2008 a year that saw the economy dovetail at an unexpected speed, however besides this there were many things/issues that remained strong in one’s memory….

HIGH

Don’t Drink & Drive….an initiative that has remained consistent, with less hiccups than expected
The Long awaited Smoking ban in public places & offices came into effect
In sports - Beijing brings gold & India start cricked dominance
India ends nuclear apartheid; and signs landmark nuclear deal with US
Large scale discounts on everything
RTI gathering steam, improved openness in local government
Sharukh & Salman generated reams of unessential gossip
Society unites & patriotism is in after Mumbai attacks
Shivraj Patil finally replaced!

LOW

Attacks on Christians in Orissa & Raj’s violent campaign in Mumbai – No difference
Police & Media show themselves in poor light
Our esteemed Lok Sabha met for 46 days, an all time low
India fail to qualify in hockey for 1st time in 80 years
Economic Crisis, Terror - a moment of gloom & doom
26/11 was the largest entertainment grosser

INDIA forgot
Vidharbha sucides
Nithari Killings
Kidney Racket Case
Aarushi Murder

Most common MEDIA words used during the year -
Exclusive
First time on TV

Most used BUZZWORDS
Wassup?
Bro/Dude/Rockstar
Pappu
Hooking Up

MY FAV AD SLOGAN
Why should boys have all the fun?

Do let me know yours

With the wishes rolling in, time having passed, age creeping up, no longer have the fascination or energy to make resolutions which are normally broken within a month of the new year; hence decided for the first month to pass by before I pen down some thoughts….for the new year.

The last year with a lot of time spent with self, family, friends led to quite a realization & thanks to that, am beginning the year on a focused note.

1. Clean up - Having done so in the last 6-9 months, have seriously decided to continue doing so in the coming year.

Life - try and continue keeping it simple. It shall always consist of Paradox, Humor, Change.

Mind - forsake - anger, worry; respect others; work hard; honestly; be grateful - All of this just for today!

House - keep it clean, rid it off old things that may be of use to others, gives you more satisfaction.

Wardrobe - clean it every 60-75 days. Do not hoard, you will always find a better use for things.

2. Negative People - Avoid them like the plague, ignore them if that does not work or be upfront, brutally honest to them once.

3. Remove the confusion between friends; business contacts; acquaintances. Make time to connect with friends & those who matter. Besides the SMS, brief birthday calls; catch up for a coffee, drink, movie, dinner.

4. Increase the % of reading, the more serious kind, whilst still enjoying fiction.

5. Spend less time online surfing & more reading, writing about what you love.

6. Stop trying out all the Fad diets; start work out (after all the wife’s given you a birthday gift - gym membership).

7. Decide where you wish to go professionally this year & over the next 3 years & implement.

With the year having already passed……and a month more, I know this is late but the meeting of friends after 30 years, did not realize the time flying past!!!

Another year has come to an end, the last week more hectic then ever, with a full month of fun frolic, friends lined up.

Some thoughts stray & otherwise that made 2008 what it was…..

January, a month that I normally look forward to with zest, started quietly enough. An article Essential Skills for 2008 written served the tone for the year.

February, begins with my daughter quietly, silently, pointedly, & finally stridently, pointing out her birthday. It was also a month spent in Ahmedabad, an old haunt for a family occasion, where besides meeting old friends, reviewed a lot of restaurants. It was also a month of cold evenings & hot manoos creating a ruckus.

March, a month of sadness, when quietly, professionally finally parted ways with my employer, though there were a couple of battles still pending.

April came soon enough. I also decided to take some time off…with the personal thought “I’ve learned that making a ‘living’ is not the same as making a ‘life’”. A lot of other thoughts, words of wisdom, mottos, followed that still bring a smile. There was also the No Honking Day which as a concept is alien to Mumbaikars and Strike that soon fizzled out.

May began with a Reunion, IPL, some thoughts on Time Management & ending with thoughts on Inflation. A month of driving down to Baroda & Ambaji, meeting friends again. It was also a month, when health problems reared up its head, with torn ligament and others scheduled soon…..

June was a month of frustration, with health leading the way….the torn ligament ensured 3 weeks of complete bed rest, followed by a small surgery. But the good thing was catching up with friends who have been doing well for themselves, glad to be in Bombay. Besides this my daughter participated in Shiamak Davar & Terrence Lewis Shows for the umpteen time:)

July was a month of rest & recovery, but the fuel prices went up, received email on comparisons & thoughts about fuel, India’s Sam Bahadur died, a close friend turned 50.

August, regaining a bit of mobility, started off with a couple of consulting assignments, that left enough time for my family responsibilities & living life. Amongst observations on business, retail, retrenchment & finally iPhone the month flew by.

September saw me spending some more time on my assignments, where a fair amount of discussions & execution led to some thoughts, views on Loyalty & CRM; Brand Ambassadors; building value for a brand; the real winner. There were also the Retail Jewelers awards. Amongst all this managed to catch A Wednesday, finding it refreshing.

October - an extremely eventful month, full of festivals of course. After a long time had a MNDFCK meeting. Enjoyed the Highs of travel to Baroda, Ahmadabad, by train after a decade. Catching up with friends there, having friends over, attending TiE with Bela. Amongst the Lows, Havoc in Indian Markets, Recession, Retail in Gujarat, Lehman Brothers, Stock Market, bad meetings et all. There was a flurry of emails, text on everything related to this. However my musings, more particularly post Divali says it all.

November came with its share of Post Divali Blues. With doomsayer predicting severe Recession; refreshed the mind watching movies - fashion, EMI, buying books on the net, reading Rashmi Bansal’s Stay Hungry Stay Foolish . An interesting finding on Branded Jewellery finally ended the debate with a client this month. And whilst I wanted to conclude the month with Warren Buffet’s thought & India is still shining; the events of 26th November overshadowed everything.

December, normally a month of enjoyment, with whatever little chill Mumbai has, parties, waiting for the year to end began with a lot of passion, anguish, fervor, cries, texts, rally, demands, questions against terror, voting rights ; with assistance from Media of course. Listening, thinking about all this, melancholy creeping in supported by my birthday, absence of wife, but supported by friends as always.

The NDTV initiative amongst other aspects that I personally felt strong about led to meeting of like minded souls, initiating Citizens4Change with no particular insistence to begin with but try to be the change in your own small way. Come 20th December & everything was normal, party plans were being made albeit not high profile, the word resilient was bandied around as usual, whereas the fact is “We are resilient by force not choice” and the year wound down to an end. A small note in Business India made me happy as one of my idols had agreed to my thoughts.

2008 was a good year, extremely eventful & a CORRECTIVE year. I wish that 2009 is exciting in a more positive way, with India’s GENext leading the charge & focusing on implementation of their myriad dreams!

Jai Ho!

Over the past couple of months, there has been a lot written about the RTI Act….how it has not delivered what it should, bureaucrats avoid answers, so on & forth.
However there has been news that people are still gungho about it & wish to adopt the same, but do not have the skill sets/knowledge to apply.
Now giving this a sense of direction society for vigilance initiative organized a workshop at S. P. Jain Andheri for the youth that was well attended.
The next session is being held on Feb 8, 15 Mar 1, 8. For further details call 9819678833 or www.snsindia.org

Bombay, Bangalore, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Baroda…..high street, shopping centers, malls..et all…There is a discount everywhere for every thing!

And surprisingly Retailers say that Sales are higher by discounts. Whilst this would be obvious, “who can resist a sale?” it also raises a couple of questions ~

Did they have such large margins earlier?
Are they doing this just to ensure cash flow?
Can they afford to continue doing this, given the fact some of the retailers have had sale from Divali onwards?
What is the difference in product on Sale & without it?
Will this price become the benchmark once the discontinue the Sale?
How long is this really going to last?
Does Sale give value to the consumer & volume to the retailer?

Some of these questions do have answers, that are revealing about the strategy adopted.

Discounting is normally related to inventory management as well as the revenue sharing agreement that the retailers strike with the original equipment manufacturers to keep products rolling on a faster rate. The technical term “Velocity”.

Here you have apparels, consumer durables, electronics etc. BUT most of the discounts normally come from  “PRIVATE LABELS”.

For example Big Bazaar with at least 25%+ of its sale coming from private
labels can afford to keep giving deep discounts, for a much longer time.

Private label allows a retailer to make at least 60% of
the cost of the product sold, whilst the rest can be passed off to manufacturers & transporters.

And yes this can be good for both retailers & consumers; however the standardization is the issue here. In an effort to keep squeezing, the first lot in Apparels is US size, whilst the 2nd lot is UK size. The material gets thinner or the buttons, there is a variety of things that can happen, which 80% of the consumers are not concerned about.

However, INDIA which is practically 6-8 different countries in one, the most critical element of discounting which involves planning of geographical & festival sales is still
very much in the evolving stage.

AND this is when the consumer planning to shop shall come into its own!

Dear Teachers,

I write on behalf of probably all my friends, classmates, present & absent on the 10th January 2009!

It was an occasion that brought about old warm memories, anecdotes that shall sustain us over the years. It was a privilege to have studied under all of you, gather knowledge, punishment for our/someone Else’s crimes and warm wishes & blessings from you.

As Deepak our peon reminded me about how someone else was caught when I disappeared after ringing the school bell; how Major Kaul had followed us around the school compound one day, whilst we were struggling to eat the samosas, tuck in our shirts, put the tie on, gather books from where we had stashed them, all the while praying for the bell to ring for recess:)

Having shifted from Bombay then…..Gujarati was an alien language to me….IT STILL IS……our teacher Mrs. Haathi despaired trying to teach me….till in disgust almost every period (at least the ones I attended) she used to throw up her hands & tell me “I doubt about your future” This refrain was echoed by the maths & science teachers also. However the same Mrs. Haathi was one of the first ones to congratulate me on the 10th std result, having scored the 2nd highest in stream…..but then she realised 11th & 12th were still to be completed; so the refrain began again…….

Finishing school, college, work began……the final time I met her was when down from Calcutta, I went to visit the school and met her. She was delighted & gracious when she learnt what I had achieved in the short time I had begun to work. She asked me “Was I too harsh on you?” and the answer came from within ” No Thank you Mam; I would not have reached here without all of you”

So here goes THANK YOU once again to at least all of those who made time for us in the past & on the 10th January.

Whilst as with Life, with good things, you take the bad also…..

Please accept our abject & sincere apologies for the way we treated you on this day where……

1)   We just invited you, instead of making arrangements to bring you.
2)   Some of you had to change 2 buses, walk a kilometer to make it to the venue; whilst some braved their way on scooter.
3)   We did not recognize you, but gave away hastily wrapped flowers, nay they were not bouquets.
4)   We did not realize that age has caught up with you, making you walk out again for dinner, instead of having a sit down service for you.
5)   We did not make arrangements to drop you after the long evening.

In short, we have not changed….still INCONSIDERATE, BOORISH, FULL OF SELF IMPORTANCE, ATTITUDE & EGO.

Whilst you have remained the same CONSIDERATE, HELPFUL, KIND, GENEROUS, CARING, GIVING….

With abject apology, I on behalf of all my friends & class mates request you to FORGIVE US our transgressions once again with the same warmth.

We remain yours,

~@naggh~ & all BHS class of 77-79

Had seen the painted shop a couple of days ago.

On the way back from the gym, we decided to try it out. Nothing was ready..everything is made once ordered, fresh just like the old times.

Tried the samosa chat - lovely panju samosa with 2 diff types of chatni & onions, veg roll - aloo filling with onions, aamchur a bit of vinegar, egg roll could give bhima rolls a fight.

To top it up, my daughter tried the kulcha - soft yummy with lovely small chana.

Spoke to Pappi’s partner also, who promised that they would keep the same quality.

So have to go back & try out the non veg stuff.

Shop No 3 Ground Floor, MHADA Complex, Bldg. No 12, Link Road, Oshiwara, Andheri (W), Mumbai
Phone 32992134, 32992135