Move over Ravi Shankar (or The Double Shree)

For now we have this "Triple Shree"

We now have "Shree Shree Shree Pa. Pu. Shree Shivdutt Swamiji Maharaj". Yes, thats the full annotation of the name. Move aside Sri Sri Ravi Shankar (of the youga and Art of Living fame). I saw a poster of Triple Shree just this morning. Looks like he's just commenced operations and his publicty material has just reached the walls of bus stops. If you observe the promotional posters carefully, you see a rather simplistic and dull looking guy with a beard and all - a kind of ascetic look , perhaps to draw in crowds. These guys do have a rather fierce marketing group working for them - and this is essential when you have to differentiate yourself from the rest of the godmen who have already got respectable market share. Like any business, this line too has cut-throat competition. Triple Shree is attempting a entry into the market with his Triple Shree nomenclature - thats his USP perhaps. (Whats UPS , sorry USP ? Maybe the MBA's know).

I was in a hurry write this post, lest I forget the lengthy name of this character. Im not fully aware of the "Pa. Pu." salution abbreviations in the name. This translation is direct from the devnagri scripted poster, so perhaps people in the know about these things can help clarify what it might be standing for.

I had a friend who was interested in godmen and was doing a series on them. Perhaps clicking some links on this page should get you to his blog. You might want to read his take on them too.

(I'm told Pa. Pu. stands for Param Pujya , meaning adorable or respectable)