Middle class general category Indian Hindu married man aged 25 to 55_King or Slave

Hi,

I have this thought for quite some time so wanted to pen it down. I am a middle/ upper middle class general category man falling in age bracket 25 to 55 and married. Somehow people think we are the king and do not need any support

Why

Hindu

1. I am Hindu so do not get any minority reservation or benefits. I do not get education quota not job quota. There are no schools/ colleges dedicated to me

2. I do not have a dedicated ministry for myself

3. I do not get any scholarships/ grants like Parsi schols grant or Muslim grants.

General Category

1. I do not get SC/ST/OBC reservations so 50% opportunities are out of my scope both in education and job

2. My kids can't study in EWS scheme so I need to pay full fee.

Man

1. As I am a man, I do not get woman reservation again in job or education

2, Even in public transport, I do not get reserved seats.

3. I do not have any dedicated ministry for me nor NGO's to support me

Middle class Married

1. I am the only bread earner in my house

2. I need to take care of my parents, wife , house and kids expenses along with unforeseen/ unplanned expenses

3. I need to take my parents to hospital, take kids to parks and attend their PTM also as no one else can drive bike/ car in house.

4. If there is Sas/ Bahu , neighbourhood, relative problem, I am supposed to listen patiently and solve them

Because everybody assumes that I am the King running this country. But it that so or I am a slave working hard my entire life for above mentioned reasons.

What basket ball did to west indies cricket, T-20 is going to do to world cricket...God Save my favourite game

Is 20-20 would kill test cricket and one day cricket.

The game was short, had a lot more money, fame, instant success, attractive, people loved it more...more kids took up basketball.... cricket was left for left overs.... And all the malcolm marshalls and curtly ambroses of the Carribean today are sweating it out on the basket ball courts leaving the cricket fields for B-rung players

the face of cricket would totally change just like the face of west indies cricket has changed.....test cricket and 50 overs cricket will lose their importance.....Afridis would be bigger stars than Dravids.... Lot more money would come in... Entertainment top class, Yuvraj hitting six sixes in an over.... but we would no longer see laxman ... Read Moreand dravid fighting out the aussies the whole day, Kumble taking all ten wickets..... and just like the carribeans may come up with a gayle or a sarwan... but not a richards, ambrose or marshall..... A Deccan Chargers could be a more popular team than Indian Cricket team.... like LA Lakers is more popular than USA basket ball team or Manchester United is more popular than England football team.... etc etc.... not debating on whether its good or bad.... but this is how i see the future of cricket...

Journey to Kashmir_ Upper Middle Class Lens

Hi All,

In June'2013, I wen for a week holiday to Kashmir with my family. I wanted to share my experiences but got really busy but finally here I am

Reaching Kashmir

There is a Airport at Srinagar which is central place for Kashmir Valley and you have to be there.  There is only one road route from Jammu and no Rail route. Jammu is connected with trains to all parts of India.

I tries to save money by taking one way flight and coming back vi road. It is very painful. It is more than 9-10 hrs and not much scenic so if you can afford, take flights only to reach Srinagar by booking in advance.

In Srinagar,

Srinagar can be covered mostly in 1 or max 2 days. Srinagar is a proper city and not like a hill station. The famous Dal lake is at one corner of Srinagar ( very close to Srinagar Bus stand though) and all the attractions of Srinagar are on circumference of Dal lake. So your house boat or hotel should ideally be there only and that too between Dal gates 1 to 25. ( These gates are small gate to enter boats all around Dal lake about 50 metres away from each other max)

So Stay on Dal lake. The hotels in peak season of June were available at as low as Rs 1000 ( basic room of course but with TV, Attached Bathroom etc ) ..Even house boats are available starting Rs 1500/day..Yes because there are over 100 of them in Dal lake only

As you move from Dal gate number 1 to the entire circumference ( about 20 KM;s), you  would hit Shankaracharya, Nishat bagh, Shalimar Bhagh, Hazratbal, TAJ Srinagar and all other places of any interest in Srinagar.

There is bargaining like Palika Bazar in Kashmir, 50% is minimum even on Shikara rides

 Gulmarg, Sonamarg, Pahalgam are all day trips from Srinagar as the distance range from 70 to 90 KM. As after Srinagar, you are in huge Kashmir Valley, the drive is not a typical mountain drive, Very large portions are like plane straight highways. But your average speed would not me more than 40 because taxi/Bus drivers would not drive > 60 . Why..No reason and they would take one break even if you do not wish to take. This break is mostly at a shopping point so that you buy something.

Also, even if you take your car from Srinagar to any of these places, you need to hire local car there, simply nexus. You end up paying 500 rs for 2 KM sometimes so be ready for that.

Even you wish, you can't stay at Sonamarg or Gulmarg so only option is Pahalagam which is slightly bigger place.

Now even in June
Gulmarg has got maximum snow and you should take Gandola ride to phase 2. Becasue there is nothing at phase 1. Surely scenic beauty and a large park
From Car park, there is about 1.5 KM walk to Gondola station ( trolly ) and horses are available. They would ask you Rs 500 but would go in 100 but ideally you should walk as that is a very good walk.

Pahalgam has got mountains, rivers and planes but mostly no snow. They would take you to 6-7 places but finally you would realise it is all same ( river, mountain etc).  From bus/ CAR stand, you can take horses to roan around close by or take Sumo to take you to few places in Pahalgam. Here , there was no negotiation and prices were fixed.

For me, Sonamarg is not to be missed. You get snow, mountains, river and planes all at one place there. Once again,  bargaining on horses, Sumo runs at 50% easily at this place. The bus/ CAR stand is point A. There is nothing there. You need to take Sumo to reach Point B, about 1.5-2 Km and he would ask rs 2500 to begin with but would go in Rs 1000. The think in their favour is they would wait for you as it is to-fro deal. Now even at point 2 , there is nothing. From point 2 to point 3, there is a KM walk or horse, very rocky with a river flowing by your side...very amazing. Point 3 is very beautiful. Point 3 to 4 you have to walk, about 750 M and you hit snow

Finally, you would feel that Kashmiris hate you especially Indians. You can feel that hatred in their body language, talk and behavior. When electricity goes, typical response would be " Our electricity is taken by India for Delhi". they really do not know Transformer malfunctioning is also possible

Note:
All this was in month of June. As I always say as a marketeer in India, consumer behaviur changes in India every 100 KM and in every season. The finer details may be completely different if you go in October or March. of course, no one goes from November to february as valley is under snow :)

Enjoy..it is surely worth a visit in life. As Shehenshas Jahagair said

"Agar Firdaws ba roy-i zamin ast, hamin ast-u hamin ast-u hamin ast,” meaning, “If there is Paradise on earth, it is this, it is this, it is this."

Marketing Budget_ Where is the logic

Dear All,

As I am wearing marketing hat today since morning, a thought came which is in my  mind since B School days.

In most of the big businesses , marketing spend is %age of revenues for different business units. So if Coca-Cola selles twice that of Fanta, its marketing budget would be twice and a new launch with hardly get any marketing money

Now, that bamboozles me. who needs marketing. A product which is just launched or a product who is already selling over $100M/ year. I would go for new product or struggling product but somehow the world goes other way around. Can anyone throw some logic to clarify my confusion??

Example of Chennai express actually follows my logic where they are trying to cover bad product by heavy marketing so that one time audience do come and they recover their production costs which can be second logic behind huge marketing budgets.

Now, let me tell you 2 examples of recent businesses where I have worked so that I can give live example. Naukri.com 0 years back went for TV commercial with  marketing budget much more than conventional %age of their revenues and their bet was successful. if they haven't gone through that route, they still may have been a 10 Cr company. On the other hand, HCL ( one of my close frnd have workld there) launched their CDC centers ( on lines of NIIT) and they are big failures because they followed the logic of allocating marketing budgets to already successful business units??

So in short, my question to my marketing friends is simple, what is the logic behind marketing budgets.?

Overemphasis on Education in Indian context_Do we have so many formal sector jobs??

Hi Friends

The recent mid day meal fiasco got me to think on a very different direction. There is a lit of emphasis on literacy and education all around us . The government has introduced various schemes like Right to Education, Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan , Mid day meal, Ladli scheme for girl child. Similarly, there are various NGO's working in this direction to educate children. In mass media, you always hear about importance of education and how this can be a ticket to get out of poverty.

Then there are tons of reports coming about how poor the education delivery in India is and x% of students in class 5 can't read class 2 text. How India is having very young population and thus focus on vocational education to make them employable.

My thought is if everybody gets educated the way every intellectual thinks, then what would happen. India population is 120 Crs and we have limited resources and development. How and where these educated people would get jobs?

Let me tell you as first hand report about Mumbai economy functions. There are  lacs of people who are educated and work in white collar jobs or organised blue collar jobs like factories. But then there are lacs of people who work in unorganized sectors like auto driving, vada pav stall, sugar cane juice stall, tea vendors. plumbers, electricians, painters, cloth pressing etc who all make decent living. I had one teacher in my staff ( yah I also tried my hands to educate under privileged kids for 2 years) whose husband was sitting at home for 1 year. The reason is that he is 12th and he lost his formal job. Now, because he is educated, he do not want to do informal job like tea stall as that is below his dignity. Same conversation, I had with watchman of my colony. Looking at life style of educated class, he is also spending to get his kids private school education back in MP of course at Rs 500/month. Now surely that kid is not going to actually get into IIT or any other institute of repute as the competition is from kids of ours. But of he studies there till class 10th or 12th, he would surely do not want to be watchman or Ricksaw puller etc. Then what he would do for a living.

Somehow, I felt we are moving towards bigger disaster than what is presently there in society. Do we have so may formal sector jobs??

Anna Hazare Vs Arvind Kejriwal--What is the confusion

Anna vs Arvind

Recently,  other than India going out of world cup T-20, the other big news item is Arvind Kejriwal political party announcement and Anna Hazare making tons of public announcements to make it clear that he has nothing to do with that.

Why Anna Hazare is making himself so distant from this.

I am not questioning the intentions of either of them, both of them have shown enough proves that they are totally clean and do not have any personal agenda. They both want to get India rid of Corruption and make India a better country to live for coming generations. Then why do they seems to on war paths in recent days.

Though Arvind Kejriwal is for more educated , Anna Hazare seems to be far more learnt when it comes to polity of India. Anna knows that right intentions and everything else is fair, you can’t win elections in India just like that.  As they say, the rules to win elections in India are simple .

Path 1:

1.       Money and lot of Money:  First spend lot of money to get ‘ ticket’ of a party who have done the hardwork of creating a brand in last 40-50 years. For me there is nothing new, even this happens in corporate world and any other business. People buy HLL products easier than a new FMCG brand so people who want to distribute HLL products need to pay more money to get that distributorship

2.       Then spend lot of money in campaign.  This is again marketing money spend by largest of corporations of world.  As large MNC’s do targeting before giving advertisements, politicians also do the same. They Target lower income group of people, spend money there in dinners and drinks and get votes next morning.

3.       The target group generally do not read newspapers, do not go to Janter Manter or listen news channels.  So reaching them is a very different ball game.

Now, The situation is not that bad. Many people are successful politicians without having spent money. So let us see their path

Path 2:

1.       Start working in a small area and be popular with people

2.       Be available to help them solve all their problems starting from Electricity to Water to Hygiene to small police matters

3.       Be ready to be awaken at 2 in night to go with someone

4.       Do this for 5 years and you would surely win your first election.

5.       Get lot of people to do that and you would create a successful party

6.       So the crux is full time with overtime involvement of people for next 10 years.

Anna knows that team Anna can’t follow either path 1 or path 2. So the third path is to be in good books of people/ politicians and get your stuff done. If you fight elections and lose, then you are over. There is a famous saying

‘ Band mutthi lakh ki khul jaye to khak ki’

So  till you haven’t contested and lost a election, you can always claim to be carrying people sentiments and demands with you. But once you fight and lose, you are finished.

Anna knows that it is best to keep your fist closed and still get media attention. Once  party is formed and elections are lost, no media guy would ever cover you.

How President of India is Elected

Lot many people ask me about the mathematics behind the election of President of India. Though it seems to be a non serious position in Indian context, the approach is surely very serious and unlike in 60's and 70's when Congress used to get their man ( or woman) elected easily, this is not the case any more.

 Let us first see the maths:

President of India is elected by all elected MPs and MLAs across the nation, as they all are representatives of the masses. As of current scenario India has 776 MPs and 4,120 MLAs. To elect President of India MPs and MLAs have certain vote value.

MPs vote have a value of 708, which is uniform across the nation, irrespective of the parties they belong to. But, MLAs have vote value according to their states, i.e. differs from state to state.

In total, 776 MPs have vote value of 549,408 (776x708) and 4,120 MLAs have total value of 549,474.

The total vote value of 776 MPs and 4,120 MLAs is 10,98, 882. Various political parties join hands with other regional  parties and allies to support their candidates and whoever supports with majority will get to crown President of their choice. And, this is how nation elects President of India through electoral college of MPs and MLAs.

So, the interpretation is  that MLA's also play a significant part in this and about 50% votes are with various MLA's across nation. Also, Rajya Sabha seats are also dependent upon position of parties in various state assemblies. 

With Congress and BJP losing in lot of states and bigger states like UP/Bihar/Bengal/TN not with any of them, they need support from various parties for their candidate.