I had written about Save Earth - India does not require saving earlier. And thought that it was the end of the matter.

However this truck back seen yesterday, brought a chuckle & the dander up.

After 2 months the cola company does not have the time

60 Earth Hour

Take the Lead on Climate Change

SWITCH OFF YOUR LIGHTS FOR EARTH HOUR

March 28 8.30 to 9.30 pm

Coco Cola India

So what do you say????

The big R word bandied about everywhere still, with different people saying “Mandi hai boss”; “Economy down hai”; “Recession” hai.

After a couple of drinks over the weekend, mostly everyone ends up saying that “thoda situation tight hai, magar sudhar jayega”.

Cribbing about the government, employers, friends, society, BMC, BEST, weather, god is ongoing. This is ably supported by the MEDIA, with their stupid Questions to fill paper or soundbytes

• How much has this recession affected you?
• What sacrifices have you had to do in the current economic scenario?
• How long do you think this shall last?
• What should be the new PM’s approach to end this?

All of these questions appear with the ring leaders in print - Mumbai Mirror & Mid-day - in Bombay. The questions are asked to college students at CCD, Barista or college canteen; housewives shopping at malls, kiran store, kitty parties & some business men rushing to catch the churchgate or borivali local.

Majority of them have no clue, except for the fact that they would get their 30 seconds of fame. Bus Mein Star bangaya.

In such a scenario, I fail to understand:

• Restaurants mostly all, except maybe the 5* are always full.
• The same traffic, cars are seen on roads.
• Car Sales has not gone down.
• Fuel consumption has not gone down
• Restobars still do roaring business serving alcohol to underage also.
• Mobile phones sales continue to rock

YES, some large ticket items do get delayed in purchase, whilst consumers scout around for better deals. Jewellery does not get sold, but there is no wedding season currently.

People from upcountry, rural do not come to spend their vacations to Mumbai, since it is expensive, similar brands are now available there, maybe at better prices also.

Private Labels seem to be the mantra these days, which is good for the economy.

I see Value Correction happening that surely is benefitting consumers & more so in the times to come.

Read more about Recession, Is India going thru one, The shine is still here, Reducing Manpower & Correction.

An article written by Namita Bhandare forwarded by Kapil Joshi set me thinking.

• Even today more than 85% households in India still believe that a male child is preferable.
• So called Reservation in education takes care of everything including girls, but where is there a followup.
• Politicians appointed as HRD ministers have no clue about what to do? Yes, talk about IIM/IIT & remain in the news is right there on their agenda.
• Yup Girls schools, colleges, are great photo op, after which we meet next year.
• Earnings, Savings are decided by the father & later husband even though they may have no clue of finances.
• They need to constantly thank their father, brother, husband…..is this a trade off to allow them to study? work? In which case why not their mothers, sisters, daughters??
• Can we not portray girl with her mother in advertisements that are relevant & not cosmetic.
• And to top it all, the regressive serials that enjoy high TRP

Expecting Manmohan Singh to do something about it is pathetic. It has to be initiated from every home, every individual for it to gather momentum.

Having worked 80% of my life with lady bosses and enjoyed working with them; superbly supportive wife & daughter (who always join forces to keep me in control) I can say that the first couple of times it is difficult, then it becomes a way of life.

To begin with try supporting www.goonj.info

Some time ago Tushar Gandhi had brought some lip smacking kulfi from a small place very close to his place.

Whilst all of it was polished, I had promised my parents & in laws that I would soon bring some over for them to taste.

So a couple of days back, taking directions from Tushar ” The Kulfi guy stands at the corner of Ramkrishna Marg & Sarojini Road or Ahimsa Marg he is there after 6 pm if you are coming from town turn left from Linking Road at the Signal after the Khar Danda Road He stands on the corner of the 2nd intersection” who was away in Bangalore reached the place finally.

So whilst he was packing the stuff, we had a kesar pista; malai & kesar falooda. Great Stuff……Now you can go and try them out.

“Success is more permanent when you achieve it without destroying your principles”.

One of the goals of visiting Baroda this time around was to take my daughter to old places show her how they had changed, visit old food haunts since she was coming with us after nearly half a decade.

And so it started, took her to my old college, station road, Home Science where she used to clamour for Dosa, where a new Soda center hold position; her favorite sandwich wallah AND now that she eats omlette to one of the most famous ones, who have now split and started at another place. Whilst every effort was made to take photographs, I was expressly forbidden most of the times by Dr. Nene & Sumir of their hogging:) But rest assured, Dilip, Manisha, Milind, Sumir, Ajay, Prashant have all been introduced to galli & laari concept, the exception being that they would bring it home and eat. BUT rest assured with the support of the Kids & their better halfs Yeh Din bhi door nahi hai….

I wish I had been able to take more pictures of our gastronomical extravaganzas like room zoom, picassa, etc. etc. However enjoy these!

I received a call from vodafone a while back. The young lady spoke to my wife, who after the first couple of questions dumped the phone in my hands & walked off to do whatever wives do during lunch hours!!

The young lady started with a bang —–

• Sir, May I have your name (If you have called me, then you would have it)
• Sir, Company only gives us series of numbers (Huh! By just connecting to the computer & MTNL directory this problem should be solved)
• If you have 3 vodafone post paid numbers, we shall give you 1 more free & change all to a new plan where for Rs 160 each all 4 of you can speak unlimited to each other. AND we shall change your billing plan to .60p for within circle & Re. 1 for national for phone & text yada yada yada (Duh!!! Hold on madam, why would I want to do that? I am currently on a plan where it is .50 p circle & national for both voice & text.)
• OK no problem sir, then how about the offer of Rs. 160 (We do not speak worth Rs. 640 in either case)
• OK no problem sir, we have another offer for senior citizen yada yada yada (Sorry not interested, can you offer me something better than my current plan for data & voice?)
• Sir, we are not authorized to offer anything other than this.

Phew!! I have not understood what kind of marketing does Vodafone expect to achieve with this. Because I think this is the old tried & tested funnel theory. Call as many as you can, speed talk them, pick up documents, issue activated card, bill them. Repeat next day, week, month AND the DSA (direct sales agents get Rs. 100 - 150 per subscriber)

This was something which took place during our recent trip to ambaji and after years left a bad taste to the otherwise lovely trip.

Having already had a darshan the previous evening, as is our wont, we went up for Darshan the next morning before starting our way back to Baroda.

The last couple of years, there has been tightening of security & being well aware of the rules, we always leave behind purse, mobiles & chappels either at the hotel or in the car.

But the attitude of the SRP who man the entry points leave a lot to be desired. All of them were standing together & chatting, sharing the news that Anuradha Paudwal had come for darshan that day.

Having lived in Juhu, Lokhandwala, where celebrities are common place, it did not excite us too much.

Reaching inside, standing in the Q for darshan, the security kept pushing us to go quickly. In the meantime, I noticed that there were couple of males wearing regular clothes in the inner area, where they are not allowed. So I politely enquired with the security person about it, who told me to mind my own business. Now this said gentleman was not wearing his badge, complete uniform & showing attitude, raised my hackles.

I went to the temple inspector’s office enquiring about him and was told he was on his rounds. After 15 minutes, asked again and requested that he be paged down; hearing this a gentleman carrying a sten gun came and asked “what was the problem”  Upon being questioned repeatedly, he said that it would be some time etc.

Finally, Amrutbhai the said temple inspector came escorting Anuradha Paudwal into his cabin. Exchange of telephone numbers, cards were taking place, with the so called security head & Pandit trying to hold me back.

Then Anuradha Paudwal stepped out, seeing me she wished ‘Jai Mata di’; reciprocating the same, I enquired politely with her:

• As celebrity why was she carrying her large leather bag, cell phone etc. inside the mandir?
• As celebrity why was she using the cell phone to call up people inside the mandir?

To all of this she had no answer & she quietly slunk away.

Then Amrutbhai started his questioning:

• Who are you?
• Who sent you?
• What do you want?
• Do you want to go inside for darshan? etc. etc.

On my questions he had no or feeble answers…..

• Who were the men in the temple wearing terrycot trousers & shirts (They are the staff of the temple) Great but does it mean that they do not follow rules (Actually they were late for shift) So do they not get paid today (Silence)
• Why was the celebrity allowed to carry her leather bag & cell phone (Do you want to do darshan from inside, who has really sent you, what do you want etc. etc.)
• Narendra Modi claims that such things do not happen in his gujarat (What has he got to do with this? I have been here 3 years:)) AND I have been going there for the past 30 years at least once a year sometimes twice.

Anyway the end result was, he apologised & said it would not happen again blah….blah…

I know it for a fact, that it would happen again because:

• His job depends on it
• Nobody has the courage to point it out to him on a regular basis
• Temple board is controlled by a IAS officer, who thinks it as  probably a punishment posting???
• Most people would jump on the offer to do the darshan close enough & forget about it.

However, my mind was at peace, that I had stood up for what I believed. All of us have to start somewhere.

Having rested (actually partied) in Baroda for a couple of days, left for Ambaji. Last year, the roads had been good & we expected no real problems in reaching on time.

The Roads in fact were better, practically 6 lane for all across except for 75kms after Himmatnager to Ambaji. Over all a lovely drive.

The old small places, where we used to have lunch, snacks year ago have now become large restaurants catering to different walks of people.

Reaching Ambaji, we went to Ambaji International where we had stayed here. But there was a difference in service levels. The warmth, eagerness to please was sorely lacking. The attitude had changed:( more like, you do not have a choice but to stay here.

It is a sad fact of such places, they change in a couple of years, going downhill then. Anyway, stayed there at nearly double price of last year.

The food was pretty good - thali of course, though they had decided to continue with the same spelling as earlier, easier to pronounce I guess.

We had a great evening darshan, morning darshan with an argument the next day before we left back for baroda.

After a year, during which friends kept talking about the problems in road, traffic on the NH8 near Surat, decided to take the risk and visit Baroda, then to Ambaji and back.

Left on the 17th April @ 8.30 am. The road was clean, clear, air crisp making the drive a pleasure right up till we stopped for breakfast at Kamat. However there was a complete re branding done with Vittal Kamat smiling down at you.

Thankfully the food was the same, good, hot with fast service.

After a quick break, we were on our way again. With a couple of stops to use the facilities & cold drinks, we whizzed past surat, bharuch and were in Baroda by 4 pm.

With all the stops our actual driving time was 61/2 hours. AND within the next two months, the flyovers and other work shall be completed, giving a lovely 6 lane drive from Bombay to Baroda within 5 hours!