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Pop culture - Who’s the top god?
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The charismatic god, part of the original Hindu trinity and associated with weed, sex and dance, is the ‘real rockstar’ for an increasing number of youngsters today, adorning their tees and the walls of their rooms.
It’s fuelling the business of a chain of small, hole-in-the-wall shops in Delhi’s Paharganj area — the biggest centre of god merchandise.Here you’ll get everything from posters to t-shirts (Rs 90-130) and bags with pictures of most gods and goddesses of the Indian pantheon.
Sonu, the owner of one such, deals in hand-painted posters. He has a huge variety of them,in batik and velvet,but his speciality are those that change under UV light. Shiva is the favourite with Indians, he’s found,while Ganesha is for Westerners and Buddha is universal.
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Foreigners, in particular, area lot more aware these days.” It’s not just t-shirts and posters.‘Boom Shankar’ and ‘Chill Om’ have all but replaced ‘wassup’ and ‘peace mate’ in the popular lingo of youngsters.
Shiva also has a following among musicians with DJs and bands calling themselves Shivaand Tatva Kundalini.
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Saturday, July 11, 2009
Pop culture - Who’s the top god?
