Wellbeing in a Bottle

A bunch of young entrepreneurs is reinventing how the ancient wisdom of ayurveda can be made more palatable for newer generations

- JASODHARA BANERJEE

Deepak Agarwal, who comes from a family of chartered accountants and finance professionals, was the first in his family to become an engineer. He was also a sportsperson, playing football for his college team. “I was the goalkeeper, and we were one up in the match, and it was last few minutes,” he says, recalling one fateful game. That was when an opponent’s knee—instead of making contact with the ball—crashed into his back, breaking two vertebrae. The treatment that followed included allopathy and physiotherapy, but what finally seemed to provide long-term relief was ayurveda and yoga. Consequently, Agarwal also became the first person in his family to turn entrepreneur, when he launched Auric in October 2018.

“I worked with Hindustan Unilever for nine years, and realised that we should be more function- and nutrition-oriented rather than flavourand taste-oriented about what we consume,” says the founder and CEO of Auric. “Ayurveda is perceived to be either too complex or too boring; either ancient and old-school or right-wing. But if ayurveda has to go forward, then it has to be simple and aspirational.” Based on this rationale, Auric launched five kinds of bottled, coconut water-based drinks, which address different aspects of health and well-being. A few glugs from a 250-ml bottle, chilled in your fridge, is enough to give you a portion of your daily dose of ayurvedic goodness.