While going to office, near Bagh Amberpet traffic signal, a middle-aged lady carrying a reasonably heavy bag approached, asked: “Sir, we are selling a new bathing soap that not only nourishes skin but also it keeps skin forever young; the smell of our soap lingers all day long”. Her monologue continued. The rate on the soap is Rs. 85/- for 100 grams. She told me that Amazon’s rate is Rs.68/-. Since it is an inaugural offer, she has agreed to give 2 soaps for Rs.60/-. I bought two. The signal turned green, thanking her I drove off.
This incident set me to think about soaps! I have no answer if someone were to ask which bathing soap do I use. Many film heroes and heroines endorse some soap or the other. Lux, Liril and Cinthol to name a few. The characteristics of almost all bathing soaps are the same and some of which are as follows:
1. The scent lingers throughout the day
2. Keeps your skin soft
3. It cleans the body thoroughly
4. It has many Ayurveda characteristics
5. It has aloe Vera
And thus the qualities of any soap are beyond enumeration. The above is only a sample. I have seen people using soap costing around Rs. 1500/-! One soap of 100 grams is Rs. 1500/-! This is simply crazy! I have been using only one soap… Lifebuoy, the red soap. During my teen age I found yet another cheap one called ‘OK’ soap. It used to cost Rs.18/- for a 200-gr cake. Lifebuoy became 150 gr soap today & OK 100 gr soap.
Getting a bathing soap was an expensive affair during the 18th century. They were rare to find and were very expensive. It used to be the dream of every man and woman to bathe with a soap! Today soaps are plenty, cheap and easily available.
My family members used different soaps. Father used ‘Hamam’ soap; Brother Krishna used ‘Liril’ soap; Brother Shekar used ‘Cinthol’ and Balram used ‘Medimix’. They used to throw away the small last part of soap, because it is not handy. So, after every 15 days I used to get small 5gr cakes of Hamam, Liril, Cinthol and Medimix. When I stuck them together, I had a colorful soap consisting of different soaps. I used my brothers soaps every time. By the time I finished this colorful soap cake, I got many more residue soaps. They used to make fun of me saying ‘Tukdon Pe Jinewala’. The mixed colorful soap suited me well and smelled well.
This habit of using the worn out, used, ready to be discarded soaps continued all my life. Right now my soap consists of an unnamed handmade soap’s remains, Dove, Santoor and Pears. This colorful 30grms soap cake cleans my body well, keeps moisture & is preventing many skin ailments. I am thankful to God that most part of my life, I did not buy bathing soaps. Imagine the money I have saved!
I have decided to gift these two soaps purchased near the traffic signal. Rs.60/- is a lot of money. I have heard of an organization that collects the soaps from 5-star hotels daily (they are thrown away once theguest vacates the room), distributes them to poor children to encourage hygiene and to help environment.
The four or five colored cake adorns my soap box in the bathroom. Earlier my family members used to ask if I needed it. Now they stopped asking. They simply leave their used soap near my soap box. Rest is understood! Thus, I am that man who has used every soap brand available in India!
About the Author
Dr. K. Raja Gopal Reddy is a seasoned internationally qualified Insurance professional.
What you are reading here, may not answer all the questions we have, but has the absolute power of asking unsettling questions which increase the interest in the strange world, and show the contradictory wonders lying just below the surface of the commonest things of life. Look at this disturbing but beautiful thought of Friedrich Nietzsche “God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him”.
Dr. Reddy can be reached at: raja66gopal@gmail.com
