BIJAN, India (Reuters) - Lounging in a food shack next to a dusty
highway, truck driver Manoj grins as he talks about having sex with
prostitutes.

"It depends on my mood whether I put on a condom or not," says
Manoj, as a monkey scampers around the tin-roofed building, some 60
km (35 miles) from New Delhi.

"Sometimes I am not in the mood," says the 24-year-old high school
dropout.

For officials and HIV/ AIDS campaigners in India -- home to
the largest number of infections after South Africa -- Manoj's
attitude 19 years after the nation of one billion reported its first
HIV case is a worrying challenge.

Today, India's HIV/AIDS population is 5.13 million.

India is using a host of methods to get its message across, from
tapping into the country's obsession with cricket to using
advertising slogans on soft drink bottles and spreading the word on
safe sex by train.

In July, the National AIDS Control Organization (NACO) in a bold
pilot campaign asked newspaper readers across the cricket-mad nation
to save their "wickets" and not lose their "stumps" to AIDS.

To drive home the point, the advertisement showed three cricket
wickets covered by condoms, a bold departure from more conservative
TV ads with cricketers like Indian captain Rahul Dravid wearing a
helmet and asking people to protect themselves.

This was followed by another newspaper advertisement warning readers
in a country where most people do not discuss sex openly to
remain "Not out!" to AIDS by practicing safe sex.

"Using cricket helps us talk about condoms and safe sex without the
gatekeepers (of morality) coming in the way as the game cuts across
all social groups and both men and women," said K. Anathakrishnan
Ravi, general manager of advertising agency R.K. Swamy BBDO which
created the campaign for NACO.

NOT JUST CRICKET

NACO says it is working on different strategies to trumpet the
message in the world's second most populous nation where condom
usage is still low and most HIV-infected people are in rural areas.

In the southern Andhra Pradesh state, which has an HIV infection
rate of 2.25 percent among adults compared with the national average
of 0.92 percent, the local government is distributing condoms at
liquor stores and milk stands.

NACO's outgoing chief S.Y. Quraishi said his agency was talking to
Coca-Cola Co. and PepsiCo Inc., which have a national distribution
network reaching remote areas, to get the softdrink giants to put
safe sex messages on bottles.

He says NACO is looking for generic messages on bottles such as "For
an AIDS-free India" rather than bold statements about condom use
which may make some soft drink consumers in rural areas
uncomfortable.

More than 40 percent of India's population with HIV/AIDS is between
15 and 40 years old and many consume soft drinks.

"Fighting HIV is a national cause. We need to get the message across
and want to piggyback on Coke and Pepsi," Quraishi said, adding NACO
also wants to send packs of condoms with crates of soft drinks to
shops in the countryside through delivery trucks.

NACO, which has been criticized by voluntary groups for a sluggish
response to the HIV epidemic, said it was ready to push the envelope
of what is socially acceptable.

It is helping staid state broadcaster Doordarshan, which reaches
about 400 million viewers, to develop a TV serial featuring an HIV-
infected character, a first for Indian TV.

"Some people may be shy but you have to get them to talk about sex
and AIDS," Quraishi said.

RED RIBBON EXPRESS

NACO also plans to hire a train from Indian railways, one of the
world's biggest networks that spans the entire country, to spread
the anti-AIDS message.

The "Red Ribbon Express" will carry actors who will perform AIDS
awareness plays; doctors to carry out HIV tests; and volunteers who
will cycle to villages every time the train stops.

In the northern city of Chandigarh last month, thousands of people
including local politicians rang bells, honked horns and clanged
food utensils to create an "alarm" about AIDS.

But voluntary groups say much more needs to be done.

"You have to reach the village before the village lad leaves to look
for a job," said Alok Mukhopadhyay, the head of the Voluntary Health
Association of India (VHAI).

"Otherwise, he lands up in the city where he is exposed to
prostitutes but without knowledge of how to protect himself."

He says authorities should target rural fairs and religious
gatherings that are attended by millions of people.

NACO thinks it is a good idea and, along with voluntary groups,
wants to screen short films, stage street plays about AIDS and
organize discussions at gatherings like rural fairs.

VHAI says it has used puppeteers and magicians to entertain people
at such gatherings as well as educate them about AIDS.

But many like Manoj still have not got the message.

"AIDS? Yes, I have heard about it -- it has something do with sex,"
he said, still grinning. "I don't think about it."

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