Tea Boys from Brooke Bond

Yesterday while I was on road, I saw couple of Brooke Bond Tea Boys selling Coffee and Tea. It was interesting way of Branding. This guys carry a Bagpack with Hot water pumped into the cups. They had nice paper cups, a stainer, and pouches of Brooke Bond Tea and Coffee.
They had three options:
1. Masala Tea = Rs. 6
2. Plain Tea = Rs. 6
3. Coffee = Rs. 7
The menu card was wrapped to their chest. - See photo.

In terms of revenue - I doubt it be a good business model. As on chatting with the boys - the best day's sale is around 40 cups. Which as per me is low. But I guess it was a great branding gimmick. The presentation and presence is great.
By the way I had a Masala Tea - which tasted very good and my colleague had a Coffee - which was also good.

Overall a good Marketing - Branding idea that I liked and enjoyed.

I have a Dream from Rashmi Bansal

Well new book coming out from Rashmi Bansal (first week of June 2011). Yes..the author of Connect the Dots and Stay Hungry and Stay Foolish.
I enjoyed both her previous editions (yeh..some companies already crashed out but was a good/inspiring story to read) as it talks about entrepreneurship. This book is in the same line of the last two but with social entrepreneurship.
I am excited towards the book and have already pre-ordered the copy from Indiaplaza.com @ Rs.86. (List price is Rs.150)
You can also book from Flipkart - available for Rs.101 - free shipping or from infibeam - available for Rs.75 + shipping - which in my case came to Rs.105 so I picked up Indiaplaza.com
Anyways checkout the book and as I think she is one good author like Chetan Bhagat who targets the Young Indian in the right direction.

A brief synopsis:

'I Have A Dream' is the story of 20 idealists who think and act like entrepreneurs. They are committed to different causes, but they have one thing in common: a belief that principles of management can and must be used to achieve a greater common good.

These stories say one thing loud and clear change starts with one person, and that person could be someone next door. Someone like you.

I am fired and I don't give a crap. BRING IT ON.

Well I was just reading some emails from my friends about work load, change in management, pressure, change in vision etc... @ their work and how they are dealing with it. Most of them are trying to compromise, ley down, kiss ass, go along to get along, hide their real perception, and avoid the situation.
Well this reminds me a scene from 3idiots were Raju Rastogi goes in a campus interview after the suicide attempt and he says 'yeh attitude bhot ko kai aaya hai'. And I guess that is what we need to do. We are afraid of so many things that we loose our real selves.
Even I want to start my business and my wife's demand of flat, comfort, luxury, jewellery etc. and my mom's expectations against the family/friend/society are huge and pulling me down. I am also afraid to put the foot down and go on a ride. Most of us have financial, health, family, knowledge obligations and that holds us back.
In case of jobs - we have to change the approach. I have successfully tried this in recent times and am happy for it(attitude). I have told my self that - YEH!!!! I AM GOOD AND DOING MY JOB HONESTLY AND EFFICIENTLY. THE COMPANY NEEDS MY KNOWLEDGE, MY EXPERIENCE, AND SERVICE. IF THEY FIRE ME I WILL GET SOME OTHER JOB WITH BETTER PACKAGE AND THEY WILL BE AT A LOSS. THERE ARE LOTS OF OPENING FOR GOOD PEOPLE IN THE MARKET AND I AM NOT THE STUPID ONE WHO WON'T GET THE JOB. AND WORST SCENARIO IF NO ONE HIRES ME I WILL CREATE OPPORTUNITY FOR MY SELVES AND CREATE SOMETHING OUT OF NOTHING. My family, friends, liking, hobbies, are equally important in my life as compared to the job. I will and want to work but at reasonable cost. I am open with my attitude within the family and company. Anything which won't compromise my basic criteria is fine. Thus this also reminds me of another scene from Karthik calling Karthik movie where Faran Akhtar goes back to his office after getting fired and makes his Boss realize - as how important he is for the company.
Overall one needs to be honest with themselves and take chances. Being a sales person and a fan of Rocket Singh movie I can't miss this quote - Risk to Spiderman ko be lena padta hai me to fir bhi inshaan/salesman hu ;)
In recent times, I am doing fine with the job and my overall attitude towards it. Now its my turn to take the similar approach towards the business. I am calculative and trying to work around it - lets hope that I kick the fears and fight for my better future.

Family, Health, Friends and Spirit are like Glass - Fragile

Just go this forwarded and thought of sharing.
- Value has a value only if its value is valued.
- Work is like rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back.
- Family, Health, Friends and Spirit are made of glass cannot be joined once beaked.
- Work efficiently during office hours and leave on time. Give the required time to your family, friends, and have proper rest.

Trip to Thailand - March2011

Last month I went on a vacation with my family to Thailand. Overall it was a good trip. We did the trip on our own instead of taking a travel agents tour or tour package. I find it more fun, adventurous, insight and knowledgeable then the guided tours. We went in the last week of March thus the Visa On Arrival (VOA) fees were waived due to tourism promotion. Thus we saved 1000 Bt/person on that. Just bit tired to write the complete experience so putting the main highlights of the trip. Comment/Reply me if you want to know any specifics. Here is the summary:

- Normal VOA fees is 1000/Bt/person at Bangkok Airport.
- You need to have three officials requirements fulfilled for VOS. 1. Return ticket within 15 days, 2. 10,000 Bt per person or International Credit card and hotel booking vouchers and 3. Valid passport for atleast 6 months remaining.
- Bangkokair is a great airline. Cheap, Nice service, Good timing and when we went it was half empty thus we can stretch for sleep. Also they allow 25Kg/person instead of 20Kg.
- Bangkok airport is great. Its based on Hindu philosophy. They have a wonderful Samundra Manthan storyline on the airport.
- We booked our Hotels from agoda.com
- In Bangkok we stayed three nights at Pinnacle Lumpinee Hotel. Its near to Subway station and great locality. Nice service, Good WiFi, Good Breakfast.
- In Pattaya we steady two nights at Citin Loft Pattaya Hotel. Very poor service, poor breakfast and Zero courtesy. Swimming pool and WiFi was good. Their shuttle service from Hotel to Breach Road was also very bad.
- Last night in Bangkok we stayed at Le Platinum Silom Hotel. It was a good small hotel with India channels and food. (Thanks to the hotels that they had Indian Channel and thus I was able to see India VS Pakistan Semifinal Cricket Match during World Cup.) Its good for Indian people else its on average hotel.
- Don't Miss Chatchuk Weekend market. Also do all your shopping over there. Its of good quality and best price. Also their is lot of variety.
- Also visit the Safari World, Marine World, and Wat Po temple.
- We went to Pattaya instead of Phuket due to price and distance. But don't do that mistake. Pattaya is average over Phuket.
- In Pattaya - don't miss Noog Nung Village.
- khob-kun-Krub (means thank you)

Korum Konnect

Korum Mall in Thane-Mumbai is WiFi enabled by us. They have done nice job in promoting the WiFi under the branding of KORUM KONNECT. You will find the SSID of korum konnect and thus connect to internet from your laptops, cell phones or PDA/Tabs. Initially the Wifi was free for first three months and now its Rs.50/hour (all inclusive). The speed, support and service is great. Checkout today. In case of any problems you can call Airlink's 24X7 NOC at 080-44469444 or reply here and will sort out your problems.

Cricket Mania

I was in Korum Mall, Thane yesterday and saw the life size cutouts of crickets handing from the celling of the mall. It looked great and adds value to the mall. The mall is showing live IPL matches at the food court area and this cutouts are complimenting the promo. I think its a good marketing idea.

Diwali2009 trip to Rishikesh - Nainital - Corbett

This Diwali (17th - 24th Oct.) we went to Rishikesh, Nainital and Jim Corbett National Park. The trip was quite adventurous and enjoying. We were accompanied by Priyank and Vibhuati at allthe locations.  

As said earlier, we started our adventure right from Ahmedabad Railway station. We had booked the tickets from Ahmedabad to Haridwar. Our Delhi to Haridwar tickets were confirmed but the Ahmedabad-Delhi was in waiting list. We checked online status till the last moment but the waiting list didn't moved due to Diwali rush. In the end Miti and Vibhuati secured places in general bogie while me and priyank floated between AC coaches to bribe the TC. After Mehsana (2hr. from we took off) we got a confirmed seats and we started shifting. It took us three stations to shifts our luggage and our better halfs. Finally after two and a half hour we made it to the seats (thanks to the bribe system - I love my India). Delhi arrived at  5.30am and we shifted to our new location since we already had confirmed seats for that location.

At 12.30pm we arrived in Haridwar. We hired a cab/taxi (Tata Indigo) and went to Kodiyala via Haridwar and Rishikesh. We stopped at Laxman Joola, BharatDevi Mandir etc along the way. Our journey was also halted by a landslide on the way. Finally at 6pm we reached Kodiyala. It was a good hotel on the River Ganga. Our rooms were facing the river. We got ourselves some Rum and huddle around the camp fire as it was very cold.

Next day we checked out in the afternoon and headed for River Rafting from Shivpuri. We had one level 4, two level 3 and few level 2 rapids. We also jumped into the Ganga for swimming along the current. It was great workout and the water was very cold. After that we even did cliff (30 ft. high) diving. It was scary and it took me 10 min. to make up my mind and plunge. After river rafting we had our lunch and headed back to Haridwar (this time in personal Chakda – big auto ricksaw at damn cheap cost).

At midnight we had our train from Haridwar to Kathgodam. Before we reach our destination, a station before Kathgodam  – a taxi driver came to our bogie and gave the taxi rates. He told us to get the cab a station before the destination as it will be cheaper and faster (this is what I call aggressive marketing). We took the cab (Maruti Alto – yes 4 ppl. + luggage + driver) and went thru the snaky roads to Nainital. Those crooked roads made Miti to throw up several times along the way to top.

Finally after couple of hour’s taxi we reached Nainital. Our Hotel was fab. We had to take ropeway (cable car) to reach our hotel since it was on top of the hill. Our hotel was an old governor rest house and now converted into a heritage hotel (from 1920s). We had the best view of Nainital and Himalayas mountains from our place. We roamed around the Naini lake and street of Nainital for next one day. We had good Vodka and camp fire in the evening at our hotel.

Next day we left for Corbett in afternoon and reached there in couple of hours (this time our taxi was a nice Toyota Innova). We stayed 14Kms outside Ramnagar (town were all the booking and trip to jungle begins) at Bailparaw. Our resort was very good and it was spread out into 5acres land. It had a nice swimming pool (which we never used due to cold), camp fire, gardens, landscaping, ducks with other wild lives, service staff and restaurant (except the GM of the hotel – who made us pay very high for our elephant ride and gave misleading advices about the safari rides). Next day we took an Elephant ride into the outer areas of the jungle and in the afternoon we had a nice Jeep safari ride into the jungle from Jhirna Gate. Unfortunately we didn’t see any tiger but some monkeys, deer, sambars. Overall the Jungle experience was great but the wildlife was disappointing. We were accompanied by a nice Ahmedabad based doctors during the jeep safari (which also brought down our expense).

Next day after breakfast we took a train from Ramnagar to Delhi. In Delhi we took Metro to Rajiv Chowk/Palica Baazar and then took the Metro again for New Delhi railway station. Next days early morning we were back to Ahmedabad and thus finished our nice adventurous trip.

Pictures of this trip can be found at: http://picasaweb.google.com/vivek.bhalavat/Diwali2009TripToRishikeshNainitalCorbett