Gutka products aren't really bad for your health...

Fifty million rupees down the drain in Bombay. All because it hurts certain people to see gutka products being consumed by certain others!

Er, people, we are not presenting the gutka case for them -- just getting the financial side in the correct perspective...

Like we were saying, the fight against gutka consumption has dried up a constant source of revenue -- yes, Rs 50 million! -- for Ganesh mandals. The economics works out thusly:

The mandals which comes up all over Bombay during the Ganeshotsav (some of them mind-bogglingly decorated!), you see, eats up billions -- a well-decorated mandal may cost you a couple of hundred thousands. And where does the money come from? Of course, there are donations and suchlikes, but the lion's share is from -- where else? -- advertisements.

And that's where the gutka manufacturers come in.

For them, the utsav is Ganesh sent -- as their ads are banned on All India Radio and the Doordarshan, the mandals provide an excellent opportunity to reach to the public.

Through banners, banners and more gutka banners.

Thus, for the last six years Ganeshotsav mandals had no dearth of such -- Manikchand Gutkha and colleagues made sure of that.

But now, the authorities have gone and banned such advertisements, as the first step in banning the 'evil' altogether. Cruel they!

Compiled by Prasanna D Zore from the Marathi media