Noni - Heralding Good Health - Part I

By Tharangini

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Once upon a time, long long ago, according to the Hawaiian mythology, the demigod Maui attracted the wrath of the goddess of death and was killed.  He was brought back to life after being covered with Noni leaves.

The Goddess of volcano, Pele, is said to have diverted the flow of lava to spare Noni trees.

A young Noni tree

Noni is a fruit which is also known as the Indian Mulberry. It has been around for centuries and was known as Ayushka, which means 'lifespan enhancer', in ancient India. But various foreign invasions had removed our connection with Noni. It has however found its way back again to our lands.

In fact it is said that, in ancient civilizations,  when people had to move from one place to another to start new settlements,  they used to carry Noni seeds and saplings without fail. Noni had a vital role to play in their lives.

Noni Fruit

Now most of you would have heard of or known about Noni and plenty of you would have also benefited from it in a number of ways. I myself had tried Noni juice a while back, so when there was a chance to visit one such company manufacturing Noni products, the chance was just not to be missed.

It was a warm Thursday evening when we got a chance to visit Valyou Products,  where multiple Noni products are manufactured. This was an enlightening experience to say the least and I thought it would be worthwhile to share it with all of you.

Valyou Products is the brainchild of Sreenivas Murthy and his wife Ambuja Sreenivas Murthy.  Inchara, their daughter and also the CEO of the company was our tour guide that evening. I got a chance to pick her brains and badger her with questions till my curious mind was satisfied and she was more than patient in indulging me. She cheerfully introduced  me not only to their entire farm but also to the history of Valyou Products and the reason why Noni is so beneficial. I found all this information fascinating.

Inchara- She was a

storehouse of information

I decided to first understand about  their company and then move on to understand the value of Noni.

Here is the history behind Valyou Products as told to me by Inchara. The journey began in a painful way, literally. Sreenivasa Murthy was afflicted with a severe case of slip disk while working on his farm sometime around 2006.

The condition improved after a treatment with traction, only to resurface again after a few days in a more severe manner. Painkillers proved to provide only short term relief and other medications were also tried, tested and discarded after being ineffective.

Next came a visit to a renowned doctor in Mangalore, who was a specialist in treating pains.  But after 6 months of treatment and no improvement, Murthy was told that nothing further could be done to help him out.

When all hope seemed to be lost and he was almost bedridden, someone suggested Noni to Murthy as part of a network marketing scheme. However the cost factor proved to be a hurdle in trying it out. But this did awaken an interest in him to read up and understand more about Noni.  He learnt that Noni grew in the Gokarna forests and tried to procure the fruit through some contacts, to prepare the juice. Noni being the super delicate fruit it is, by the time it reached him, it used to be rotten and lived up to its name of being called the 'vomit fruit' because of the appalling smell.

But luckily for Murthy, an Ayurvedic college principle who was also his college mate, took note of his interest in Noni. He  offered to teach Murthy's  wife, Ambuja, the process of procuring and making Noni juice the right way.

Valyou Products

From being almost bedridden, improvements were seen within 3 months. Within 6 months he could walk again with support. As he continued to heal, people who used to visit him during his ailment and had lost all hopes on his improvement, now started coming to him for cure for their ailments.

Word started spreading and their remote home suddenly started attracting visitors. In Inchara's own words "We used to fill Noni juice in whatever kind of bottle people used to bring, water bottle or brandy bottle, it did not matter. My father used to tell them, it has helped me, I do not know if it will help you, but you can try it."  Surprisingly, Noni proved to be beneficial in multiple kinds of ailments, from gastritis to aches, pains and even chronic ailments.

Once he had fully recovered and the success stories of  those who he had helped increased, he was advised to expand further. Not only could more people be helped this way by this miracle fruit, but this could also prove to be a source of income for their family. So locking up their newly finished home in Guddekoppa near Thirthahalli, they moved on to a rented place in Shimoga.

The next challenge was to make the Noni juice at their home setup. The smell during the extraction process was unforgiving. This meant that it was impossible to make it during the day. So they resorted  to making it in the early hours of the morning before the rest of the world around them was up for the day. Even then early morning walkers and those stepping out to get milk threw questioning glances at their house, crinkled their noses and hurried away from there.

They had to shift once again to a further remote area. Here Valyou Products was born with 3 variants. Today they have over 9 products and the list is growing. You can check their products here : Valyou Products.

Awards, trophies and certificates

Their raw material comes from various farmers. A  Noni farmers' association has also been set up with 75 members. Therefore a number of farmers have also benefited in the process.

After this introduction to Valyou Products,  Inchara took me on a tour of their farm to know more about Noni. This was an interesting tour. Let's take a walk through the farm and know more about Noni in Part II.


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