LONDON, U.K., May 3, 2002: The appearance of an image of Lord Ganesha, Lord Siva, Lord Krishna or Goddess Lakshmi on iced fruit cakes, sold by Selfridges on Oxford Street, has caused alarm with some Hindus in the United Kingdom. Bimal Krishna Das of the UK Council of Hindu Temples said, “I think this is depicting the Hindu pantheon in a mocking way.” Vishva Hindu Parishad’s UK general secretary Kishore Ruparelia adds, “I am flabbergasted that they have gone to these lengths to depict our gods and goddesses.” Made by a company called Seriously Scrumptious for the Selfridge store, the hand made cakes are one of many luxury deserts. Rita Hraiz, company founder who is half-Indian and half Lebanese says, ” We put love into what we do. We are not embarrassed to talk about our spiritual leanings. Quite a lot of our staff have been to India and feel a lot of love for the country and 20 per cent of our profits go to the Tulsi Trust, which serves some villages near Vrindavan.”
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