Archive for January, 2004

Talking of Namma MTR

charukesi January 10th, 2004

It’s Goodbye Bangalore time….. time to head for good old Bombay….. no Mumbai for me….. I leave that to the Shiv Sainiks….. Bombay…. my first love of sorts……

But Bangalore has been good to me…. As I leave in two weeks time, I am writing about things that define Bangalore the city….. atleast for me……

Where else can I start but with Namma MTR. How many establishments, especially eateries have managed to embody the spirit of a city…. And trace the same path as the city….. from good old traditional MTR to the hep Namma MTR* joints in the most crowded places of the city….

The LalBagh MTR stood for everything the city was…… a small place, clean and cheerful, a place to spend a leisurely Sunday morning (or if you are willing to convert your stomach into a bottomless pit just that once, then, Sunday lunch - ask Asli about it!)…. Relax, take it easy and soak in the atmosphere along with the waft of pure ghee…. Like the pensioners’ paradise Bangalore of yesteryears….

Ask any localite and you will hear this for sure…. Bangalore has changed so much…. It is no longer the slow peaceful city it used to be…..

So has MTR changed. Grown, to use a better word. Into vacuum packed ready-to-eat foods, and dosa wraps and stuffed vadas…..

Symbolizing Bangalore as it is today…. people in a hurry….. moving in and out of the city….. no time to stand and stare….. or in this case, wait for the dosa at MTR, gimme the dosa wrap instead. And fast….

But just as Bangalore has retained much of its charm, its gardens, and to some extent, its unhurried pace, so has MTR. From a small town in coastal Karnataka (Mavalli, I almost missed it as I drove through it), Namma MTR has come a long long way.…

One of the things I will definitely miss about Banaglore…..

* MTR refers to the traditional eatery at LalBagh while Namma MTR refers to the new swanky quick-eat joints all over town

Branding ? What branding ?

charukesi January 8th, 2004

Yet another company falls for the brand ambassdor bait. After Nerolac Paints and then Dabur, it is now the turn of Cadbury’s to rope in the Big B as brand ambassdor.

To begin with, I have never understood how any brand justifies the cost of having a brand ambassdor - and what he or she does for the brand. It is not as if there is ever any ’syngery’ betwen the values of the brand and what the ambassdor stands for.

And in any case, in India, where the bulk of the market is in the rural areas, what exactly does such a concept mean? Where brands such as Kadberys and Caddburys exist (I have seen these with my own eyes - a survey in any shop in rural India will spring many more surprises). Where people point to the pack and ask for the product (why else do sprious brands exist - because people cannot read and they identify a brand by the colours on the pack and the sound of the name). Where distribution is the most important P of all (taking a leaf of Kotler’s Ps of marketing).

Given the fact that more and more marketers are focussing on rural markets for their volumes (including Cadbury’s), what difference will Amitabh Bacchan make to the brand?

Have a look at this picture to understand what I mean when I say that a ‘brand’ has little value….. This was shot in a small shop on the Tamilnadu - Karnataka border….. Truly, it happens only in India !

A case for Tricklenomics

charukesi January 6th, 2004

Has Indian policy focus shifted from the have-nots to the haves? Seema Mustafa, in the Asian age feels so, calling it The Two faces of India. Says Mustafa, there was a time when India looked at the poor as the yardstick for policy making. Today she looks at the middle class and the rich, the poor having disappeared from the map of progress and development.

In a heartfelt and impassioned piece, she pleads the cause of the poor who she feels have become a large faceless entity. She warns of dire consequences, along the lines of a revolution, if the pressure bursts some day.

I have a question for Ms. Mustafa here. In these fifty plus years of independence, where popular social and political discourse revolved around the concept of socialism, encapsulating the bottoms-up approach, how much have the poor become less poor? Do we have any basis for saying that poor-oriented policy works better? Or even works at all?

Read in one of the year-end magazine issues on how good 2003 has been for India, what two thousand years of history has not been able to do for India, twelve years of an open economy have managed, viz. find respect in the eyes of the world.

Given this, why such rhetoric? No doubt the rich get richer, but if the poor also get richer in the process, then what is the harm?

Think carefully about the idea of tricklenomics. Based on the old belief that “if the horse has better hay to eat, the birds will eat better” (it being understood that birds eat manure). In other words, if the rich do well, the benefits will trickle down to the rest. Which is what the current Indian economy is all about.

And this I think, while being politically incorrect, is not such a bad thing after all…..

Am I a blogaholic ?

charukesi January 5th, 2004

Are You A Blogaholic ?

Came across this interesting quiz through Debu’s Null Pointer.

I scored a higher than average 52% (the average is 43.2% according to the quiz).

Here are some nice things I read about myself as a blogger : You are a dedicated weblogger. You post frequently because you enjoy weblogging a lot, yet you still manage to have a social life. You’re the best kind of weblogger. Way to go!

Personally, I feel blogging is compulsive. There is a sense of gratification; of being able to communicate. Even if it is to people who are otherwise strangers, who may offline never be your friends, but who online have similar thoughts and opinions as yours. I was on a holiday for a whole month, off from computers and the net, and believe me, the urge to blog was stronger than ever ! Another reason why it felt good to be back home….

DHL is into cricket ?

charukesi January 4th, 2004

Talking of ads, the recent DHL advertisement aired during cricket has me really shaken and stirred. Men in DHL uniform using parcels as bat, ball, stumps and whatever, thoroughly and efficiently manhandle the cargo. Take one example, a fattish man picks up a long parcel, makes a swish cricket bat motion with it and carelessly throws it back into the pile. (I wish I could show you pics, but try to imagine this).

And the line says, we’re into cricket. I can almost see into the mind of the ad agency, and their brief from DHL. Run, cash in on the cricket fever before the season is over.

Cricket fever is all fine.

But the only thing that strikes me every time I see the ad is, is this the way they handle my stuff ? God ! I will never use DHL….

Capitalism and universal education

charukesi January 3rd, 2004

We have lost faith in our state’s ability to run schools, says Gurcharan Das in the Times of India. I second that, quoting here my favourite bit of statistics : the proportion of ‘never enrolled’ children has been declining steadily : from 50% in 1986 (6-14 years in the most backward states) to 20% in 1996. Whiuch means that more and more parents who cannot strictly afford this are willing to give education a chance. (Source : PROBE)

But given the state of Government run schools, is their struggle even worth it ? After all the effort involved in going to and staying in school involves, do children even enjoy school, like they ought to ? Are they learning anything or merely going through the process of ‘getting an education’ ? And above all, is there any accountability from anywhere ?

Das discusses the model suggested by Sanjay Kumar, B J Koppar, and S Balasubramanium in the Economic and Political Weekly (23/8), purporting that government should not run primary schools but lease them to teacher-entrepreneurs (with minimum HSC qualification) who would manage them up to class 4 according to a standard curriculum of ankh and akshar.

The need is for low cost, quality education for all, which the state has not been able to provide, in all these years. Is it now time to fully admit the defeat of the socialism of India-yesterday, and embrace capitalism as the way for India-tomorrow? If this is working in other areas, why not education ? Accountability will only be the beginning…..

Aishwarya Rai and Pulse Polio

charukesi January 2nd, 2004

Amitabh Bacchan is an angry old man. How many times should I tell you, he asks in the latest Polio Plus ads. The critical parent is clearly tired of his aggressive go-do-it act. Am curious about how much the ad has achieved its objectives – should be good enough for the agency to keep up the theme. With an activated Refresh function.

In comes Aishwarya Rai. The perfect foil, says the ad agency. A star to match the super-star’s stature. She soothes him and pleads with the viewers, why do you make him angry ? Why don’t you just go-do-it.

There. The same message. Different tone. The somewhat indulgent parent, shielding the child from the angry parent’s gaze.

Great job. O &M cannot go wrong.

Transactional Analysis is all fine, but seriously, why Aishwarya Rai ? Targeting the dads this time around ? (Anyways Bacchan is angry with the moms who have not rushed to get their child immunized on his advice). In that case, is Yana Gupta a better choice ?! Babuji, zara jaldi chalo…..

MTNL readies for market warfare

charukesi January 2nd, 2004

MTNL to launch SMS on landlines….. Have we come a long way or what ? From the days of ‘dead’ telephones and ‘trunk calls’ that never materialized…..

As opposed to BSNL’s SMS service, MTNL does not require a special SMS-enabled telephone set. True, the process is not quite as suave as keying in your message in your own words….. hola, gr8, c u soon, luv u and so on not possible…. But then, I am not part of Gen SMS….. So, no reason to crib….

Also this is a giant step for an MTNL….. And I am willing to give anything Government a chance….

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