Condom makers, fertility clinics cash in on Navratri
NEWDELHI: Large hoardings for a Navratri-themed condom ad featuring Bollywood actor Sunny Leone, with the words “this Navratri, play ... but with love (aa Navratri a ramo, parantu premthi)”, may have sparked protests in Surat, but the brand isn’t alone in cashing in on the festival fervour.
Even some IVF centres are using radio jingles to advertise special Navratri packages for infertile couples looking forward to having a child, as this is considered an auspicious occasion for a significant section of the population.
“People usually like to start an IVF cycle around this time as it is seen as an auspicious occasion to start something new, and it is a new life that is involved with a new embryo being lodged,” said Richika Shukla, an IVF expert.
Shukla runs three IVF centres in Delhi-NCR under the name of Indian IVF Fertility Clinic, and IVF bookings see a jump of 30% during the Navratri festival, she said.
“People usually avoid any such auspicious activity during shraadh— a period to remember dead ancestors, which falls before the festival. Soon after the shraadh period ends, we see a rush of couples. If we routinely do 30 cycles in a month, during the festival, we sometimes do even up to 90 cycles,” she says.
Shukla has also been running a ‘Free Navratri Infertility Camp’ since past few years. “We get a good response and even have to pool in manpower from our sister clinics,” she claimed.
The period is also in demand for elective caesarean section deliveries.
“We do get more requests for surgical deliveries around navratri as people consider it a ‘shubh (auspicious) time’. We spend a lot of time counselling couples, and don’t usually relent unless we know the woman is anyway going to end up having a cesarean-section delivery,” said Anuradha Kapur, head of gynaecology and obstetrics at Max Healthcare. Leone’s Manforce condom advertisements have set off a howl of ‘religious sentiment’ opposition in Surat, so much so that the hoardings have been given police protection, reports said on Tuesday.