Amul

"Flattery is like cologne water, to be smelt, not swallowed."
- Josh Billings

The best of authors, writers and poets have written about flattery... some even extreme like comparing flattery to an evil...

I ain't gonna write about the moralities of flattery... No way José!

I wanted to write on this topic for a long time, especially since I committed to writing about this.. I started with a story, but it seemed so lame that I'm sure that someone would have shot me at point blank range at the opportunity...

After a brief block, I cogitated on this topic, and wondered, why the term "buttering up" has been used to describe flattery.. and what is more interesting to note, is that,the Indian word equivalent for 'butter' is also used to describe over-praising someone, viz. 'Maska maarna'!

Upon researching on this, I found that there is no "butter" equivalent in other languages for flattery...I could be wrong...there are millions of languages and dialects, and a
section of people may be using this word... but from what I have seen, in mainstream usage, there are hardly any languages which share this relation....

So Strange, I thought, especially since we have always used 'buttering up' and 'maska marna' in the same breath...

Let's face it, we Indians will tend to maska marao the other person to get the job done-...Be it:

- Your parents ("Mama/Papa, U the best!!... no one like u..ummm may I have money to watch the movie!")..

- Siblings (You a good sibling na... You are in fact the best bro/sis a person could ever have.. 7000 births will not be enough to find a sibling like you... So, Umm, you not gonna tell mum that I broke her best set of cups... pukka na?)

- The municipal worker who needs a dose of "arrey bhai, aap itne bade important aadmi hai municipality ke liye, aap hamara kaam nahi karoge toh kaun karega!" ..

-The Boss (Sirrrr... Omigod, You are great sir... you are God... There's no one like you sir... you are super... I worship u sirrrrr.... umm, I also wanted to ask you if there's a possibility for a raise sirrrr.. I am sure that your kind, generous heart ... golden heart... will accept my request sirrrr!!!)

Yet another point to prove why flattery is in-built in us Indians..is thus..

I'm sure many of you know what a 'chamcha' is... Yes, I know its a spoon... but think of a politician... say, Mayawati, and the people that hang on to her, over-praising her as the next big thing...(Yes, Even I feel that she's the next big thing... in terms of the size of her over-inflated ego i.e.!)

So 'chamcha', which is used to describe the flatterers, is yet an other example of how Indianised the concept of flattery is! We have the butter and also the means to apply it!!!

So, in this vein, I would like to rechristen the concept of 'BUTTERING UP' to the most famous butter brand in India..

So the next time you wanna use the term for flattering someone, say ' What re... you are Amuling too much!" :P

So I guess its true...Amul= The taste of India!

Be true to your country... Be Indian, Buy Indian and Say Indian!!