Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

Where do they learn to sell??

Posted: November 6, 2009 in Uncategorized
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A couple of days back, I got a call on our building intercom system. It was the security guard, informing me that a “maharaj” (cook) was there, and he wanted to come up. He put the maharaj on the line. A friendly voice asked to speak to “bhabhi” (my better half). I gave her the line.

Now she was busy with some work and as I observed her, I could see that she was trying to put him off and was not keen to have him come up. But there must have been something in his conversation that she finally agreed to let him come over. And as she put the intercom down, she made a face. That told me that she was wondering why she let him come up!

I saw him for the first time. A short, bespectacled, freckled man, carrying two large cloth bags, containing several packets of food. Very simple, very ordinary looking. And then I saw his exchange with my wife.

Very friendly, almost homely, like he had known her for ages. Offering whole bunch of new stuff that he had. Name dropping some interesting cooking assignments that he had executed recently. My wife was in no mood to purchase anything, and he did not even push for sales. Just kept showing things that he was carrying. Ultimately, my wife made a small purchase. Total of Rs. 100/- worth. He had no issues at all. Took the money, proposed that he be called for other work if any, and left with a smile.

Later as I talked to my wife, I discovered that he had come to this level from very humble beginnings. He would work at people’s homes, take small money to run the family. He would pick up these contractual cooking work, which would be seasonal, and would leave him with free time and no earnings, in between. But he had a good hand, a good attitude, and he got good houses to visit as a result. With that access, he experimented and created some snack items, and started offering to his loyal customers. And some tried. And these were good. Well priced as well. And word of mouth happened. And he has a decent customer base set up. Also with the successful experiment of migration to product creation, from being only a service provider, he got into full-fledged catering offers too. At a fixed rate per person, he can cater for full fledged parties at home. Decent food, good rates, all inclusive with tissue, paper plates and all.

I am sure he has done well for himself, from where he started. Amazing enterprise. Hard work. And of course, the sweet talking sales skills.

Yes, India has amazing enterprise. Perhaps a legacy. Perhaps the fact that India could never offer its millions of people the jobs they needed. Whatever be the reason. Survival via enterprise became a rule. And we see an amazing number of such hard working entrepreneurs who have done well to improve their lots.

And the one thing that sets apart those who become really successful here, is their innate ability to sell.

Like this maharaj described above, I have distinct memories of few other such cases.

As a child, I happened to visit Nainital a couple of times. And while I have hazy memories of the lake and the yachts, I have a distinct memory of this suit store on Mall road there. An absolutely stunning salesman, it was said that you could not step into his store and come out without making a purchase. Since we went there twice and my father had an experience of this the first time around, he studiously avoided getting into the store on our second visit. But on the last day, out of curiosity, intrigue and admiration, he figured that we will go to the store, just to share good tidings, but we will not purchase for sure.

Yeah, right! Like we had a hope. Sure enough, we came out with a bag of goods!

Then, there was this amazing experience I had on 5th Ave, Manhattan. In the heart of fashion district, in one of the high rises there, on a higher floor. A Gujarati speaking, Bohri Muslim, born and brought up in Ahmedabad, but now in the US for many years, runs one of the most successful custom suit business. I spent two hours sitting with him once, few years back, and was an observer to his selling skills with an American customer who had come in to shop with him, all the way from Texas.

Picture this first. Two offices joined together. No walls in between. Huge open space, beautifully carpeted and four large walls painted white. And having frames right through. Frames with photos of celebrities dressed in suits made by this Ahmedabadi! Politicians, Hollywood, sports. Especially basketball players. Since they need to be fitted! Mind boggling reference list.

Had a back office in Hongkong. Had samples of all kinds of fabrics whose large quantities were inventoried in HK. Connected over fax. To send out those measurement details, especially the intricate sketches of fine requirements. Suits get shipped in 3-4 working days. If it is a new customer, he walks in for a trial, and if there are tweaks to be done, this gentleman does those himself. Well, now he also had a couple of assitants (but that was it – including him, a total of 3 persons on the team, doing HUGE business!).

But back to the man. And how I saw a phenomenal salesman in action, as I sat there as an admiring observer.

He knew this Texan by name. Must be a reasonably regular customer. Talked to him about many things other than business. All topics that the customer was interested in, it appeared. Getting down to business, it seemed like the guy had walked in to purchase a suit or two, at most. Sharing the various products, and then offering package deals (shirts, ties etc.), he ended up generating business worth more than $8,500, all in a matter of about 45 minutes. And swiped the card right there, to close the deal. Awesome stuff.

For a man who began life on the streets of Ahmedabad… would you not doff your hat off to him?

The moot point of these stray examples is the skills in selling that run common. None of them have stepped into B-schools. They don’t have any aids except for their tongue and their passion and their emotions.

As against that, a B-schooler sales guy is lost without his laptop and his powerpoint and his graphs and charts and data. And then he wants support in terms of lowest prices and freebies bundled in, and extended credit terms offered. And after all that, he may meet his targets.

Now if you needed a sales person to save your life, who’d you pick? The maharaj, the suit seller in Nainital, the custom tailor from Ahmedabad, now on 5th Ave, NY, or the hip MBA with his laptop?? 🙂

Just when you thought all communities would shift to Facebook..

Posted: November 4, 2009 in Uncategorized
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We have a really vibrant and interactive discussion group, of our VJTI class of 1985. We have an amazing set of guys who are keen and active, and every now and then, we see very interesting discussions, spanning a very wide range of topics. And contributions coming from across the world!

Recently there was an innocent question from one of the members whether we should consider shifting our group to Facebook, from the yahoogroups location where it has been running for many years.

And the few quick responses that came by, were emphatic and unanimous. That “no, we don’t shift to Facebook, and we are fine on yahoogroups”!

An interesting message right there, isn’t it? Just when we thought that all community type communication and interaction would be best done on formats like Facebook, there is a clear conclusion here. That we are better off with a plain and simple yahoogroup.

Lest you think that our group is one of ancient phobies who don’t know a shit about Facebook and hence, we prefer to stay with yahoogroups, let me assure you that it is far from the case. Some of us are Social Media professionals, and most of us are deeply engaged in social networking and microblogging and everything that is ‘in’ these days.

Yet, we rejected Facebook for this group.

Reasons?

1. Privacy. There are a lot of conversations on our group, which would border on controversy, which would upset the senstivity of people, which may sometimes be embarrassing if shared with outsiders. We as a group, know each other for nearly 25 years now, and are almost without inhibitions. We also understand each other well, and don’t take much to heart. But there is a fear that if these conversations landed up with anyone other than the group concerned, it may not be healthy. And with all kinds of “sharing” and “liking” that Facebook provides, we don’t know what conversation will end up landing where.

2. Chances of losing members. Like most groups, there is a mix of active participants, observers and lurkers. And observers and lurkers are always a far larger percentage. These not-very-active members perhaps receive digest versions of the email group. Which also, they might be seeing not-that-regularly. If we move out to another destination, they may not even realize it. And they may also miss all the instruction emails that we send, asking members to move to a new destination. We’d drop members, in short.

3. Why fix what’s not broken. We are quite happy with the pace, we’ve got used to the yahoogroups emails, each of us has would have worked out our own schedule or method to manage the flow. So why change. And its not a change for one person. Getting the whole group, located all over the place and connected only virtually, to make a shift, is challenging, to say the least. Best left untouched.

So we continue to be on yahoogroups.

But speaking of privacy especially, it is an interesting thought.

There was a time, when we would hesitate putting sensitive things on email. Because emails were so easy to be forwarded and our sensitive matters could land up in the wrong hands, accidentally.

Now, we find email safer. From that point of view. We do not forward nor receive many forwarded emails anymore. Oh, its such a pain to select the forward option, then find our friends from the address book, and take all that effort.

Now if it was Facebook, it was another matter altogether. One click to “share” and we are done.

How times change.. 🙂

And the Calendar sheet turns over..

Posted: November 3, 2009 in Uncategorized
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Yeah, October makes way for November.

The passage of time. Just another day in life. Or a sense of aniticipation of winter coming in.

Or an anxiety that there is a lot to do, and more time has gone by, and we have not achieved enough?

All a matter of choice.

Stress is the way of life today. And if one was stressed, say about this passage of time, one would be “normal”, at least in the sense of being in the average mould.

But one does not have to be ‘average’. One can be different. One can choose to not carry that stress.

Take this time factor, for example.

Lets acknowledge first that each day must count. That we put in our best effort each day. With whatever it is that is our karma for the moment.

Once that is done and acknowledged, fretting about one date crossed out or the calendar flipping a page over, is not necessary. Does not help any.

So does this conflict with timebound targets and ambition and all that? Hope not. I don’ t think so. What about you?

Unfortunately of course, some things are calendar driven. Like expenses. And due to which reason, the calendar needs to be watched.

I know these are ramblings. As blogs are supposed to be. So I am not apologetic about this one.

I make the simple, humble point. More to myself, than to others.

That October turning to November, is not something to worry about. What is more important is to ensure that every day is made to count and the day ends with a satisfaction of having done one’s best that day!

Would love to hear other opinions on this?

Two Events, Great Work, Great Response..

Posted: November 1, 2009 in Uncategorized
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I have been kind of associated with two different events that are to happen in Mumbai in the coming months.

I am a member of the Rotary Club of Deonar, which is part of the Rotary District 3140. The District Governor for this year is from our club, DG Rtn. Raju Subramanium. On account of this fact, the onus of hosting the prestigious District Conference falls on our club. We are the hosts for the event, being the DG’s Club. The District Conference (DISCON) will be held in February, 2010. This is the one event that I was referring to.

The other event is the Industrial Green Chemistry Workshop (IGCW 2009), which is being help in Dec 2009.

Both of these are being held at the Renaissance in Mumbai, by coincidence.

For the Rotary DISCON, I have not been involved at all, even though our club is the host. Reasons are a few including the fact that I joined this Rotary Club in the middle of this Rotary year (I was a member of Rotary Club of Bombay Worli earlier), but more importantly, because, I have been very busy with my new business, and have not had time to participate actively, in any Rotary activity.

On the other hand, for IGCW 2009, I have been involved to a small extent, as besides being friends, they are our clients as well, and we are managing their website, their Social Media initiatives and their Search Engine Marketing as well.

I have been most impressed by both of the events, and the key members involved in both of these.

The thought that this is still a bad economy or a recession year would have not even crossed the minds of the key organizers of both of the events. The events have been planned at a grand scale. In case of the Rotary DISCON, to create a big impact for Rotary in the community, and to make a clear statement of it being better than all previous District conferences. Likewise, for IGCW, which is debuting, to make a big mark on all participants and stakeholders, and to make it a regular fixture in the calendars of the target audience.

Neither have thought of doing a low budget effort in defense. The confidence levels for both of these have been immense. And with which follows an amazing dedication and a huge force of effort in action. I am not sure of the DISCON, but for IGCW, there has been effort mobilization happening for a few years now.

All of which have culminated in tremendous traction.

Being associated in a small way with both the events, I might be guilty to have had doubts in my mind, on few occasions, about the success of the events. Though the key people involved, I am sure, have had 100% confidence always.

But I can see how their dedication, their conviction, their complete belief and passion behind the respective events, have started showing great results.

The early bird registration options for DISCON just closed. And we have news of a high percentage of seats already filled up, in that early bird offer. Amazing, isn’t it?

Likewise, the IGCW registrations, sponsorships and exhibitor commitments have started coming in rapidly now.

It is so satisfying to see these results. There is a sense of pride and ownership that I feel, even though my involvement has been very small. The exuberance of the concerned individuals (DG Raju, Rtn. Jhankar and others in the team for DISCON, and Bhadresh Padia, Nitesh Mehta and their team at IGCW) has been contagious. It rubs off on everyone involved, who want to do their best to make sure that the events are successful.

It has been very inspiring to me, to be associated with IGCW closely, and to have been an observer at a distance,  for DISCON. I am sure both of these events are going to be amazingly successful, and my best wishes for both of these!

Service level apathy: Is it because we’re just too many??

Posted: October 31, 2009 in Uncategorized
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Bhavin, who writes as the Man from Matunga, in Mumbai Mirror, has in the last few weeks, covered more than one service level issues, with brands. That in his once-a-week column, he finds it worthwhile to cover these so frequently can only indicate a high frequency of such events!

And don’t we all know?

Let me recount an episode that I am still in the middle of.

My Linksys Wi-Fi router at home, finally called it a day, after a good 4-5 years. I went shopping for a replacement, and found at Staples, besides Linksys, the Belkin brand. Being cheaper for nearly the same specs, I took a view on the brand from my brother, and after getting a strong validation, I purchased the Belkin N Series Wi-Fi router.

Tried to self install as per their paper guide. Could not quite get it done. Luckily they had a toll free number to call from India. I was very impressed that at 10 pm on a holiday, the call connected. And oh, the call went to a foreign country, not sure where. The accent was very un-Indian. Perhaps Philipines. Neat, I thought. For once, calls from India are being outsourced to another country!! Anyway, the person on the phone spent a good 15 min with me, guiding me on a step by step process, and got the router up and running.

I was happy.

About 5-6 days later, the router again gave issues. After trying hard myself, I called the toll free number again. The guy on the line tried his best, but could not sort the issue. He then put me across to their senior technician, who also tried hard. No go.

At this point, the senior technician, in what can only be termed as very western style, was able to authorize for me, a free replacement. He looked up and gave me detailed addresses, phone numbers and concerned persons’ names, at two independent locations in Mumbai, where I could go and get the router replaced. He even gave the call id reference number, his own name and suggested that this should be enough to get the replacement to happen.

Wow, I continued to be impressed. Even while I was continuing to be disappointed by what looked like a bad purchase! I was willing to assume that I had a bad piece, unfortunately, and this could happen as a bad coincidence. But that, since their service was so impressive, I might still be with the right brand and the right company.

Alas. This is where the international service ended and the India part kicked in. And trouble began.

Considering the conversation with the senior technician, I went ahead and sent the router with those details, to the service place. Which happened to be, by the way, an independent company, viz. Accel Frontline Ltd. I thought the call id and other details would be sufficient, as conveyed by the senior technician, and I was quite looking forward to an across-the-counter exchange.

Well, first of all, they asked for the purchase invoice. Which I had not sent. My bad.

As luck would have it, my invoice and credit card slip had got washed with the laundry. Did not remove it from trousers! But this part still worked out fine. I happened to visit Staples again, gave them the date and the reference (credit card, product name etc.) and they were able to pull out the invoice, and gave me a duplicate one. Service with a smile too. That I had gone on a weekday afternoon, when the store was pretty empty, might have been one of the reasons of the prompt service. That apart, the attitude was good.

So back to Accel. Sent the router and the invoice now. No across-the-counter replacement. They took the router, gave me an acknowledgement, some call id number of their own, and suggested to contact them after 7-8 days! Uh-oh.

Count to 10. Be patient. Hang on. I did. Decided to wait.

The service paper they made out and gave, had some impressive suggestions. That I could send the call id over SMS and get an automated updated status and everything. Wow. Service station automation. Cool.

7-8 days later, I first tried the phone only. They had a few numbers, including a cell number of one of their key persons. NONE of them responded! Tried the next day. SAME story. Could not connect on phone.

Then I remembered tha SMS option. Perhaps they don’t take calls to encourage everyone to use SMS. Did that. Waited for the response. Waited. Waited. None came.

Finally exasperated, and figuring that 9 days have gone by, and router should anyway be ready, I sent my person to go and fetch it.

Worst fears confirmed. It was not ready. Another 4-5 days was the time taken. Unfortunately my person did not connect me to them on phone, while he was there. I tried to call them to understand what the matter was. I could not connect to them on phone.

With no option, waited for another 4-5 days.

THEN, when my person called, lo and behold, the phone connected. And he was told that yes, it will take ANOTHER 4-5 days. But since now the phone connected, I decided to call them myself. The poor operator at the other end, did not have a clue why there is a delay. She promptly gave me the Mumbai head’s cell number. Which was “switched off”. So I called the babe again. So she cried, “we have not got the piece from head office, so how can we give you?”. I said that I need to speak to head office then. She promptly gave me the Chennai number of the concerned person at the head office. That was on Friday first half.

Over the day, I called this lady in Chennai 3-4 times, since she promised to help. Of couse, I had to use words like “consumer complaint” etc. but I am not sure if those were the catalysts, or whether it was always possible for them to do things, but needed someone calling in from Mumbai few times in a day, to make it happen.

Well, now I have been told that the replacement has been shipped to Mumbai office, and Monday might be my lucky day.

And then I have to hope that it was not a product problem, but just a piece problem, and the replacement works fine.

Oh, still a long way to go, before I reach true Wi-Fi happiness. Why did I not go for a Linksys only??

So the moot point here is, whether we are apathetic to service? We are too many. There will always be another sucker queieing up. So do we need to worry if this one’s disturbed. Is that the reason? Is it cultural – a ‘chalta hai’ high tolerance syndrome? The way Bhavin ultimately “settled” to accept a less than desired service level in Goa, do we all, just accept and resign ourselves? And continue to get shit??

I wonder about it. Even as I wait for my Wi-Fi to be restored at home..

The Agassi confession: The Early Days Indiscretions Syndrome??

Posted: October 30, 2009 in Uncategorized
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It was shocking to read Agassi’s confession about having taken drugs earlier in his career, and lied about it too.

a. that as a player of his stature, he did it, and got away with it.

b. that just because he’s got a book out, he wants to come out and confess. Not really to repent, but to sell more books!

c. and he will pretty much run scot free. Where other athletes have had disastrous ends to their career, lost their medals, and lost financial rewards, when caught!

It is a shame really, considering that he was one of the more loved characters on court, had a fairytale wedding to another tennis ace, Steffi Graf, and was certainly an all-American favorite.

Is this a syndrome though? No, I am not referring to the drugs. I refer to the indiscretions, small or big, at the early stage of a career. Is it a done thing for many if not all very successful people?

Bending the law to one’s convenience. Cheating. Fraud – small or big. Are these often the start? And doing these, if one gets away, and breaks out, then the person “cleans up” his act??

We have all heard stories of Dhirubhai Ambani’s beginnings. The film Guru, clearly inspired on his life, shows many a maninpulation that was carried out. Perhaps with the best of intentions. But a crime nonetheless. And now we have a gigantic empire based on that foundation.

I heard a quote from J P Morgan, where he is supposed to have said that “Don’t ask me about my first million. I can explain every cent after that”.

Is that how it always is? Agassi, Ambani, Morgan – are these the inspirations for others, then?

And then, do the others know, where their “first million” comes? Or at what stage they need to stop taking the performance enhancing drugs??

Is it just a grey-grey world that we live in, where there is no white and no black, and depending on which side you look from, the grey may appear white enough for you?

What do you think?

Are we making the most of the advantages that we have?

Posted: October 29, 2009 in Uncategorized
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I am not. And this post is a reminder to myself, to focus on this aspect.

Ok, so let me rewind and get you to the page first.

This thought comes up when we discuss life in India and that in the US, for example. Many of us, especially from Engineering programs in India, have a lot of friends who opted to stay back in the US, and who have been there now for many years. And there were others like us, who had those opportunities as well, but we chose to return or stay back in India. And this then, makes a comparison of life in the two places, a frequent topic of conversation.

My good friend, Vineet, must be credited for bringing out this specific thought. As an observation first, and then the challenge.

Typically, families (and I refer to our desi families there) in the US, have to personally tend to grocery shopping, cleaning, cooking, tending to the gardens, driving their own cars, juggling around the kids schedules and managing those, and what not. And all that, while they are still putting in a hard day’s work. And often, we see them still finding time for their holidays, or for taking a trek, or go skiing, or pursuiing hobbies, or being a soccer coach to the kids at school and what not.

Cut. To India now.

Servants galore, a chauffeur to drive us around, huge support system of friends and family, and such advantages. And what do we do with those advantages. If anything, we should be having more time and more space to pursue other interests, or be better parents, or help others. And not necessarily by stretching out to 18 hour days. And yet, how rare is that. Most of us seem to lose time in the routine, in the mundane, or perhaps in yet some more work.

So that brings me to the topic of this post. Are we making the most of the advantages that we have??

Now, if we start giving reasons of the disadvantages that we have in our lives, we must honestly question ourselves, if we are just creating alibis? We can fool others (or try to) but we cannot fool our own selves!

If I have to answer the question, I will say that honestly, “No, I am not making the most of the advantages that I have in life!”. And that needs to change..

Forget the India-US advantage. There are many others.

The other day when the Central Railway in Mumbai was thrown out of gear, there were commuters who had to walk many hours to reach home. Many many commuters do it on a daily basis. And here I am today, with a 5-minute commute to work. A huge advantage of sorts. And am I making the most of this advantage by putting that time to best use? Guess not!

Yes, this needs to change.

Do you see the point? Do you believe you have advantages too? And are you making the most of those??

Monday Morning Musings..

Posted: October 26, 2009 in Uncategorized
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This is the first day of my 47th year on planet earth.

Yes, its been a while since I have been around 🙂

And yes, it was my 46th birthday yesterday.

Unfortunately, spent most of it in bed. Laid low by what seemed to be “internal fever”. Body ache and stuff. Maybe the body just demanded rest. And I had to give in. Fair enough. I was sleeping enough to not use that time, to reminisce about the years gone by. No, have not strayed that path. Lest it lead to pain 😉

Finally be end of the day yesterday, generated enough strength to get out, and take a break. Went and saw ‘Julie and Julia’. I had 3 clear reasons why I went for this film:

a. Needed that break on the birthday after spending the day in bed, and didn’t have strength to walk around, so sitting in a cinema was about the best I could do,

b. There is absolutely no other movie worth seeing, as far as I am concerned,

c. Meryl Streep. I am a huge fan. Recently reconfirmed after seeing Mamma Mia on TV few days back.

On top of that, had read a brief review and liked the concept.

Well, the film turned out to be a lovely one. Very simple in concept. And inspiring.

Spread across two periods of time (I like the way these new film models are emerging.. saw it to an extent earlier in Rang De Basanti), its a story of two women. Who find their calling in cooking. And about how that one passion gives meaning to their lives. And makes life worth living.

I found inspiration in this simple message. About finding that calling that drives you. About setting deadlines and making it happen. About recognizing your own pitfalls and putting constraints on yourself so you can overcome those pitfalls. And of course, about food. Enjoying it. Especially the desserts 🙂

Other than the movie, was happy to receive loads of sweet messages from friends, relatives, colleagues, etc. On phone, on Facebook, on SMS, on Twitter, on Email. From close friends and family, to some long lost ones, and to some stray contacts made via Twitter and FB. Well, they all took the effort and I am so thankful for their wishes and their thoughts.

And then I got so many of those automated business greetings. Well, we end up leaving our date of birth at so many places nowadays, when we fill forms of all kinds. And then some of them convert it to an automated birthday message system (we’d done it earlier too.. lol). Unfortunately, most of them are so boring. Some of them use even this opportunity to pitch some sales. Really! They must grow up, right? We’re talking of Web 3.0 and these guys are still on Email 0.1 looks like?!

One of them was a little different. They actually picked up the phone and called. Not an IVR.. thank God for that. But a real person, with a real warm greeting. And managed to stand out.

Which is what each of us needs to do. Stand out. Be different. Be counted for the unique individuals that each of us are.

Cheers!

I wish there were only 6 Raashes.. or say, at most 9..

Posted: September 27, 2009 in Uncategorized
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“What’s your Raashe?” was l-o-n-g!!

The story of Yogesh Patel’s search for a perfect bride, told earlier in a brilliant way on a TV serial, came to cinema screens via Ashutosh Gowarikar, in “What’s your Raashee?”.

Covering 12 of them takes time. And seen in a movie at one stretch, it gets repetitive at a point. So it would have been nice if there were only 6 raashees and not 12. Or if he had decided to go for alternate ones and not all!!

Well, for all the respect that AG has earned after Lagaan, Swades and Jodha Akbar, you give him the leeway and sit through those extra minutes.

As I did. Earlier today morning. At a new multiplex, the Big Cinemas 9-screen Megaplex started recently, at the R-City Mall, in Ghatkopar. It’s a longer drive there, compared to the walking distance Fun Cinemas screens at K-Star Mall in Chembur, but we decided to go anyway, as there had been this huge promotion about the Megaplex, and we thought it might be worth checking it out, on a Sunday morning.

And it was certainly worth the experience, I tell you! An extremely impressive cinema complex. 7 regular screens, and 2 special screens. One of them being a lounge style 180 degrees recline sofa screen. And another, a first that I have heard in India, in the form of Cine Dine. Where you sit on restaurant style tables, order food, and eat, even as the movie plays on screen. Should be an interesting experience that I want to try out once.

We went to a regular screen. Very comfortable sofa seats for Rs. 130 (morning show on weekends) was not bad as a price. As regards snacks, its become a practise now, to have bundled deals, of popcorn+drink, or samosa+drink or those types. And they are also better value for money than the obscene stand-alone rates that had become the norm few months back.

Coming to the movie itself, I am not particularly impressed by the concept of a guy going around looking for girls, of different raashees, and seeing where the best fit lies. For one, I think its a concept that has gone past the ‘best by’ date. And for another, it appears far fetched, irrespective.

But having said that, stranger things happen in our country, and this one too could happen in real life.

That said, the saga of the hero meeting different girls, of different raashees, is shown well by Ashutosh. The 12 characters have been shown very different, and to an extent, in alignment with the raashee. Some characters appear a little exaggerated (they did so, even in case of Sanjeev Kumar’s 9 roles in Naya Din Nayi Raat), but still believable in most cases.

The reason for the rush to the wedding, appears to be corny. But again, it’s incidental to the rest of the story.

The film remains light hearted, and is supported well by the perfect “restrained, funny actors” trio of Dilip Joshi, Darshan Jariwala and Anjan Srivastav.

Coming to the main two leads, it is a dream role for Priyanka Chopra. Or I should say, a dream dozen roles! There is so much room to play these different characters and in their own unique styles, and she does an admirable job with these. Ashutosh has ensured a sexy feel for the character in most of the dozen roles, so Priyanka has room to do what she does best. Look sexy! And dance and sing and all that. But even in the simpler characters, she has done quite fine.

Coming to Harman Baweja, unfortunately, he has to live with the tag of being a poor man’s Hrithik Roshan.

I think he’s perhaps an inch or two shorter than Hrithik.

I think his physique is also a little lesser than Hrithik’s.

He dances well, but of course, falls short of the master, Hrithik.

He looks like Hrithik, but not quite as hot!

So all in all, he’s just that bit lesser than Hrithik in all respects. And yet the resemblance remains. So unless he does a significant make over for himself, he has to be stuck to the tag of being a Hrithik clone.

And which is how he comes out in this movie too. Which is not too bad, as he’s cloning a really great actor, and even if he reaches 60-70% of that level, it can’t be too bad for the audience. Which should summarise his effort in the flick, then.

All in all, “What’s Your Raashee?” is fine. For Ashutosh Gowariker’s sake, one can tolerate the excessive 45 minutes. But if you don’t see it, you will be none the less for it. And if you are a true fan of AG’s, it may actually be best to not see it, so you can retain him, at the high pedestal, after his epic winners of the past. If those were his business, this one, at best is like a part time hobby that he pursued!

E-Zone and messed up MRPs: the tale of woe of organized retail in India

Posted: September 6, 2009 in Uncategorized
Tags: , , , ,
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They crib about the expensive real estate.

Or that maybe finance is not easy to come.

Good people are not available.

Such and many other excuses why organized retail apparently struggles still in India.

Well, all those reasons may be true. But when I went a shopping today, I realized that there are far bigger fundamental problems that they seem to have at this time!

I was at the E-Zone store in K Star Mall in Chembur. The staff was nothing much to talk about. But that was a small part of the problem. In India, we get used to untrained, unhelpful staff in stores!

The problem was in the actual shopping process. That it was very slow, and then they had this elaborate process of two different rubber stamps put slowly, one after another, on the invoice, and then while walking out, the security person seeing the invoice, the SKU number, looking at the product, and then putting yet another rubber stamp, was exasperating.

But the biggest problem was in putting up the prices on the product.

On the same product, there were TWO different MRPs!

Two prices on one product at E-Zone! Is it for 299/- or 349/-??

Two prices on one product at E-Zone! Is it for 299/- or 349/-??

It was an iPod headphone that I was purchasing. On one pack which I picked up, there were two prices, 299/- and 399/-. But both those prices were faint.

Picking up another piece showed the above mentioned two prices, 299/- and 349/-..

Here was the 299/-:

So is it 299.. ? Or..

So is it 299.. ? Or..

And then at another place on the same pack, was the other price.. 349/-:

.. 349? Please decide, E-Zone.. !

.. 349? Please decide, E-Zone.. !

These are really basic systems for retail, and organized retail should surely be on top of this! But obviously not. Wonder what the Consumer Protection Act has to say about this??

And if Kishor Biyani, the king of retail in India, cannot get on top of such basics, wonder who can?!

Speaking of retai, the other crib I have is, why can’t stores have change to give??! We never face this problem in US stores. Or in Indian kirana stores either. But go to an organized retail outlet, be it a big store, or smaller franchisee outlets for ice creams or coffee shops etc., and every now and then, you find them asking you for change. And struggling to give you change, then.

Why so?
Is there less change in circulation in India?

Do the banks not give enough change to these stores?

Or these stores just don’t try hard enough??

I suspect it is the last named reason!!

Oh well..wish the kirana stores expand and organize themselves. Maybe therein lies the answer..

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