Rain!

There are days when one is sad for no reason and then there are days when u are hopping all over the place just coz ure happy and why's that is a guess. Today was such a day. Its been months when one felt like this. And i know it was the rain which did the trick. Darn amazing downpour. I even went out and got wet. its been a long time since i did that. Since the time i entered the world of the prim and propah people, i havent been as wild as i was today.

And then the egg rolls in K nags, the hot gulab jamuns at Laxmi Sweets, i know i will remember the food, and the evening of wet soil and the evening for years to come. It wasnt an occasion. But i felt like celebrating just for the heck of being alive.
Enjoy it while it lasts. Its life.

Patriot..My foot!!

In order to prove that I'm a true Indian, do I have to stand up for Narendra Modi?
The cancellation of the Gujarat CM's US visa has caused an epidemic of patriotism. How dare the neo-imperialists in Washington impugn the sovereignty of the Indian republic by denying entry to an elected representative of the people of an Indian state? Never mind that Modi is accused of mass murder. His Indianness comes before his alleged murderousness, and as such we, as Indians first and moral beings second, must support him. As one commentator put it, he might be a mass murderer. But he is our mass murderer and we ought to close ranks behind him. An ingenious argument, which the Nazis should have adopted at the Nuremberg trials. Sure Hitler was a monster, but he was our monster and we had to follow him. Come to that, the Jews were also our Jews, to do with as we liked.

Patriotism is not just the last refuge of scoundrels. It is often also the first refuge of the morally and mentally unsound. Playing to the patriotic gallery, Modi has likened himself to Mohandas Gandhi, victim of imperialism who demolished the empire which sought to subjugate him. The comparison will appeal only to those unable to differentiate between the Father of the Nation and the Fuhrer of the Nation. The issue raises questions far more important than Modi's visa: What does it mean to be a good Indian? Is patriotism the same as Indianness? Gandhi's Indian identity could not be bestowed on him by the Indian state, which of course did not exist at the time. Nor was it bestowed on him by the British, because it was precisely that British-imposed identity of Indian-as-subject which he was struggling against. Though he was a consummate politician, Gandhi's identity, his Indianness, did not derive from any state or government. He did not identify himself first as a political entity and then as a moral or spiritual being. Quite the reverse. Gandhi sought, and found, his Indic roots deep within the cultural and civilisational traditions of the subcontinent which far preceded its dismemberment into warring nation-states. Based on the principles of tolerance and ahimsa, Gandhi's satyagraha was first and foremost a moral crusade, and only secondarily a political campaign. The means had to justify the end, not the other way round. Political freedom meant nothing without the basis of moral emancipation.

Your moral identity preceded and legitimised your political identity. You could be a good Indian only by realising that your Indianness was just a part, and by much the smaller part, of your humanness. And that, in turn, was only a part of a consciousness which recognised the undifferentiated sanctity of all life in its myriad, inextricably interlinked manifestations. Gandhi became an iconic Indian by transcending the parochialism of Indianness, of patriotism as a political straitjacket. He empowered himself - and potentially at least empowered us - by breaking the shackles of chauvinism. When are we going to learn to grow to be big enough to follow his liberating example? When will we rid ourselves of the manipulative puppet strings of patriotism? E M Foster said if he had to choose between his friend and his country, he hoped he would have the courage to choose his friend. Which do you hope you would choose? Which do you hope your friend would?


And leave all other arguments alone, who are we to protest? If that country does not want some one like Modi on their soil, why do u have such a problem. The US does not have any problems with an Indian coming to their country. It certainly has problems with people of a questionable character coming to their country. It is their country and hence their business and discretion. All this talk of insulting India and Indianness for having denied a visa to an elected CM of an Indian State is utter crap. People who are harping on this point are hard pressed to observe the point which is more than obvious here. It is a reminder to the people who have elected as their representative, a person who has been called a mass murderer time and again. And elected him after he has committed such crimes against humanity.

For Humanity's sake wake up and shout out that the erstwhile heaven called India, can well do without Devils like Modi who are hell bent on transforming it into a hell. Why does it take an outsider to jolt you out of your daze??!

SMSes

These are some of the better SMSes i have been getting ever since the cell companies have gone crazy and charge only 1 paisa per SMS

 

 - Consequences of  of an American Lifestyle : The wife rushed in2 her house screaming 2 her hubby "darling come quickly, ur kids and my kids are beating up OUR kids" !!!

 

- Ek bhoot dusre se: Tujhe kisi se darr lagta hai?

 dusra: nahin

1st : Kabhi tuney sardar dekha hai?

2nd : Sardar - vardar kuchh nahi hota, sab mann ka veham hai !!

 

- Mallika sherawat ko draupadi ka role dein to kaisa rahega..? Tab duryodhan kahega : "Pehle ise kapde to pehnao tabhi to vastra haran kar paaunga"  :-)

 

- What will be written on Mallika Sherawat's Headstone when she dies?

 

 

At last

 

 

she sleeps alone !!!!!!!!!! LOLROF

 

 

- Teacher to Sardarji : Sardarji aap Darwaje par khade ho kar exam paper kyun likh rahe ho?

Sardarji : "bewkoof!! Entrance Test de raha hun!!"

 

 - Sardarji1 :"Marte waqt aadmi ke munh mein kya dalna chahiye?"

 Sardarji2 : "Birla Cement"

Sardarji1 : Kyun?

Sardarji2 : "Kyunki is Cement mein JAAN hai"?!?!?!

 

- Gabbar singh jab paida hue to unki maan ne unhe zor se thappad maara! Logon ne puchh kyun maara bechare bachche ko? Maan boli "Puchhta hai 'Kitne AADMI THE?!' "

 

 

 

 - This one takes the cake.........

 

If you want the latest Mercedes Maybach on easy instalments please log on to our website -

 

www.KutteApniAukatPeAaja.Com

 

 

 

 

I AM LISTENING TO ::  Mora Saiyyan - FUZON

Achan Deep Singh
sweetachan@yahoo.com
http://www.achansblog.blogspot.com

---

Do you Yahoo!?
Make Yahoo! your home page

SMSes

These are some of the better SMSes i have been getting ever since the cell companies have gone crazy and charge only 1 paisa per SMS

- Consequences of of an American Lifestyle : The wife rushed in2 her house screaming 2 her hubby "darling come quickly, ur kids and my kids are beating up OUR kids" !!!

- Ek bhoot dusre se: Tujhe kisi se darr lagta hai?
dusra: nahin
1st : Kabhi tuney sardar dekha hai?
2nd : Sardar - vardar kuchh nahi hota, sab mann ka veham hai !!

- Mallika sherawat ko draupadi ka role dein to kaisa rahega..? Tab duryodhan kahega : "Pehle ise kapde to pehnao tabhi to vastra haran kar paaunga" :-)

- What will be written on Mallika Sherawat's Headstone when she dies?


At last


she sleeps alone !!!!!!!!!! LOLROF


- Teacher to Sardarji : Sardarji aap Darwaje par khade ho kar exam paper kyun likh rahe ho?
Sardarji : "bewkoof!! Entrance Test de raha hun!!"

- Sardarji1 :"Marte waqt aadmi ke munh mein kya dalna chahiye?"
Sardarji2 : "Birla Cement"
Sardarji1 : Kyun?
Sardarji2 : "Kyunki is Cement mein JAAN hai"?!?!?!

- Gabbar singh jab paida hue to unki maan ne unhe zor se thappad maara! Logon ne puchh kyun maara bechare bachche ko? Maan boli "Puchhta hai 'Kitne AADMI THE?!' "



- This one takes the cake.........

If you want the latest Mercedes Maybach on easy instalments please log on to our website -

www.KutteApniAukatPeAaja.Com





I AM LISTENING TO :: Mora Saiyyan - FUZON

Happy birthday Sonia

s 

Hi Sonia! How's the weather up there mate. Sorry i cried in the morning when the birthday reminder rang. I stopped when i realised you wouldn't have liked to see those tears had u been with me. You know last year when i forgot to wish u, and was so ashamed to even talk. I SMSed you and u called me back and u said how angry u were at me. And i knew i wouldnt forget it the next year but still put reminders in my cell.

But you punished me real bad for that. You never gave me the chance to wish you again. You have always taught me so much and continue to do so. Even when u left me, u taught me something, albeit the hard way. There is never a 'later' to tell my loved one, to express, to let him/her know that how much she means to me. You left us all with a lifetime of memories. I am not angry with almighty for having taken back his gift so soon. But thank him for giving me those precious moments spent with you. Moments which will last a lifetime.....and beyond. I just so wish you were here today and i would give u the best Birthday gift i could have managed... a hug. But right now all i have on offer is a tear..... hope that will do.


I miss you Sonia.... happy birthday.


sonia 

My meeting with Mr. Athley, VP Maharishi Ayurveda

Hi, i know this is coming in late but i beter put it down before i
lose all of what i discussed with mr. athley. I will write out all
that i talked about in order. Please do the cutting and editing
yourself. this is unedited and unabridged.

the format of questioning was what dr. jain provided us with.

I asked him a general question about the history and ethos of his
company and he began with the movement initiated by the founder of the
company, maharishi yogi...or whatever his name is.

1955 - this guy intoduced his concept of ayurveda and yoga and
MEDITATION to be more precise to the G7 countries + Russia + the
islamic countries as well.

1983 began scientific validation of Ayurveda accross countries, not
just in india.

1987- there were 3 big shot ayurveda doctors, whose names i have
forgotten but they are there on the website. these guys started
educationg more ayurveda doctors and helped make essential
formulations for most of the medicines manufactured by maharishi
ayurveda.

1988- set up the NEPZ plant and started exporting ayurveda stuff -
labelled as "herbal food supplements".

Now we are talking about the distribution of the stuff.
these people have presence in most of europe, US and japan. a total of
40 distributors - loosely translates into a little less than 40
countries. Mode of distribution is direct Marketing and Postal Orders.
Most drugs that are sold are Over the Counter products (OTCs)

Maharishi ayurveda has been operating sales in india since 89. with
about 900 different products. Please keep in mind that the number of
products and the total volumes are greater for the export market and
less so for the indian market.

Promotion - they have established 120 small health centres across the
countries they are operating in. These small health centres operate as
nerve centres in the areas they are located in in spreading awareness,
holding workshops and short term programs in holistic treatment
(panchkarma techniques).

I asked him about the yoga link to ayurveda and all that he said in
the reply, he basically meant that ayurveda and yoga are essentially
interlinked in reality and otherwise also help each other's popularity
in the west.

The company started exports to holland and switzerland in 85 (?).
Also he said that the 'SEAT' of the maharishi is in holland right now.
wonder what he meant by that. esports to US and UK started in 87 and
rest of europe and japan in 89. there was this Dr. Yukiniwa who
conducted research on free radicals in the atmosphere which have
degrading effect on the human body and appreciated ayurveda for its
counter effect on 'free radicals'.

When asked about competition from non indian companies and systems of
medicines, he sited Phythotherapy being popularised by some German
companies in the european union.

Among the certifications maharishi ayurveda has got are :
1st co to get ISO 9000
HACCCP by DNV agency in holland
GMP by WHO
GMP by govt of india
PICKS in australia

85 - 90% of the total revenues of the company are had from exports.
40% of this is from US making it the largest export market. followed
by Italy, norway, UK, and holland.

Talking about the regulations faced by the company,
anything that is termed herbal must be 100% organic
Should have been tried in the country of origin for more than 30 years
(ayurveda faces no prblem in this regard coz it has been proven that
it has been practised in india since thousands of years)

The company regularly holds a Global workshop in india with
participants from 40 countries.
OTC products are branded as maharishi ayurveda products. for food
supplements, these have been given MA (maharishi ayurveda) numbers eg
MA11 , MA 45 indicating the formulation number.

Pricing : the pricing of the products is loosely cost based but the
purchasing power of the intended customers is also taken into account.
Marketing and pricing of the products is done by the local marketers.
The export prices are uniform for all markets.

Promotion : regular programs are held at 'transcedental meditation centres'
the company also undertakes 'editorial marketing'. Except india, no TV
adverts are used in the world. In india they even had the maharishi
channel for some time. which had the educative programs creating
awareness about ayurveda.

a 2 pronged strategy towards popularising the concept.
In the West they work by sensitising people about their quality of
life. and creating a disease free society.

Another multi faceted approach is using vaastu, jyotish and other such
ancient sciences in conjunction with ayurveda and yoga.

The company projects itself as a knowledge based organisation, and has
expensive products (premium priced) which are validated

There is negligible adspend on the whole.

Competition from chinese, tibetan systems of medicine and homoeopathy and unani.

In central asia and Parts of europe, own traditional systems of
medicine are another source of competition.

The company does participate in trade fairs. Are regular participants
in the world health assembly in switzerland. have recently
participated in fairs in Lebanon, Brazil, and UAE.

DISTRIBUTION : the national distributors are independent of the
company however work under and MOU with the parent company. The
company's role is of only monitoringo nce the goods have been handed
over the the national distributor. The company's task there after is
that to see that there is no tampering of the goods.
The labelling too is done by the local distributors.

There is no manufacturing utilities outside india. Although packaging
is done abroad.

Earlier the company modelled the distribution networks for different
countries itself. now it lets the distributors do it, although with
consultation with the company.

LOGISTICS : the company has only one warehouse outside india, in UAE.
use Seaways, road as well has Airways for transportation. Majority of
load transported by sea.

margins for the distributors vary widely.

environment : by some study it has been predicted that by 2050 the
market for ayurvedic products will be worth $ 5 trillion across the
world.

competition : Dabur has facilities in UK, Himalaya in Italy. There is
a hamdard type company in Pakistan wich manufactures a "joshinda"
which is very popular abroad.

Ayurveda has spread with buddhism in earlier times.
Accupunnture is equivalent of manusparsh in ayurveda.

I asked him about market segmentation but didnt get a clear answer.
he talked about Mail orders, e-business in different countries, and
OTC. with OTC being the biggest chunk in the sales. The indian,
pakistani and banlgadeshi community abroad is also a big consumer of
the company's products.

the company is into health care and not just medicines. "absence of
disease is not health"

Majority of the OTC drugs are those of self medication and are usually
for acidity, cough cold, choraiza.

the company is trying to spread formal education of ayurveda across
the world. Small term courses in germany have been put in place which
apprise medical students of ayurveda.
China is biggest competitor in all courses of the company's business.

The company endevors to change the perspective towards ayurveda as an
"alternate system of medicine". They want it to be the primary defence
against diseases.

The difficulties faced by the company : Rules and regulations are
different for most countries and many formulations have to be altered
to pass the strict laws.

The company would like a more proactive ministry of external affairs
that should promote ayurveda as an export item from india.

there is this "amrit kalash" product and it constitutes for 35-40 % of
its sales abroad.

the philippines, vietnam, CIS countries and the baltic states are
prospective markets.

THE END

me....busy?

tinka tinka, zarra zarra,
hai roshni se, jaise bhara.
har dil mein armaan hote to hain,
bas koi, samjhe zara.......


Ok. As is evident i have been busy over the past week. My interview at O&M wasnt exactly an interview. And we had our Symposia this weekend. And i guess it was a good show. The usual restive audience was there but overall it was also a better behaved one than usual. May be the quality of speakers had something to do with this new found tehzeeb. I think Mr. Abheek Singhi from BCG was the unanimous choice as the best speaker. He spoke on branding. And i think a couple of more speakers chose to speak on the same topic and by the end of the 2 day event we were quite overdone with Branding and could have passed off as brand gurus ourselves. Then there was Mr. Atano Ganguly from Wrigley's who talked about Sales and Distribution and what a lecture that was. I guess most of us when we pass out in '06 won't be handling more than S&D if we're in an FMCG, and notes from this lecture would come in handy that time. 4th in line was Mr. Munir Suri frm KSA - Technopak, was good too. The only not so interesting speaker ( to put it mildly) was a guy from an insurance company (i dont even remember the company's name, it was THAT boring). And a fitting finale to the 2 day event was a lecture by Mr. Arunabh Das Sharma, Marketing Director, Whirlpool.

All in all it was 2 days of good learning.

I met with Mr. Athley, VP Maharishi Ayurveda, regarding my project in international marketing of Ayurvedic products. It was fun acting like one of the interviewers in BBC grilling experts on their own ground. But in any case i got all the info i needed and later was quite amazed with the ease with which i pulled all of it off, alone. The gals came in a full hour late, by which time i was over with the meeting.

I realise there are a number of internal tests coming up, beginning this friday and i better open a book, for the first time. ;-)

__________________________________________________
I am listening to : Tinka Tinka Zarra Zarra - Karam, Alisha chinoi at it again.