In the mean while, i have been to Delhi once more AND then went on a Rural Marketing workshop sponsored by CII. And this post is about that experience.
It was a two day thing and we left bombay at 7 in the morning. The first stop was a village called 'Otoor' in Pune distt. It was a 5 hour journey, but the road to the place was really scenic and had mountainous slopes, i last saw on my trip to Manali last year.
In Otoor village we interacted with the retailers to gain information about the spending habits of the locals and also the distribution scene. We were in some luck too as it was also the day for the weekly market in the village. We saw the kind of goods that were on sale, but of all the shops, one which i found really interestin was one selling Audio and Video CDs of Bollywood AND Hollywood movies. His speaker blaring the latest Himesh Song.
When i asked him why he had so many CDs and very few Audio Cassettes on sale, the response was an eye-opener. He said, that 90% of the homes in the village had CD players.
Among other things of note were:
- Most shops in the market were mobile. i.e. the back of a tempo or a Jeep is the shop where the owner sits and sells his wares, and after the business hours, packs up and drives away to another village in the same vehicle to participate in the weekly market in another village.
- As far as clothing is concerned, people want to wear newer and flashier designs, and quality is damned. The 'cheap and best' formula is slightly different for this market
- All families are primarily occupied with farming but still have a decent standard of living.
An hour later, it was time for us to move to our next destination, which was a green house farm. This was a farm which grew different varieties of flowers and it was amazing to see a greenhouse function. till now one had seen such things in text books and images only. The Farmer was quite unlike the typical image of a farmer. We are told that he is one of the progressive ones in the business and it was a risk he took some years back which is now paying off.
Next we headed to vineyards which were just accross the highway, and honestly it was pretty unlike the glamorous image of them everybody would have. It was pretty much like any other farm with funny contraptions lying everywhere, which we were later told, were for 'drip irrigation' resulting in juicier grapes.
And as if the vineyards weren't enough, we were taken to the brewery and yes, we did get to taste a variety of wines and champagne, but mazaa nahi aaya. Most of 'em were so coarse, us se acchi to apni Napolean's No. 7 port wine hoti hai.
This was the last stop for the day and then we headed to Pune on a 5 hour drive and reached our hotel at 11 in the night.
The next day began early for most, as people were supposed to head to a local mandi to witness auctioning of farm products and the transactions between farmers and traders. I said for most, coz i dint go as i was lazy as always and did not want to trade precious sleep for more time in loud and messy marketplaces.
After a heavy breakfast we left our night shelter at 11 in the morning and stopped at a highway hamlet 200 kms from solapur. I dont remember the name of the place but it was supposedly the trading point, servicing all villages in the radius of 20-25 kms. It was a routine exercise here too, wherein we intreracted with the local retailers and got info about the distribution practices, the margins on which they operated, the buying habits of the locals. What was important was, that this particular village had the most number of outlets selling all types of white goods. So not just the kirana store, we also understood the psyche of the rural buyer when he set out to purchase a refrigerator or a new Plasma Screen TV.
The final destination was 'Mandgaon Pharaata' and without a doubt i can say, that of all the villages and places we visited on the trip, this was the place i would like to call 'the middle of nowhere'.
90 minutes after we got off the last motorable road, we reached this village. And this is where we witnessed a meeting of farmers, and a roadshow organised by an Agri products company. The language of use was heavy duty rural marathi, but i think i did get a hang of what was being said....about using the company's fertilizers and pesticides for better production and khushhaali and unnati and everything else.
And in the mean while i managed to sneak away to catch some amazing shots around the landscape. get those at http://flickr.com/photos/achan
To top it all, there was this funny incident at the fag end of it all, when we were about to leave. About 5 minutes before we left the village, i was sitting in the Bus and waiting for others to board, when i saw a group of village children playing near my bus. As i was looking outside the window, it seems one of them saw a sardar for the first time and he gave me the only surd name he might have heard and started shouting "HARBHAJAN!! HARBHAJAN!!" very much to the amusement of my colleagues and my embarassment. And it didn't stop there, the crowd of children just got bigger, as kids went and fetched their friends so that they wouldn't miss the rare sighting of 'Harbhajan'. The group followed our bus for quite a distance, shouting 'bye Harbhajan, bye Harbhajan'
All in all, the week was full of travel, first to Dilli and then this 2 day trip, and i guess both were rather enjoyable. The Rural excursion moreso because it was the baptism of sorts fpr my camera.
all those who've been through the images i clicked have praised them and i too am satisfied with the results.
bas, finis.
next post mein main apne is trim and next trim ke subjects ki choice discuss karoonga.
ok tata.
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