Kuch Yaadein Aisi Hai...

Kuch Yaadein Aisi Hai..

by Varun Narula

Os ki sard boondein,

Jab subah ki roshni mein khil-khilaati hai.

Garam ret par rakhe pairo ko,

Jab samandar ki leharein sehlaati hai,

Hawa mei nachta har kash ka dhua,

Mast maula, apni kahani rachta hai.

Kuch yaadein aisi hai, jo kahan mit paati hai.

Woh ma ke haath ki garam roti,

Har niwale mei jaise jannat dikhaati hai.

Kuch khatti, kuch meethi,

Zindagi ki kahaniyaan banti hi jaati hai.

Har aah ko dil mei dabaa kar,

Jo chehre par mushkaan rakhne ki sazaa hai.

Kuch yaadein aisi hai, jo kahan mit paati hai.

Us aankh se chalka har aansu,

Apni kahaani khud hi baha deta hai.

Har dil mei dard chupa hai,

Par doosre ki dil ko bhala kaun sunta hai.

Na jaane aise kitne dardo ko,

Yeh duniya roz pyaale mei duba deti hai.

Kuch yaadein aisi hai, jo kahan mit paati hai.

Woh tootey huey sapne,

Woh peeche choothey yaar.

Woh bachpan ki yaadein,

Woh adhoora raha pyaar.

Kuch toh baat hai hum mei,

Ki khushi khudh humse peeche chudhathi hai,

Kuch yaadein aisi hai, jo kahan mit paati hai.

Yeh safar bhi ajeeb hai,

Sab kehte hai ki woh saathi hai.

Fir kyu yeh kadam,

Akele hi nishaan chodhey chale jaate hai.

Hum tab bhi buland chalenge,

Jab zindagi ki mom pinghal jaati hai.

Kuch yaadein aisi hai, jo kahan mit paati hai

A Simple Plea

A Simple Plea

By: Varun Narula

I don’t know when I was born.

I don’t know when I shall perish.

They say my time will come soon.

They say the end shall be really garish.

Eons of time and waves of space.

I have seen and heard many a face.

Every story, every tear.

A single smile and realms of fear.

Tell them to stop the wars,

I have seen enough bloodshed.

Tell them to cure the sick.

And satiate this never-ending hunger.

Tell them to mop my brow,

For I have someone’s blood on it.

Tell them to come and hold me,

Why was I left alone to wander?

Ever heard the pain in a child’s cry?

Ever felt the depth of a mother’s loss?

An animal in agony, a system in chaos?

Ever talked to a cadaver?

And asked him his sin?

Ever felt your heart being slowly ripped apart,

By the piercing of a single pin?

I wear bloody clothes.

My body is tattered.

I walk on naked feet.

My soul is shattered.

Somewhere along the way,

You left me by the track.

In this race to the line,

Did you ever bother looking back?

Open your mind and clear your horizons.

Feel your soul and complete your existence.

These lines you cut across my chest,

Will they ever heal like the rest?

You dragged my lifeless body across the deserts,

You bled me dry and then laughed out of sadistic pleasures.

You filled my lungs with poison,

You slowly used your knife on every part.

How conveniently you forgot,

That even a speechless body has a beating heart.

I screamed in agony but could not make a sound.

I bled in darkness but could not see the light.

You told me it’s for my own good.

You told me to bear it for your sake, not give you a fight.

As I lie here today,

Hurting and weeping at the irony of my existence.

I wonder if all those years ago,

I should have never given you way.

To get killed by one’s own child,

is both agony and peace.

There is still some redemption left for you my son,

Let your mother Earth die peacefully atleast.

The Way Forward for the Indian Motorcycle Manufacturers

By : Varun Narula

I still remember the good old days when my father used to take us out for a Sunday lunch on his trusted Bajaj Chetak. I remember standing in front and noticing the world sail by. Well, the world still continues to sail by, but now its just much much faster as I view it through the visor of my helmet on my 220 cc Bajaj machine.

Rewind back to the 1990s; Hero Honda hit the jackpot by plonking efficient sub-100 cc Honda mills into its Splendors and CD100s. Overnight, the fuel-efficient four-stroke engines killed the market for the two-stroke bikes and scooters. This left manufacturers like Yamaha and TVS-Suzuki in the lurch, looking for a lifeline as the blokes at HH laughed their way to the bank. And it was no rocket science. Hero Honda just played it smart by anticipating the pulse of the market before the others could. The consumer wanted fuel-efficiency in a reliable, smart package and HH got the perfect engine for the recipe from Honda’s stables. Lesson learnt – Status quo is just an opportunity waiting to be tapped.

The next breakthrough came in the form of the CBZ, again from Hero Honda. This bike opened up an all new ‘performance’ segment by launching a 150 cc bike which look nothing like the Indian market had seen before. Fibreglass body and sporty styling had the youth swooning all the way to the dealerships. But this time, the competition was fast to catch up. Bajaj came up with its own indigenous Pulsar as the perfect weapon to counter the CBZ and capture a large slice of this new and rapidly growing customer segment. The overnight stardom of the Pulsar gave two new marketing lessons – Style sells and Performance should back it up. Here was the Indian consumer putting it in plain words for the manufacturers to read – If you have a good product, there is a market waiting to pounce on it.

The market evolved again in the early part of this century when Hero Honda (again!) launched the 223cc Karizma to take the fight to Bajaj’s star. Even though it was priced stratospherically by Indian standards, the Karizma bought the limelight again on Hero Honda. The bike sold again on two parameters mainly – Style and Performance wrapped in a technologically sound package. Though Hero Honda’s shoddy after sales service did act as a spoilsport for the sales of the product. Since then there has been no looking back as the manufacturers got the message (finally!) and incorporated this mantra in not just new premium products but also in the best-selling commuter bikes. Hence, you have 100 cc bikes like the Honda Twister which are inspired in design from the 1000cc superbikes. Sounds like an Overkill? Trust me, its not. The Indian motorcyclist has become much more aware and consequently more demanding. He/She demands world-class products backed by sound quality and service in a VFM envelope. And this is now a common expectation from all motorcycles sold in India irrespective of their prices or segments. From my limited knowledge I can classify the Indian motorcycle market into four distinct customer segments.

The first is the commuter consumer. This guy needs a reliable, FUEL EFFICIENT and smart ride to carry him around town in comfort. This segment normally sees 100cc and 125cc bikes sweat it out. And lets not forget the fact this this is the bread-n-butter segment for almost all the manufacturers. This is what brings in the sales numbers. The second is the young college goer who desires a smarter and more importantly a more powerful ride while still not compromising heavily on the fuel-efficiency. This segment is catered to by the 150 cc and the 180 cc machines. The third and the fastest growing segment is the Performance oriented consumer. These people desire immaculate performance and handling from their machines which must also look like scaled-down versions of superbikes. Fuel efficiency hardly plays a role in this case. This is the segment which has witnessed the most action in the past couple of years. To kill the Karizma’s monopoly, Bajaj’s Pulsar 220 and 200 and Yamaha’s R15 came to the fore with new technologies and features like fuel-injection and captured the starving market with absolutely no fight from Hero Honda. For about a lakh of rupees, these bikes gave you the ultimate flaunting rights and made you feel like the cast from Dhoom. The R15 single-handedly turned around the dwindling profits for Yamaha India. Such was the impact of its sales. This segment also includes the buyers of the Royal Enfields, but sadly there are no products to compete with the RE bikes as on date in India.

The fourth segment is the most elite and smallest in size but very rapidly growing, these are the people who can afford to purchase the Rs 10 lakh+ sportsbikes from authorized dealerships. For them, budget and fuel-efficiency are just folklore. They aspire for the ultimate and have the means to purchase it. With India witnessing a huge surge in the number of millionaires, how could this segment remain untapped? From Ducati to Honda to Suzuki to Harley Davidson, everyone is showing up on our shores to grab a slice of this pie. But this also leaves a huge untapped potential in the market in the form of a gap between the domestic 200 cc machines and the 1000cc imported bikes. This is mainly due to the Indian government’s restriction on import of bikes below 800 cc. (more on that later).

Few manufacturers like Bajaj have sensed this gap and are moving towards it by introducing products like the Ninja 250R which incidentally has exceeded all sales expectations by about 8 times. What we do need are bikes in the range of 400-600 cc and priced at about 4-6 lakh rupees to capture the fancy of the consumer. With rumors of TVS and Bajaj developing 400 cc bikes in the near future, the climate is already heating up. What remains to be seen is how will the big three (Honda, Suzuki, Yamaha) react and when will the sleeping giant (Hero Honda) wake up to the battle call. Or is it playing smart by choosing its own turf in the form of commuter segment where it plays best? Smart thinking or avoiding confrontation – only time will tell! Till then ladies and gentlemen, save your cash because that dream bike from your wall poster might just be in ur garage sooner than you think.

A Concept Paper on

The Sabzeewala Model

By: Varun Narula

Introduction:

Most of us who have lived in urban or semi-urban areas have noticed a man on a cart or bicycle ferrying vegetables on the streets in colonies and societies. This person who our society termed as the Bhajiwala or the Sabzeewala (literally meaning ‘the vegetable man’) shows up at the doorstep of his selected clients every morning to make a sale. His prices are usually considerably higher than the wholesale or the mandi prices and yet within a few hours, he has sold off most of his inventory. Ever wondered why? Its because the Sabzeewala gives you the ultimate in customer service – Personalized and Convenient Service. It is because of the convenience of having a person deliver your desired vegetables at your doorstep and at the desired time, that you do not mind paying a slight premium over the lower prices available in the market. You can tell him your requirements, your preferences and you can rest assured that it shall be on his cart the very next day. To sweeten the deal he’ll even throw in a couple of tit-bits free of cost into your polybag. Everything delivered with a smile and respect for the consumer.

Now can this micro-level model of a successful business-customer interface be replicated and scaled up in other retail industries? I believe it sure is possible and with a little investment, a retail firm can generate better volumes and customer base over a period of time.

The Sabzeewala Model:

The Sabzeewala Model is a truly unique way of combining a personalized sales service with an established chain of retail outlets. For illustration purposes, we shall consider the example of Big Bazaar, one of India’s leading retail chains.

In the proposed model, Big Bazaar must introduce a new scheme called ‘Aapka Samaan, Aapke Ghar’ (literally meaning Your Goods, Your Home). Under this scheme Big Bazaar outlets shall offer membership to their customers residing within a said distance from the outlet (assume a radius of 15 km). The member shall have to pay a fixed monthly fee towards membership charges (In this case, Rs 300 as shown in the calculations at the end).

Big Bazaar shall employ about 2 to 3 one ton tempos to cater to this scheme and one personnel dedicated to each tempo. Every tempo shall have a sales beat of about 15-20 member households in an area. A tempo can have upto 2 sales beats or circles which can each be catered to on alternate days in a week.

The Big-Bazaar employee with the tempo shall go to a member household with their pre-placed order and deliver it to the customer. He shall then take any future orders and requirements and the desired day of the delivery (subject to the days allocated to a circle). The tempo shall visit every member between 8 am – 10 am on the designated day depending upon the time preference and location of the customer. Every member shall have a catalogue of the available items at the Big Bazaar store to facilitate the ordering.

A member can also ask for a demo/sample of any good priced above Rs. 1000. The sample shall be carried along with the next order of the member but shall be returned to the store on the same day by the tempo salesman. White goods/bulky goods may be excluded from this demo/sample plan due to space constraints.

Incase of a unavailability of the customer at their residence, the concerned official shall visit the customer again once in the evening (after store-closing hours) as per the customer’s approval. Incase the customer is still not available, the sales tempo shall visit the customer on the next allocated day for the said circle. Incase of a delay on the part of the Big-Bazaar tempo, the goods shall be delivered to the customer the same day at a time preferred by the customer.

No Delivery charges shall be charged to the customer under any circumstances and the goods shall be delivered at the store prices.

Incase a member customer wishes to modify or cancel a pre-placed order, they can do so 6 hours in advance of the designated date/time of delivery by logging onto the ASAG member section on the Big-Bazaar website (24 hours a day) or calling up the designated Big-Bazaar outlet of which they are a member (during store operation hours). This model also ensures that the customers know their tempo salesman personally and can contact him directly for any updates on the order or any changes in the order or schedule.

Cost Analysis:

Cost of three one-ton tempos = Rs 2,50,000 X 3 = Rs 7,50,000 (approx.)

Salary of three tempo drivers/salesmen = Rs 6,000 X 3 = Rs 18,000 per month

Fuel consumption of one tempo = 18 km per liter of Diesel (approx.)

Cost to cover one circle (sales beat) of about 30 km = Rs 75 (Assuming Diesel price @ Rs 45/lit)

Membership charges for ‘Aapka Samaan,Aapke Ghar’ Scheme = Rs 300 or Rs 10 per day

Total membership revenue per sales beat of 15 members = Rs 4,500

Total running charges per sales beat = Rs 3000 + (Rs 75 X 15 days) = Rs 4125

(Note: Maintenance charges and depreciation on the tempos is not considered here)

(Assumption: 15 members per sales beat and 2 sales beat per tempo)

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