blog I started last night is saved on there but the guy who runs the office insists it's not. So I'm being patient and writing you the first things that come to mind, two (I should warn you) very non-escapist things:
1) The more uplifting one: There was so much else about the quick trip through Amritsar, but I have to say the greatest thrill for me was meeting the student who led the 10-person Nader campaign at Brigham Young University. His name is Neil Ransom; he and his friend were travelling to Dharamsala so we went together, and at one point I realized that unlike, it seems, most US travellers to India, they may have voted for Bush--in which case if they admitted as much they might have some interesting conversations here. (Not that all India dislikes Bush; for instance I've met two who thought he might be protecting Americans by being in Iraq.) So I asked them as much, and Neil's friend did vote for Bush but not because he likes him, so he wasn't likely to have cool weird conversations here. And that's how I found out Neil voted for Nader. He said it sooo (I think justifiably) proudly--what a maverick! They said only about 70% of campus is Republican, but there's no network or organizing force for Democrats so they're not heard on campus.
2) Downlifting: In many places CokePepsi (two-headed monster, Cerberus who guarded gates of hell) has bought up all the other brands of bottled water so you have to buy theirs if you want any. Otherwise I don't typically drink soda and was able to resist the incredible star-studded cross-village marketing campaigns they have here until I got to Amritsar, where (see previous entry re: wet hot heat) I had three in one day and ooo were they good. For my five days in Rishikesh, where it was also extremely hothumid, I would sometimes buy one, but I don't like to have too much sugarcaffeine and they started to gross me out. (In some backpacker's-budget take on wearing diamonds on the soles of one's shoes, I'd take only a few sips then hold the bottle to my neck till it lost its chill; this would fascinate and bewilder the shopkeepers who would immediately start discussion, probably about whether to rechill and sell the rest.) But I began to wonder whether there was something in CokePepsi or any of the carbonated drinks, besides even the carbonation, cold, or sugar, that was making me feel so refreshed.
I wondered this aloud over lunch one day, and someone answered, ironically, that CokePepsi in India contains huge amounts of pesticides, such that some farmers have taken to diluting it and spraying it on crops--cheaper than pesticides themselves. Yes, even with the sugar. Urban (rural Indian) legend? I didn't find the article on the web about farmers' using it but found several about much pesticide use in CokePepsi. When I have a chance I'll poor some CokePepsi near a bug and check (very scientific). In the meantime, I saw that my traveller's health guide claims carbonated drinks have small but useful doses of electrolytes. So that might be why they quench so.
