My Family & In-Laws
Maggi & Me
You probably cook Nestle’s Maggi noodles, eat it and forget it. No so in my case. This blog post is to explain why Maggi has been such a big thing for me, and my sisters.
Maggi Two Minutes noodles
I first came to know about Maggi in 1985, when we were about to leave Kholapur (in Maharashtra) and settle down in Ballygunge Military Camp for the next three years. Back then I was studying in 4th standard in a Seventh Day Adventist school.
Nestle had introduced Maggi in India in 1983 and by 1985 students with rich parents had started bringing them for lunch. I first tasted it when my best friend (and I forget his name now) brought it for lunch one day.
“How do you eat this?” I remember asking.
“Simple. Just hold a strand between your thumb and index finger, keep it high in the air and slide one end inside your mouth.”
We were late for our next class. Lunch had taken up a long while that day - and why not? Each strand had to be separated, held up and slid inside the mouth slowly.
With time, I became an expert at eating noodles. To tell you the truth, when my friend wasn’t looking….I would cheat. I would pick up a couple of strands and stuff them into my mouth.
Nestle started to advertise Maggi 2-minute Noodles during the ‘Hum Log’ broadcasts on Doordarshan. Just in case you didn’t know in 1984-85 ‘Hum Log’ reached 60 million TV viewers. Nestle’s plan paid off and soon enough the volume of demand for Maggi Noodles increased from none in 1982 to 1,600 tons in 1983. It would go on to become 15,000 tons in 1998. I don’t have the 2008 figures, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it is in the 50,000 tons range. The marketing of Maggi Noodles became a case study on how to market a new product. Taking a cue from Maggi’s success, other companies started thronging Doordarshan for program sponsorship. Thus, advertising rates went up and advertising revenues started pouring in for Doordarshan.
Like I said, in three months time, we had to move to Kolkata. It was the most harrowing moment for me. I didn’t mind leaving behind Kholapur’s red mud, my friends, and the four hens I had been rearing in our garden….for I knew my father would anyway kill them (and eat them ) before we shift. What bothered me most was: Will I find a friend who would bring Maggi for lunch?
Our move to Kolkata coincided with my father buying ECTV – though this TV’s screen was only 15 inches…the TV was 40 inches wide. It was so wide that when my cousins visited, we played table tennis’ over its top even as the rest of the family watched Doordarshan.
It was on this ECTV that I first saw Nestle’s advertisement for Maggi noodles. When it appeared again, I pulled my mom before the television set and said: “Mom! Look Maggi Noodles. This is what Vikas Talpade used to bring for lunch.”
“Ohh…what is it?”
“It is called Maggi noodles and is very tasty. Can we buy it?”
“No baby. That’s for the rich. We don’t make that much money, yet.” The ‘yet’ in her sentence gave me hope.
“But father is always at work…what does he do? Doesn’t he earn money?”
“He does baby. But we would rather buy rice so that the whole family can eat instead of buying noodles, which you will finish in two minutes.” I still remember my mom had a caring expression when she said this.
“But mom, when they say two minutes it is not about eating….it is the cooking time.”
My mom just smiled and went back into the kitchen. I stood there waiting for the advertisement to appear again. I loved the way steam escaped from the yellow bowl in which Maggi noodles were served in the advertisement. I swear I even got the aroma each time it appeared on TV.
I must have watched the advertisement at least twenty thousand times before I bought my first pack of Maggi noodles – sometime in 1994. It was my first scholarship money from school.
A naked (without the package) noodle looks like this
With great pride I walked into the house carrying a Maggi Noodles pack. My two sisters, my mother and I spent an hour looking at the Maggi Noodles pack and trying to understand the cooking procedure.
I remember my sister, an athlete at school, saying: “Looks like cooking noodles is not a marathon…but a 100 meters race…if you make a mistake, there is no time to correct it.”
She was right. My mother over cooked it and after eating the three strands each that all in the family got…we came to the conclusion that Maggi noodles wasn’t a tasty snack. I had my doubts, though.
In January 1999, I got my first job – with The New Indian Express. On Feb 5, after withdrawing my first salary and buying a shirt for my father and a saree for my mother….I bought five packs of Maggi Noodles. One each for my family members.
Once again, we had a conference of sorts where it was decided that my elder sister would cook this time. She did a fairly good job…and we had great fun. We decided to do this often…at least once every month…after I got my salary.
After a few months of the Maggi ritual, we forgot all about it and got busy with our lives.
After eight years of a Maggi less life, I had my first taste of the famed snack on April 15, 2008 – after my wife Rekha went on a 30 day vacation. Ever since, I must have had Maggi at least 30 times….and I tell you it sucks. Besides, it takes more than two minutes to cook….must be at least 10 minutes if you use the microwave oven!
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Jammy , are you yet to become India’s funniest writer ???
hey I lived the maggi way of liife between 2000 and mid 2007 and the damn thing is more addictive than any other substance I’ve tasted/snorted. I have quit successfully and now it feels good. Table Tennis on the ECTV, sooper. Multi utility…HUH!!!
the worst part about maggie…though it sucks…u still end up eating it all!!!….
Sougata: Ohh yes. Why do you doubt me? I am telling you the truth!
Aravind: addictive for sure….in my case its due to the circumstances. between maggi and coke, I wud anyday snort coke. But the last time i did I almost drowned…all the coke got into my nose and started bubbling..
Ishani: Why blame Maggi when you are the one thats eating it? It is like a lion saying: “The worst part of eating deer is that I don’t like it but still I keep hunting them down!”
Wud you believe the lion?
Nice Read!! Get back some memories from my childhood…I remember even my mom didnt buy us maggi when we asked her….instead she got us the cheaper chinese noodles and told us that this was much better than that…i had tasted maggi from my friends then and wanted it :(…Later maggi had organised a quiz competition in my school and I had told a question that was passed to the audience…and phew i got a maggi packet as prize….was so happy…I remember mom cooked it on a saturday morning and all four us had a taste of it…it tasted different thats all was our opinion.
Radha: if only i was as lucky. when i answered a question as part of the audience in school…they just gave me a book - Hardy Boys and the Mystery of the Crooked Arrow!
I once won the 4 pack family pack in a quiz competition, I know a strange prize ..it was sposnored by them you see.. my mom dilligently gave it each of our other 4 neighbours. She even convinced me that I had it already.. and to say I won a quiz contest…
but yeah, those noodles don’t taste all tht great these days..
Roflin…your mom is smart. she knew once u tasted it you would ask for more. so she gave it to the neighbours….i am keen to know what story she spun for you :-))))
maggi is all that stands between me and a six pack.
I don’t know how they claim its so simple to cook. I always end up cooking with incorrect amounts of water. They should supply a measurement cup or something with every pack.
Btw, once we had gone to a quiz competetion and they gave all of us maggi packs. We got so hungry that we started eating them naked. Who said it takes 2 mins to cook. Eh
I love maggi to the core,,have eaten it even without cooking smtimes!!!
btw I tated Maggi Cuppa Mania last week… Not very bad… though not as tempting as it looks on TV… and expensive also for 25 bucks
Urv, It must have been quite a sight.
@jammy you a mallu right..you should know iddi appam or else ask wifey
.. for a few years I was under the impression that other people put color in their maggi to make it yellow… mom was smart of course.. I was happliy gliding in the other end of the spectrum.. was only 6 then hehe..
@urv why did you guys get naked to eat it?
it seems maggi as quiz prizes were quite a rage.. though I can’t understand how hehe.. I know I know.. marketing
I should read the post thrice before commenting.. sry urv .. I got what’s naked now..
but still it was quite funny to read we ate maggi naked.. hehe
@PRG @Roflin
Yeah, I would have but I am a considerate guy. I did not want to put villians like Gulshan Grover out of business.
i have a lovely maggi moment also. when I was seven, my best friend used to bring maggi for tiffin. how my mouth used to water! even though i got quite exciting tiffins myself i used to always want the maggi. We didn’t get maggi at home at all…not until i grew up and went away to college; and then i saw that my brothers and sisters ate maggi at home everyday!!!
i’m sure all Indian kids have some maggi moments! and varghese and mohak have maggi moments all their lives 
Sachin: Now thats a nice excuse…how can a Maggi pack stand in between you and six packs? Or are you referring to six packs of Maggi?
Urv: started eating them naked? If you are a guy I would understand…and pray like hell that you are one.
And i totally agree that cooking maggi isn’t an easy task. After 2 years of regular cooking did i get the right amount of water, right!
snigdha ghosal: actually i tried eating maggi without cooking…but I couldn’t seperate the strands and got frustrated when they broke…I think thats when I decided to give up eating maggi raw.
Roflin: No mate my wife is a Mallu I am from Tamil nadu.
your mom definately is smart knew how to handle a kid desperate for maggi - a costly snack back then.
I know…I also didnt know that maggi as quiz prizes were quite a rage…..Maggi’s strategy perhaps to reach out to students
Soo: thats why you shud never b ethe eldest…your parents alsways prosper after you have gone out of home! I have many such incidents to narrate :)))))
Suprisingly even my first memory of eating maggi noodles is from school. Maggi was holding quizzes in schools in those days and they gifted all the school kids one packet of maggi each:). Post this , there were other brands like bournvita and nestle who tried this mode but werent so sucessful.Jammy: You do manage to pick up the most interesting topics to write about.I am sure everone who had read this is nostalgic abt ” the first time they tasted maggi “
Looks like everybody has had won maggi as a prize in a quiz competition.
Me to…
Cheers!!!
Now look what you’ve done…. am all hungry now…. I WANT MAGGI… going to grab some…..
Nice post.
Sam: ha ha ha…I am not surprised at all. all of us poor guys ate maggi given to us as quiz contest prizes!!
Sam, I just write abt stuff that happened in my life…and unfortunately all my readers also seem to be above 30
and have experienced the same thing!
I wouldnt be surprised, if blog posts would be used to write the history of an era….at a later stage!
Mystique: in thise case you would have been unique if you had said that you didnt win a maggi packet as prize. Alas…you just lost an opportunity to stand out in the crowd!
Nachiketa: thanks mate…and i am glad i gave you mt blog url that day. it sure helps to be a vociferous marketer
Cool. This feels like Yaadon ki Baarat. I actually won a quiz competition in 4th Std sponsored by Maggi, and we got 24 packets of Maggi, 2 Ketchuop Bottles, 2 toy cards and loads of other stuffs.If I had known Jammy them, sure would have sent a few to him…
Hi Jamshed…
Ouchmytoe rockz…n after reading ur blogs one thing is for sure that journalism has lost a funny guy which it needs the most at present times…havin said that i would like to add that the DEFINITELY is spelled as DEFINATELY…chek the top most bar of your web pages…
OMG ! That ECTV thing was hilarious. And Maggi ! Aah ! You really did strike a cord here
nice blog but u lied. once u say u cant remember friends name and at other place u say vikas talpade .now will u clarify Jammy ?
I know exacty what you mean. I could never go the maggi way even when i had absolutely no money in my pocket.
I wrote about this too at:
http://costech.wordpress.com/2008/05/21/surviving-on-the-lowest-possible-bandwidth/
Wow you actually made that sentimental! Well almost… towards the end you betrayed your childhood idol!
I still prefer Magi for Dinner most days
Hi Jammy,
I got a wind of this article in my friend Abhijit’s website and was curious to read it. I could relate to your experience as I grew up the same time as you and had the same experience while cooking Maggi for the first time. My mother refused to cook it and I made a horrible stuff out of it, overcooked it and all.It was inedible, yuck! and we threw out the entire pack of three.It was way back in 1986.And I didn’t touch Maggi for another, say,18 years (I only had Top Ramon) until I was posted in Bombay for 4 months and survived on Maggi. What’s more, I started liking it and created different ways to eat them.And, guess what, for my current posting in Brisbane, the first thing I bought on the day I landed here was a giant pack of Maggi.How would people like us survive without the good old Maggi I wonder!
Thanks for this wonderful article and giving a chance to relive those Maggi memories.
Ur maggi story brought nostalgic feelings within me.
Our first attempt at making the 2 minute noodles was no less bad. Mom used more water than recommended. Also she spilled some extra salt. Noone was able to savour the dish that day.
Years later, when I came to delhi that I was able to relish maggi for the first time.