In the recent past, there was news of boycott of the products of FMCG majors, mainly HUL, by the provision stores next door. Their demand was to maintain parity between them and superstores such as D’Mart.

I am sure that these mega companies like HUL and P&G have their finger on the pulse of the market and that they need no advice from an amateur like me, but it’s a reality that known brands get sold as preferred products at these kirana stores rather than at supermarkets. In a supermarket, the products compete with each other as they are all displayed together on a shelf. Whatever consumer behaviour I have studied, including my own, consumers go for the most lucrative deal. If Cinthol pack says 3+1 free, consumers may like to pick it up in preference to say a Lux or Mysore Sandal. This applies ditto to other categories of products viz toothpastes, detergents, talcum powders, deodorants, cleaning materials etc.. However, when a customer goes to a nearby kirana store, in all likelihood he will ask for a brand that he always uses or has recently used or the brand with highest recall value. Consumer is likely to ask for Lux, Surf, Colgate, Lifebuoy rather than other not so “ readily etched in mind” brands.

We all see end of the road for these next door kirana shops not only due to competition from supermarkets, but e tailers and other D2C companies as well ! I myself have predicted end of the road for them unless they revamp their business. But given our inherent nature and requirements, especially our propensity to remember an essential item at the last moment, these stores seem to be going to remain relevant for at least sometime to come and FMCG majors should reassess their importance in their business model .

Change is happening faster than we can ever imagine. While transition from tape recorder to cassette player might have taken decades and from cassette to CD, probably at least one decade. CD to DVD to pen drive to pods and finally to music apps has happened at breakneck pace. Similarly transition from rotary phones to buttons system might have taken decades but look at the mobile technology and it’s pace of change. This applies to virtually everything around us. The way we used to do shopping, banking, film viewing, traveling is different today from what we were doing just a few years back.

When we look at the hindsight, we always wonder that why those who were so badly affected by change could not read the writing on the wall? Where are the TV manufacturers ( Televista, JK, Texla, Crown etc), music equipment makers ( Murphy, Thomson etc), bulb makers ( Sylvania), car manufacturers ( Ambassador, Standard, Premier) today?

The fact is that change is happening all the time around us, but we fail to notice it, being preoccupied in our day to day routine! I can clearly see writing on the wall for petrol/ diesel run cars and two wheelers ( e vehicles are catching up and other technologies are also at work), petrol pumps ( we already have huge requirement of CNG stations and very soon we will need e charging points), coal based energy producers, tutorials and coaching centres, kirana shops, electrical/ electronic repairing shops, tailors, cobblers etc. We must brace for these changes that are going to happen sooner than we can think and accordingly, re-skill the large swathes of population to obviate redundancy.

I was a film aficionado. Not only I watched many movies, I would know about everything about the movies released week after week- their star cast, directors, music directors, lyricist and even the names of those handling technical aspects – director of photography, editor etc. It was same about sports. Cricket I would follow like a maniac, following 5 days test match ball by ball. I would not only know the names of all the players but also their statistics. And leave apart our players, I would even be familiar with the team members of all the official test playing teams. I knew about hockey teams – all the players of India and Pakistan and a few stars of other strong teams such as Holland and Germany. In tennis, I had full information on 20 top men seeds and 10 top women. I followed local football and Mohan Bagan was my favourite team. I kept a tab on the latest developments in almost all the sports as also athletics.

Today, every movie has 2 to 5 music directors , each composing one song. After my favourites Lata, Rafi, Kishore, Asha, Mukesh receded, I was still following first Shabbir Kumar, Mohammad Aziz, Alka, Anuradha, Kavita, Kumar Shanu, Abhijit and later Udit, and Sonu, but I haven’t really followed Arijit’s rise to stardom. And if you ask me, I will not be able to identify any male or female voice today, leave apart music director or lyricist. I don’t even remember when I last saw a Bollywood movie in theatre! In any case, most of the films survive based on the response during the first weekend, immediately going into oblivion thereafter!

As regards sports, though world championships or olympics may still hold my attention, but if you ask me about cricket test matches, I may not know much beyond the result! Hockey and other sports are only strictly on need to know basis on the eve of a major tournament. Tennis I will not be able to recall many names beyond big three and women probably none after Williams sisters!

We have always heard that change should be for the better and it has to be progressive, but in my case it’s becoming regressive! I think it’s probably due to an overdose of everything – number of cricket matches in all forms that we have today, number of players that get capped and dropped, short shelf life – that has led to quick mortality of the durability of these aspects!

It’s all akin to the use and throw culture of today. If your mobile phone or TV or Fridge or any appliance has conked off, it’s better to replace it then go for repairs. Similarly, longevity of any big event or achievement is short lived. Records get broken very fast and it’s difficult to keep abreast of all these fast changing realities. You just have to enjoy the moment – a cricketing victory, a new song, a new movie – and then throw it out of the system to ingest the next thing .

Bridge is a unique word in many ways. A physical bridge connects the two ends of a river or any other water body or any terrain that’s required to be crossed without physical contact, but by having multiple qualities, one can bridge a gap without any physical construct. For example Shakespeare bridged a gap by being a novelist and a poet! But then you also build a non-physical bridge by taking a friendly initiative. For example Prime Minister of India is trying to build a bridge between the warring nations of Russia and Ukraine by initiating a dialogue. And how about a game of contract bridge, a popular card game that needs lot of strategising! And as a banker, I have so many times sanctioned a bridge loan to a customer who’s in need of interim finance pending finalisation of long term financing options! And boxers sometimes prefer to get their nose bridge removed to prevent serious injuries or bleeding during a boxing bout, while a dentist actually puts a bridge inside the mouth to align irregular teeth! And all of us must have heard about bridge in billiards, a nautical bridge in ships, a musical bridge, a chemical bridge between atoms in a molecule et al ! And while you may have very long bridges in the world, the word abridged actually means absolutely the reverse! It means to shorten something ! To end this with a Limerick:

Attempting to explain the meanings

And connotations of the word bridge

I went on and with its various usages

Till I ended up with an epic, requiring to be abridged!

Gender equality is a cliche,

Women empowerment is a cliche;

Equal job opportunities is a cliche,

Even freedom to women to dress is a cliche;

Respecting women for they are mothers, sisters and daughters is a big cliche,

Assigning value to the job of home maker is even a bigger cliche;

Every daughter born is Laxmi is a cliche,

Girls should study medicine is a cliche;

Deciding their marriageable age is cliche,

Sharing investment details with one’s wife is a cliche!

Why are these cliches and what not is a cliche?

All the above lead to discrimination ,

Let’s now stop this recrimination;

A woman is equal to man in all respects,

Let’s stop looking for their negative aspects ;

For even if they are born slightly physically inferior ,

God has given woman an ability that makes her far superior ;

While the man can only fight, lose, destroy or kill,

Woman creates and that’s her God given skill!

Happy woman’s day ! By avoiding the cliches in our daily lives, we can make each day a woman’s day and a happy one at that!

Australia in particular and cricketing world at large lost two icons on two consecutive days. First was Rodney Marsh, the iconic Australian wicket keeper, who formed the deadliest combination with fast bowler Dennis Lillee. Marsh had 95 victims behind the stumps while keeping wickets for Lillee’s bowling. He had a career record of 355 victims while keeping the wickets that exactly matched with Lillee’s count of 355 wickets in test matches! Some coincidence this considering the two contemporaries.

The next day, the master of leg spin bowling, whose wizardry and craft took leg spin bowling to new heights, Shane Warne died suddenly at his beach house in Thailand, hours after writing obituary of his senior colleague Rod Marsh. At 52, Shane had no age to die, especially reckoning the fact that till few years back, he was actively playing in IPL and had taken his IPL team, Rajasthan Royals to new heights.

I come from an era when probably there was one cricketing series in one year, if not less. Players would take years to create landmarks such as 200 wickets, 5000 runs or 100 stumping/catches behind the wicket. For years, Bedi’s 266 wickets was a record for India, till first Kapil and then Anil Kumble broke it. Kapil, in fact, bettered Sir Richard Hadlee’s record! What I mean to say here is that for a bowler, 400 test wickets was big landmark, but the troika of spinners from three countries – Kumble, Warne and Muralitharan- created unbelievable record by taking 619, 708 and 800 wickets respectively.

And what makes Warne stand out is that he came from a country that was mainly known for its fast bowling, where the bouncy wickets supported pacers and where the team did not have a reserved slot for a spinner. In contrast, Murali and Kumble came for the subcontinent that had produced so many iconic spinners and where pitches helped slow bowling!

And Warne had a boyish charm about him! From dating Elizabeth Hurley to falling head over heels in love with his eventual wife, who left him after his adultery was exposed, he always hogged the limelight. But that couldn’t take the sheen off his mesmerising bowling that comprised several unique events like the magic first ball that spun from outside the leg stump to uproot Gatting’s middle stump or the bowl that spun more than 6 feet, if I remember correctly.

Wish Shane could have lived a few more years and imparted his knowledge of leg spin bowling to more youngsters so that the cricketing world could see the magic on the field by more Warnes!

Rest in peace both the greats – Rod and Shane!

A fellow blogger, whom I follow and who, in turn, follows me has penned a very heart rending poem on the war and its utility. With the current Russian- Ukrainian war wreaking havoc, more so on innocent citizenry, especially of Ukraine, the situation is quite grim. India faces additional challenge of extricating large number of Indian students studying in Ukrainian institutions.

Under the circumstances, I also feel distressed and I think verse is a natural outcome of an aggrieved heart. My lines read as below:

Why the peace is at perpetual threat

On this our Mother Earth?

The issue may be any

But is a war of any worth?

Nations could be big or small

And not each one has the same muscle power

But are we living in a primitive world

Where might is right seems to be the only order

And who wins the war?

There are only losers

For destruction spares none

Neither the defenders nor the aggressors!

When everything else fails

And peacekeeper to the world appears toothless

We can only look skywards

For miracle happens only with his kindness!

Shiva is the lord whom we all adore,

Though he embodies contradictions galore;

We go to crematorium when we perish ,

But he lives there with an experience to cherish ;

Destructor we are all scared of ,

But Shiva, the destructor is one off;

For he doesn’t destroy without a reason ,

He destroys to recreate with passion;

Mount Kailash is his abode, vicious and treacherous,

No wonder it’s out of bounds and that’s not frivolous;

By uniting with Parvati he becomes the supreme creator,

Let’s celebrate Mahashivratri by bowing to this mystic leader!

Happy Mahashivratri !

A visit to Lucknow seems incomplete without a visit to Ayodhya. The very thought of visiting the birth place of Lord Rama evokes a feeling of deep devotion.

It’s about two hours drive from Lucknow to Ayodhya. Once you enter Ayodhya, the atmosphere turns very pious and full of fervour. The entry into the shrine, the sanctum sanctorum where the idols of Ram Lalla that have been retrieved from the earlier demolished structure are placed albeit temporarily as mentioned subsequently, is restricted up to 11AM after which the temple reopens at 3.30 PM. We were lucky to have reached just inside 11 AM and after series of security checks, reached inside the shrine. It was Aarti time and the sakshatkar ( darshan or sighting of the lord’s idol) combined with chiming of bells and drums accompanying Aarti gave goosebumps!

Of course, as aforesaid, currently the idols are placed in a makeshift place under high security and the construction of the new Ram temple is in full swing. It will be a massive structure and an architectural marvel when completed.

Thereafter, our local contact took us to an ashram that runs a Gurukul too. A very simple basic food comprising dal, rice, chapati and two vegetables tasted heavenly. Then it was time to visit two more temples – Kanak temple dedicated to Sita and a high temple situated on a hill top dedicated to Lord Hanuman. Finally, we just drenched our feet in the holy waters of river Saryu that has so much historic and religious significance.

A visit back to Lucknow was highlighted by a midway tea break where homely tea was served with yummy samosas.

Thanks to our local contact person, personal felicitation at Ram temple, Hanuman temple and the Ashram, where we had lunch, in the form of Garlands, sweets and stoles with Ram’s name printed on them, added to the overall divinity of the experience.

Ayodhya visit was an icing on the cake as far as overall Lucknow experience is concerned.

Jai Shri Ram!

Sharmaji ki chai, Bajpai ki kachori, Shukla Chaat, Royal Cafe, Ram Asrey, Prakash Kulfi and Tunday Kebab may be just names for an outsider, but all the above are mandatory visits when one is in Lucknow, as important as the iconic places such as Imambara, clock tower and Rumi Gate are.

Sharmaji’s kulhad chai, served piping hot is heavenly when eaten with bun Maska ( white butter) or samosa. For Bajpai’s Kachori, served with chana aloo and salad, there was a 50 metres long queue during lunch time, but luckily my wife was with me and ladies’ separate queue was slightly more manageable. Shukla chaat starts business at 4 PM and you are lucky to savour his delicacies if you make it to his nondescript place after 7 PM. Ram Asrey made us taste a full plate of Ras malai and gilauri ( sweet wrapped in a beetle leaf) but didn’t charge a penny, saying that tasting was free! Prakash Kulfi suggested that we should opt for half portion as the full would be difficult for two of us to finish! And Tunday Kebab advised that we could do some more shopping as our order would take at least 30 minutes to be executed!

And of course, Lucknow chikan work made my wife, her sisters and friends ( who were frequently taken on video calls) go berserk! Exquisite artistry, master craftsmanship and a variety that was simply mind boggling provided us with an experience that was unique! Ada, Nazrana, Nazakat were such household names amongst the chikan work lover surprised us as virtually everyone, for whom we shopped, seemed to be aware of the above iconic chikan shops, right in the heart of Lucknow in Hazratganj.

But the icing of the cake was our stay at Taj Mahal Lucknow. Their hospitality was unmatched, food delicious and Taj personal touch making us yearn for even a longer stay. The moment we mentioned of a Lucknawi delicacy – shami kabab, galouthi kabab, Zafarani biryani – they would serve us on the table ! Ultimately, we ended up lapping up all the food at Taj and yet couldn’t resist Lucknow street food, resulting in we over eating on each of the day of our stay there at! I am seriously thinking of some fasting after returning to Mumbai.

As our trip fast approaches it’s end, the very thought of leaving all this Lucknow’s hospitality, food and above all tehzeeb behind is making us go weak in the knees! And of course, my earlier blog of life changing experience of meeting Dr Ashok and his wife combined with this makes our this Lucknow visit very very special.

More of it in my next blog!