Exercising options....myth or true?

                     or

Options vis a vis thrust upon.....

Many people at some point or other have options staring at them, gets confused and finally choose the one which they are comfortable with, right? And many go by past experiences and if they are very young and had no experience, they take the advice of the parents, siblings, friends, mentors et al and sometimes 'go with their guts'....and some go to the temples and look at the deity there take the almighty's permission and then decide....

And many a times and many of you regret why you chose that path/option...and start blaming those who influenced you to take that decision/path and if it were taken on your own, start blaming yourself and play the victim card, right?

Sometimes, when one is thrown at, many options, we feel good and happy looking at the choices available, right? There are many cases, right from our epics....Swayamwaram for example....the princess is given a garland, she goes around the suitors who are anxiously waiting to be 'picked up' and chooses whom she feels is her partner/soulmate.....in todays world too this happens to majority of the boys and girls....and finally the boy or girl have to decide on one and get married to that person or have a live in relationship....this is what is happening around the world and as we all know many of them end up in some kind of problem....and today since many do not have the time and patience things break down faster than yesteryears....

When you complete your school and have to choose your college or courses....options again....then masters and interviews....if a person is lucky there would be a couple or even a few to choose from.....

Which movie to watch, what brand of TV to buy....which location my home should be....what vehicles....which bank is good to have my SB account....which company's stock to invest....where to put in my money.....many options, right?

Even in sports right from Tennis and Badminton.....the winner of the toss can choose to serve....in Cricket the winner of the toss shall choose fielding or batting....

The captain chooses batting first.....and scores big and wins....kudos to the captain, coach and the team....right? But he loses the match....the blame would come on him for exercising his option...right? in this case the outcome is attributed exercising his option...right? 

So exercising the options....

Just imagine a situation where the captain loses the toss and made to field or bat....the outcome of that match, cant be attributed to the decision of this captain as he was not asked to choose and he was thrust....understand the difference between exercising one's option and doing what is given...

The idea of writing this blog is  just to make the reader that sometimes left with no option/choice is better than looking at 'problem of plenty', right?

Let me take my professional life....my first job as medical rep with Win Pharma.....this just happened.....and to Selco marketing selling Jackpot bonus stamps.....one interview and got thru....Herbertsons....again one interview and got thru.....IDV/Diageo....hand picked by DR.....W&M....hand picked by VJM....Flemingo and Geoscope....in all the above till Flemingo I didnt have any other options....I never bluffed to any of my employers that 'I have a couple of offers and will decide and get back'....I just took what was given/available....I didnt have to choose as there was no options available to me....Only time I have to exercise the choice given to me was when we started Geoscope...whether to take the plunge or be with Flemingo.

I also know few who exercised the options available to them both in their professional life and personal life and still cribbing....playing the victim card very often...

In my case since I didnt have to pick from a lot and have to go with the one that was available at that time, I feel am lucky and enjoyed my professional life thoroughly as I didnt have to think 'why I chose this?'....

I have seen people tossing options in front of their famous deity and picking up one and still complaining.....

So guys whats your life's lesson? Chosen from options/choices and happy or otherwise? Or just doing what you got and enjoying or otherwise?

Pl take a deep breath, hold it, release....think whether your life had given you the joy of exercising your options or the other way....and the outcome of whichever it was....enjoying life or otherwise.....pl share.....

Cheers.....

 

 Memoirs.....Musings of a sales guy at heart.....

Episode 40...

UT of Pondy and DeeKay...

I had mentioned in my earlier blog the issues we faced with Gemini...when we started bottling with Gemini, their IMFL bottling line was unused and they were just doing some qty of Breezer. After we started off and almost after 2 years, they allowed Kyndal to bottle and followed by Bacardi Carta Blanca....It was just one bottling line, limited storage space to accomodate storage, blending n holding tanks and FG storage....meanwhile, Breezer also picked up volumes...the breezer production was in a different bottling line which is fully automatic and state of the art line....and this line was in full swing... When we started bottling, Saju was the manager there with Sunil and Arundekar managing finance and bottling hall..Saju is a good guy with very good understanding of the plant and also good equations with the state excise department....Gemini management brought in another person in place of Saju and our problem started....we also had some constraints as we had invested in Gemini with scanner for bottling Chattisgarh stocks and hence kept Gemini only for Chattisgarh and moved our other brands to Pondy....

I had mentioned that we started bottling 90ml in DeeKay in Pondy to start with, and as it didnt create any perceived quality issues, I spoke to the owner of DeeKay, Ravi (in short) and made it very clear to him that we are shifting our entire production to his unit and will bottle not only for the UT of Pondy but also for other markets....My request to him was that he should spend money to improve the quality of the bottling hall, lab, warehouse and also office for our guys and rest room facilities (the rest room was constructed after 4 years and that also one has to walk for 10 minutes to reach there) I also told him that we are taking a big risk bottling Hobsons in his unit as consumers perception of bottled in Pondy is not that positive. He was very happy to bottle such premium brands in his unit and he signed off with us....wherever we start bottling, we ensure we have a joint account to deposit our receivables from our distributors. This was also agreed upon....and we started Hobsons, Clovis and Le Roi' there. He agreed for all the above, and assured us he would work on the working conditions in the factory.

If you are wondering why we went to DeeKay inspite of his not so good reputation and why not other units...the answer is...1) in 2013/14, Balaji was USL's bottler and USL was averse to bottle any other brands other than their own...2) Other units were Premiere, Vinbros and RK Distilleries.....Vinbros is very professional and yes, I should have gone to him but my distributor in Mahe vehemently opposed that as he said Vinbros has a very negative image there and since I considered DeeKay, owned by Ravi, a good friend of mine and decided to go with him....the condition of the unit was pathetic as they were only doing cheap liquor there when we tied up and they felt for bottling cheap liquor the unit was more than sufficient....they did some work due to pressure from us on the unit but not sufficient....we somehow managed to get our products without any compromise on quality, using our relationship with their manager and work force....my unit manager was not happy working from there as he didnt get his due respect. I took up many of these issues with Ravi but he never bothered to address them. Also he was very dependent on his deputy Sivanandam, who, somehow didnt bother to improve the infra at the unit. The advantage of bottling in a local unit was always there as the service of orders were very quick and most of the time it was delivered on the same day if it was local. Also my distributors didnt have to invest huge amount on duties and take full loads. We could supply small quantities too....The turn around time for KKL was couple of days and only for Mahe, as it has to cross KTK and Kerala borders it took some time. Ravi also has 3 retail outlets and a bar and two WS. We started supplying him directly for his own outlets which helped us to improve our volumes...as said earlier we opened up the market in Pondy and Mahe and this strategy really helped our brands to grow. But our problems were not over with DeeKay. When we were developing our GPL XO our master blender visited  DeeKay and told me in no uncertain terms that we should change the unit. We had lots of internal discussions and decided to change the bottling source in Pondy and I approached my dear friend Shivkumar who was managing Balaji Distilleries at Pondy....and when I started the discussions in mid 2019. Balaji got few brands of Diageo USL on a royalty basis and hence Shiv took the bold decision of tying up with us for bottling. The bottling plant of Balaji is world class and managed by a very professional team. And Shivkumar is one of the finest humans to deal with. Just before the start of our bottling, Balaji went for a major renovation and improved everything in the unit.....

Now the challenge was to come out of DeeKay with little bruises. It is not like FMCG where you can come out of an unit with out much hassle. In this industry, you cant use labels, gift cartons and shippers of one unit in the other one. So the planning has to be fool proof to avoid any major write offs....I broke this news to Ravi and told him we are shifting because of some internal things and it has nothing to do with him or his unit....Also requested him to allow us to bottle till the RM/PMs last....Also another 'to be done away with' thing with many of the state excise is that you have to get an NOC from the existing bottler while applying for label registration of another unit....and the existing bottler, more often, delays this....just sadistic pleasure....As mentioned earlier we started bottling our XO with Balaji just before Diwali 2019 and XO was an instant hit....

But our friend Ravi of DeeKay started acting funny. Balaji did not have an import permission and hence could not start with Hobsons immediately as to get the impex license would take around 3 months. So we were forced to continue with DeeKay for some more time and I requested Ravi and he agreed but with a smirk in his face....Also DeeKay started some new brands and we were supplying them FGS....it was a smooth operation and not connected with our bottling. But sometime in February 2020, one evening I got a call from my unit manager that the FGS (raw material for our Hobsons -French Grape Spirit-FGS) of ours which was stored in a specific area-around 6 barrels-were found missing....this is a shock.....I called Ravi and as he didnt pick up called Sivanandam. He first feigned total ignorance and later accepted that they wanted the FGS and his guys have hence moved those barrels to their side of the warehouse...I got so infuriated, I blasted this guy....I told him by next morning I want all the 6 barrels back in to our custody....I knew it was all done with Ravi's knowledge. Had I spoken to Ravi that day it would have ended up our termination immediately....the barrels were returned next day...but thats not all.....this is the beginning of all the hostilities.....We have to beg for our bottling line....unlike the earlier times.....delayed giving us the NOC.....packing materials transfer was delayed everyntime a request was given.... Anyway, my constant talks and push was required every time as my team faced total resistance from Ravi, his factory manager and Sivanandam. As DeeKay owned couple of retails and a bar and these outlets had good potential we were also supplying them directly and that was a decent business especially for our Hobsons and Clovis.....and this also got strained because we started bottling from Balaji. As explained earlier nothing is easy when it comes to severing ties and going to another unit.....one has to take cognisance of the materials the unit is holding and the time it would take to clear these materials to bring down the write offs....while some of the PM can be transferred and snickered to salvage write offs, it is very difficult to transfer the raw materials like ENA and special spirits..... 

Ravi told me while signing up few years ago, about the issues with the local sales tax department on some levies they had slapped on his unit. Ravi bought this DeeKay bottling unit which was almost defunct and during that time Pondy had some tax holidays (those days there was local sales tax on alcohol too but later the government abolished the tax and instead introduced additional duty on alcohol-the idea being to collect the entire revenue in one shot....just to elaborate...when the wholesaler wants to lift stocks from a bottling plant, he has to apply for a permit by paying no of cases x the duty amount.....they get the permit. When there was sales tax, the supplying unit has to invoice the basic amount plus the excise duty and on that they charge the applicable local sales tax....while the duty amount is realised even before the dispatch is made, the sales tax which is charged by the unit  would be realised by the department anytime between 30 to 45 days....after abolishing the sales tax the government introduced the additional duty thus the money on applying for a permit would be no of cases x basic duty + additional duty....so money realised without any sweat....when Ravi bought the unit the government had some tax holiday on the sales tax and Ravi enjoyed this till the ST was abolished....but the ST authorities slapped a notice on him stating that he was not eligible for the tax holiday citing some legal issues in his license....do not know much about it and hence not elaborating on the nuances...but Ravi said very clearly to all of us that it has gone to the tribunal and he would win the case....since we were in no way connected with this, I didnt bother much. When I say we, Geoscope, in no way connected with Ravi's issue what I mean is that when we started bottling with his unit, there was no sales tax...the government had already abolished it....

Some time in 2019, one of their bank account, where the customers used to transfer the duty amount and also payments, got frozen by the ST department, citing the failure of DeeKay to pay the disputed amount, and the customers were asked to transfer the duty amount to the SBI account and the Geoscope's dues to our Axis bank account in Chennai, which we did but we continued with our joint account as we all felt that the ST department has no right over the joint account..also the dues from the corporations were coming to our joint account....we started moving all our brands to Balaji and gave those labels, with DeeKays NOC to the excise and were waiting for starting up in Balaji....we even started our Maker's Delight (more about this later) for supplies to Andhra from Balaji....this started sometime in Jan 2020....

Meanwhile, the ST department of UT of Pondy wrote a letter to BOB to freeze our joint account...this was in March 20 just before the lock down. And when BOB informed us we gave a letter to BOB with cc to ST department that they have no right to freeze a joint account as this money is Geoscope's and this tie up with DeeKay was only 4 to 5 years old and from day 1 there was no sales tax in Pondy as the tax was done away with much earlier. ST department didnt respond and BOB raised their hands. We moved the court and got a stay on this. The money was not sent to the ST department and neither we realised the money. We made it very clear to DeeKay that this is their issue and we should get back our money and this should be paid by DeeKay to us....We also got a letter from DeeKay that they would pay us 2 lakhs per week as around 10 lakhs got stuck with our bank due to this ST freeze in March 2020...they even paid for 2 weeks....and sometime in Feb/March 2020 DeeKay placed an order with us for FGS and as per our understanding they have to pay us in advance...they were a bit apprehensive about it as the money stuck in our joint account was close to 10 lakhs and they thought, rightfully so, that this money would be adjusted against the amount frozen in our joint account. I called Ravi and told him that he should pay us the 10 lakhs and we will release the stocks. He personally assured me that he needs the spirit and he would release our money after receiving the stocks. I had my own apprehension on this but since we are a very professional organisation, we decided to service their order....am writing this as I want you to know that we behaved like a true professional company but did Ravi fulfil his promise? He didnt......we gave a representation to APBCL (AP distribution company) and TBCL (Telangana distribution company) to send their payments to Geoscope account instead of the joint account. While APBCL agreed Telangana didnt....despite our pleas, Telangana corporation transferred the payments to the frozen joint account and the money still lying in that account is 50 lakhs....

And the lock down happened......after the first lock down things have started moving slowly...LG of Pondy Mrs Bedi took charge of excise and changed the entire team, who had absolutely no clue about this department and how it generates revenue for the government..also they suspected their own staff. And they went hammer and tongs after the trade and closed many wholesale and retail and also closed RK Distilleries and Premier bottling units and kept DeeKay, Balaji and Vinbros under tight leash....when the lock down was lifted in the first week of May, Pondy excise levied covid tax...this was started by Delhi but with in 3 months Delhi done away with that......and Pondy went a step further.....they increased the prices of all the brands to the level of the neighboring states....for example Mansion house brandy's MRP was raised to that of TN MRP in Pondy and KKL, to that of Kerala in Mahe and that of AP in Yenam....they released brand wise prices too .....The WS were asked to pay the increased amount along with that duty amount thus the credit given to the retail trade went up for the wholesalers...ideally they should have collected the covid tax-the extra levy-at the last point which is retail.....Fortunately this was a major boost for our LR brandy, VSOP and XO.....as these brands were not sold in TN, AP and Kerala and the demand started skyrocketing for these brands....but the excise has put in lots of restrictions in releasing import permits for the wholesalers and also import of raw materials including the basic spirit.....this has resulted in orders not getting serviced on time....meanwhile, we realised DeeKay forgot to renew our brands for 2020-21 before the lock down and this created major delay in bottling and dispatching some brands from this unit...DeeKay need to register some brands to clear the finished goods lying with them. With the restrictions imposed by the excise department on every single thing business almost came to a standstill....those who are running the business, the WS and retail were clamouring for stocks....and with 2 units shut and the remaining on low output due to non availability of raw materials.....after the 1st lock down the availability of basic raw material-neutral alcohol-which has to be imported from outside the UT of Pondy, became scarce and hence a major hit on the business. DeeKay was running helter skelter to get things going and finally with great difficulty they got the permission. Balaji and Vinbros started early after a proper inspection by the excise. Some WS which got shut reopened. But even after paying the label registration fees, (lock down was announced on 23rd of March and hence there was delay) it took quite some time for us to get the labels registered and till then one could do nothing. I was, from Chennai, trying to speak to the deputy commissioner and never could get him on the line and my whatsapp messages were never answered. Sent e mails to the LG but no response....our brands were high on demand especially the XO, VSOP and Le Roi' across Pondy, Karaikkal and Mahe. But the outstandings till March from my direct distributors were also coming in trickle as they were not realising their money from the market due to lock down....and my team with the limited access and covid fear worked hard to make things happen.....We got an overseas export order during that time and it took almost 4 months for us to get the permission of the excise department.....those people had absolutely no clue.....it was the worst period for the liquor business.......not only this....but in general it was tough time for the industry as a whole....finally when we got the approval of label we wanted to bottle our VSOP with DeeKay to exhaust the materials, we figured out our ENA which was lying with them--over 12000 litres for 3000 cases were utilised by them without getting our consent...this was the ENA which was paid by us and lying with them un-utilised due to shut down and other issues and unabashedly Ravi of DeeKay decided to go ahead and use it without even informing us..even his unit manager or Sivanandam didnt bother to inform our guy who was based at DeeKay....This is the problem of tying up with a bottling unit as everything there is in their name and in crisis situations we were just left helpless....I took the phone and spoke to Ravi and his response was very casual....he told me 'yes I used it as I needed it....we will pay you'.....that moment he lost whatever respect I had for him and the 35 years of relationship and more than that a great friendship and family tie up-the twine got cut....I shot out a WhatsApp message and he immediately responded by saying sorry for what happened....and when we followed up for the money which got stuck in the bank he refused to entertain us...he was to pay and clear it every week....nothing happened. We moved most of our materials and decided to clear the materials of VSOP and worked towards that facing huge delays....since DeeKay was not paying us the money, we approached our advocate and filed a case against Sales Tax department of UT of Puducherry, in June 20, and brought DeeKay also in to that case as a co respondent. I informed Ravi that we will have no options but to file a case and he didnt even bother to respond...We learnt from ST department that the amount they slapped on DeeKay was, hold your breath, 18 crores.....in our affidavit we accused the ST department of not taking any action by freezing other bank accounts of DeeKay, taking control of their bottling unit, their retail stores and bars and also his new unit of secondary distillation coming up in Pondy....we cited all these in our affidavits and the case was filed in June 2020.....this case is still going on and yet to see the light of the day......

Geoscope completely severed its links with DeeKay in all formats...Ravi got upset and stopped talking to me...our guys go there and meet Sivanandam to sort out any issues which are old....they still not cleared or paid us money for the raw materials still lying with them. He is doing roaring business with in UT and his biggest market today is Karaikkal with the same Ding Dong....this Ding Dong was brought to him by me.......When Ravi started this unit, whenever he needed some inputs, he used to call and I had never hesitated to provide him inputs/advice....when I was in Dubai, I asked him to come down and introduced him to some traders who were looking for tetra pack of IMFL.....Whenever I visited Pondy one meal would be always with him.....our families know each other well and he has attended our family functions and vice versa....such a close relationship got spoiled because he felt that the tie up partners can be dumped and they would not retaliate....I told him once that we are a very small n loss making company unlike his and requested him to clear all our dues including the frozen amount of 50 lakhs....as always no response....After Mrs Bedi and those who were appointed by her, got transferred, a new team of DC and commissioner took charge...Mr Kumar was appointed as the commissioner of excise and ST.... I met him a couple of times and requested him that they should unfreeze our account explaining the logic behind and also questioned him on why his department-since he was holding incharge of both excise and sales tax-was not going after DeeKay by freezing his shops, units and other bank accounts?

The removal of covid taxes helped to increase our business but that was very short lived....Pondy introduced a tax of 20% on the MRP on 19th of July 2021 and that changed the whole market dynamics....the retail prices almost equalled that of TN and AP barring the cheap liquor...due to this down trading started happening.....but this benefited a very few and one of them Tilak Nagar Distilleries.....The USP of Pondy is lost permanently.....it lost its charm of being 'consumer friendly with low prices'......The moment I got the wind of this impending 20% on MRP, I met up with the commissioner and the DC and pleaded them not to implement this as it would affect the premium brands but they didnt want to listen.

From my experience, it is very difficult to rescind any decision of excise once it is implemented....the first we faced was in Maharashtra when the then excise commissioner introduced the new excise tariff....it was, I think, in 1997 or 98.....the tariff still continues.......So the industry has to come together and protect the interest of not only the manufacturer but also the WS (these guys are the worst sufferers as it is their money which is invested in the market) the retailers and also the state where revenue is prime......and the state should be very open to discuss the pros and cons of  any new policy, take the feed back, weigh the options and decide....today most of the markets are turning out to be cheap liquor markets due to heavy local tariffs....example is TN....80% of TN's spirits business is cheap liquor.

Before I close this episode of UT of Pondy....let me also say here some of the best things here.....its open market, mostly consumer driven, some very good distributors in Kalathil, Wine Center, Sastha, Thirumal all at Mahe, Ding Dong KKL, Vasantharaja Pondy and Balaji distilleries.....and you need to micro manage in these kind of markets to ensure smooth running.......

I wrote this blog and reviewed it few times as I normally take good and bad in my stride and never get stuck....but there are three whom i feel deserve to be known for their wrong doings to fellow professionals/partners in the business...one is Samsudeen, second one is Natrajan of MBDL and the 3rd one is Ravi of DeeKay....the first two I never had any major personal relationships but with Ravi it was friendship.......and it still hurts......

More of AP, Chattisgarh, overseas and Geoscope in the next one....

 

 Life before n after marriage....

A deep dive and understanding.....

As some of you know am a therapist too. I am going to narrate the issue of a client of mine (taken his permission...no names and certain things were tweaked to keep the secrecy) who came to me with a very stressful married life. He felt he had to put on a face at home and compromise/adjust a lot...

This client of mine was referred to me by another happy client of mine. This guy is in his mid 40s..In my first intake session he told me about the issue he is having with his wife. This person, during his bachelorhood was a different guy, like many of us. This guy climbed up the corporate ladder very quickly and became VP of an FMCG at the age of 35....very successful and well respected in the industry and in his company too (incidentally I knew his boss too and once heard his boss talking very high of this guy). At the same time, he used to also have a great time with his friends and family. He was born with 3 sisters and 2 brothers. 6 in total and very closely knit family. Also a vibrant friends circle....he fell in love with a girl who was working with competition(!). They met in some industry meeting and started seeing each other...this guys family was very supportive but the girls side was not in favor....but finally after lots of persuasion-done by his elder sister and elder brother with the parents of the girl-they got married. This girl had a brother and a sister but was raised in a protective environment...and she was the last child to the parents and hence lot more pampering than the other two...After these two got married, life was very rosy with periodical visits by friends and family members and our guy was all euphoric with life. The woman was also very fond of him.

But the girl started getting a bit frustrated and indifferent with his friends and family members especially the sisters.....and even in his friend circle she started disliking many of them. This guy never bothered initially and used to call them on weekends or go to their place to spend time....not much of drinking but lots of fun together. Since both of them earned well, they had a cook, maid n driver et al. Very comfy life....two kids were born too.....but the issue with the wife became worse as she started disliking anything from his side so much so she stopped eating things coming from his sisters home and also some of the friends....but never shown this dislike outside. She decided to take a break from her professional life and since this guy was well established and climbing up the ladder well, it didnt matter. This guy enjoyed being with his friends and family but many a times the wife refused to go with him, making it embarrassing for this guy.....and over a period of time, many of his friends realised this guy would come alone only for the parties and accepted it....but it didnt leave a good feel....he tried reasoning with her but in vain....so to cut the long story short, while professional life was beautiful and rewarding personal life-as he wanted it to be-was frustrating for him and also for the wife. As per him, the wife should have given him the space as he felt, she is happy being at home with the kids....but she cribbed a lot and finally started abusing friends and his sisters which this guy could not take....this led to lots of fights/stress/sleeplessness/sloppy in the office and finally the visit to me....

After the 'take in', I made it clear to him that his wife also should come for the therapy as I wanted to hear her side of the story....I dont want to get in to the details of the therapy but I figured out there was underlying deep love between these two and I worked on the therapy based on that....the issue was between 'protectionism' and 'liberalism'. The women's problem was 'possesiveness' but the guy wanted lot of people around.....its not that they have not gone on holiday together or spent time together but the women felt there should be no one else other than her who could be so close to him....this guy grew up with lot of people around and also at home it was always fun n frolic before marriage. His argument was that his understanding of life and how he wants to live is curbed by this woman. He is committed to her but he wants to enjoy the life outside of the family too....and he told me in her presence....'when i was single, I never bothered to ask my friends or my family members whether I can drop in? I would just go there, eat whatever was available and sleep where ever space was....also with my friends no inhibition....we used to wear others clothes, use others towels, shaving razors and live the life of 'foot loose fancy free'....and i enjoyed every moment of that....today I feel very stifled....I am expected to be formal which is alien to me and I feel terrible to put on a face which is not mine....even when I go to my in laws place, my wife advices me how I have to behave....and I get stressed because of this and it I become cold and unsocial.....this is not me....I dont like this way of living'.....when he said this the inner child in him was so open and obvious and tears rolled down....his wife sat motionless listening to this outbursts....I let go off the steam of the guy and started the session with the wife....she was brought up in a different environment where everything was formal and nothing happens without others knowledge et al...a typical conservative family but outwardly all smiling and hanging out with friends et al. But the DNA of her was 'orthodox and formal'.....initially after the wedding, the other part of her started enjoying the husbands circle but the inner children in her kept popping out and making her feel 'guilty'....this led to eruption of anger and disgust....she felt her space was taken by the husbands sisters and friends and the IC in her started sulking.....this led to more fights, tears and continued.....

The regression therapy worked well for both of them as one after another the inner children kept coming out crying, complaining n sulking....every IC that came out was healed and integrated with the adult....(technicalities).....but at the end of the sessions the wife realised how her IC took over and the logic behind her behaving like a child.....I have also done similar therapy to the guy and healed his IC.....finally since there was love between these two, they decided to live reconcile and lead a life of joy and happiness and give enough space to the other person and allow that person to enjoy his time with those he wants to enjoy with....this lady realised how important it is to live the life by practicing detached attachments...and also identify the inner children (IC), bring them out, understand the issue as an adult, get the IC healed and integrate the IC with the current day adult. (I have explained this Inner Children in a video a couple of years ago...you can watch this on YouTube). The same for the guy too....but this issue is not just confined to these two...I had come across many such cases as a therapist and my question to the couple would always be whether there is love between them....If there is love anything is reconcilable....

Also the DNA factor.....this is pure science....not metaphysics....the DNA of men and women dates back to stone age where the primary responsibility of men was to protect those inside the caves from the external miscreants that includes deadly animals...his job was action oriented...protect, destroy miscreants and provide raw materials....the women inside the cave have to ensure the inmates are fed with whatever raw materials she got....and it is 'process' based....if you corelate these two factors....men are action oriented and women are process oriented....and it continued for centuries and still continuing....since men are action oriented, they follow the Nike tag line 'just do it' and forget after done....and leave the rest to the home maker....they go to office, work, earn money and come back home and relax....thats the DNA.....and women they process whatever is given to them....for example, if there was a fight in the morning and the husband said something like 'my mom makes better sambhar'....he would have just made this statement as a 'matter of fact' and left it there....the wife against whom this is said, would not have reacted immediately as this is, at the time of utterance, was just raw vegetable....it takes time for the raw vegetable to process inside her....the husband comes back in the evening and typical conversation would be 'why did you say that in the morning?'....typical answer...'what did I say?'....because he would have said many a things from morning till his return to his base, to different people and may not remember many a things of what he uttered....'you said your mom makes better sambhar'....'oh, did I....so what?'.....the fight would then start till one of them give up....usually it would be the husband as he has to get on with life and probably watch the EPL or IPL....

Today things are changing....women are also becoming action oriented as they keep climbing up the ladder and in the process they sometime suppress the 'process' DNA but it would keep popping up....Men whether employed or not employed, senior leader or just an officer, this 'action' DNA keep popping up.....

It would take probably a century for the DNA to dissipate...till then life would be easier and enjoyable if the partners understand the DNA and IC factor. Life means different things for different people.

So sharing the therapist's wisdom...but before that pl understand that therapy is customised and not 'one size fits all'....

The general wisdom now.....before you get in to a wedlock, pl spend enough time with your fiancee, understand every iota of that person, likes, dislikes, IC, family members, friends circle, body odour and the inner self....tough one but make efforts to do this....even if you crack 60% of the above and still love that person go ahead and get married...otherwise dump that person and start the process all over.....

And in general, pl live your life....want to go to your friends home and spend time, do it....want to visit your folks, pl do it.....want to spend time all by yourself pl do it.....give importance to what the gut feels and says....make it simple....because the 'GUT' never fails us....

If there is an issue pl accept....if you have to go for counselling pl do....mind matters....when you have a problem with any body part you would not hesitate to visit a physician....like that if there is an issue with your mental stability, pl accept and visit a therapist....

Cheers for a freaky living....god bless.

 Memoirs.....Musings of a sales guy at heart.....

Episode 39...

UT of Pondicherry......

I have a special liking towards Pondy....my first visit to Pondy was when I was working for Selco Marketing Pvt Ltd based at Trichy selling a concept called Jackpot Bonus stamps....After successfully launching it in Trichy and adjoining areas was sent to Pondy to study the market and launch it there....I reached Pondy by bus from Trichy and after visiting customers and getting some positive response, some one told me that I should not leave Pondy without having alcohol....mind you guys those days TN was dry....So went to a small bar on JN Street end almost near the sea....and my first drink in Pondy was a bottle of beer called Burtons Export Lager from Khodays.....I still remember paying INR 2.50 for a bottle of beer.....those were the days my friend....

During my Herbertsons days I was given UT of Pondy and KKL too....but those days the market was very small. IDV/Diageo days launched all the brands in the UT....I always enjoyed my market visits in Pondy, Mahe and KKL....private retailers, warm and friendly and consumer driven. In Herbertsons Mahe was handled by Kerala due to its proximity...My first visit to Mahe was as RM of HL....this is another market which is very interesting and exciting to work. Yenam, I got familiarised during Geoscope days only but Yenam is totally different from rest of UT....

Coming to Geoscope, as mentioned in my earlier post, we launched Geoscope with our Hobsons in Pondy as TN was getting delayed. We tied up with Gemini Goa and stocks were exported from Goa to Pondy, Mahe and Karaikal. Launch of Hobsons was sometime in June/July 2011.....we were quite thrilled with the response we got from Pondy....Pondy and KKL can be classified as 1) local consumption (predominantly cheap and up to the medium range of brands in terms of price points and not so much of premiums), 2) Smuggled outside (based on demand but primarily from the border areas of KKL and Pondy) and 3) the visitors (visitors from other states go for premium brands and if they are from TN they would opt for brands which are not available in TN) The visitors business is a floating one and confined to few outlets only, both in KKL and Pondy. Also the smuggling is seasonal and mostly cheap. UT of Pondy had an USP of low prices in the region, across categories - be it alcohol, consumer goods, electronics, vehicles et al....but with the introduction of GST that USP is almost gone except 4 wheelers where the road tax you pay in Pondy is still comparatively low and to some extent alcoholic beverages. Mahe is also similar but apart from local consumption, there is lots of influx from the border towns adjoining Mahe. There is also some smuggling which goes out of Mahe and also people carry by train and buses....but the Kerala government tortures the bus passengers and even if they are carrying a couple of bottles for their personal consumption it gets confiscated and sometime a penalty too....I am surprised why no PIL is filed against this unfair practices of TN/Kerala and AP excise departments. While smugglers should be penalised heavily and even put behind bars, the regular travellers and consumers who carry a couple of bottles for their own consumption should not get ill treated and tortured. Pondy/Mahe/Yenam/Karaikkal are all part of India only. Air travellers used to carry 5 bottles from Delhi domestic departure lounge when the prices and offers were so attractive....the Chennai or Calicut or Vijayawada airports didnt stop them nor the respective excise departments. This is nothing but humiliation of a genuine consumer.....its time the GOI or the judiciary come out openly and allow the travellers to carry bottles for personal consumption. I can carry even a couple of boxes when I come from Bangalore and no one stops or cares but only from UT....and currently the UT prices are not attractive also except cheap liquor.

Anyway coming to the Geoscope journey....Hobsons and Clovis got fabulous response and based on the feedback we also launched Le Roi'. Le Roi' was launched in 2012 just before Diwali and normally after Diwali the alcohol business becomes a bit slow in Pondy and KKL and LR took the brunt of it....also Anand of Happy Liquors our distributor was unable to do justice for our brands as he was inundated with plethora of brands and was confined to selling what was demanded....we appointed his brother Selvam in KKL and it was nightmare dealing with him. Getting the payments were quite a task....so we decided to do away with both of them and after ensuring our OS are collected we changed the distribution to Mani of Standard wines and in KKL we appointed Ding Dong ---Babu and Senthil partners in Ding Dong were just beginners in this distribution business but I felt they had fire in the belly and transferred the agency to them. Also they had few retails of their own under their belt and a good team. The business in KKL started picking up for our brands. We also had our TSE based in KKL. In Mahe we were dealing with Sastha, managed by Sujith and Venu....they had around 8 outlets of their own. What it used to be in HL time and Diageo time in these markets changed rapidly with individuals taking over outlets either on lease or outright purchase and started forming groups. In Pondy there are around 5 group shops each having between 4 to 10 outlets....and if any of them also have a WS for example, Clinton and Happy, they push their own brands in these outlets and if your brands compete with theirs, you wont get an entry...even if you place your brands using your personal relationship or the brands is powerful, they would ensure the competing brands are suppressed. Also they demand huge and unimaginable discounts. Karaikkal also had around 3 groups of which the Rasi group was more powerful and very whimsical. Selvam of ANS kept taking up outlets on lease and those outlets the entry was becoming tougher.....

Mahe is no exemption....as mentioned, Sastha had around 8, Krishnan had around 7, Jairam of NFLS had around 8 and Kakat group around 10....getting entry and push from these outlets were quite a task. Out of 65 outlets in Mahe around 33 were group shops....

Yenam every WS had their own shops plus individual shops. The problem with Yenam was the monthly quota. The WS cant not lift more than their quota. This quota was fixed few years ago by AP as the AP excise felt the stocks meant for Yenam was getting either dumped in AP en route or sold primarily to AP consumers from the shops in Yenam. The WS of Yenam had to agree to this unfair trade practice imposed by AP excise and this is still continuing.

We changed distribution but it didnt work out. We could have probably given more time to him to settle down and get used to our way of working and understanding the strength of our brands but we made a mistake by removing him in a very short time.....in one of my visits my ASM Bala told me about Ramdoss who was running Kalathil WS (Kalathil WS Pondy belongs to Krishnan of Mahe) along with Meenakshi an ex HL and ex TI guy....It was May, I think 2015....I met Ramdoss and Meenakshi along with Sridhar our ex employee who was also a partner in that business and decided to handover the business to them. In fact before we changed our distribution from Happy, we presented to Ramdoss the financials of Pondy distribution but he didnt bother to revert....anyway, Kalathil Pondy was appointed as our distributor for Pondy and they are still continuing....

In liquor industry one has to micro manage as there are so many avenues one can get ramped....there is some thing called local AMP for local spends viz retail schemes, CSM incentives and local promos....this is huge amount and mostly left at the discretion of the local ASM n team and also with the distributors - but nothing can be spent with out the line managers approval. 

The UT market is totally spoiled/abused....we have to give schemes/discounts to the owners which are quantity based..this quantity based has become a joke now as if you announce say, buy 100 cases and get 100 per case..the retailers deduct 100 per case even when they buy just 10 cases...so schemes are no more written on papers or printed and customised group wise depending up on the potential....plus window displays...plus retail salesmen incentives....the myth is that the CSM incentive is a must as otherwise they would keep it under the shelf and wont sell....so every company falls for it.....Pondy it could range from INR 10 to 100 per case and in KKL the max would be around 50....in Mahe it is worse....it is from 120 to 240 per case....and some premium brands even 360 per case. I always visit a minimum of 10 outlets during my trade visit and found no salesmen have time to push especially during peak hours which are the evenings...the business transacted during the evening hours/peak hours in outlets which are 'bar' attached is around 70%. And outlets which are just 'off' the evening rush hour business would be around 50%. In shops like Murugan Enterprises, one of the premium off trade in Pondy, the consumers have to bill what they want, pay cash and take delivery....When we are in the outlet personally some time the salesmen recommend our product out of sheer respect....I always challenged this nonsense of CSM incentives but ended up giving up as both the distributor and our own team will not budge....and the beauty is Happy wines just gives a token amount of 10 to 15 a case for Mansion House and the sale is only moving northwards....even on fast selling McD brandy the CSM is zilch....Mahe is the worst.....the reason for this CSM dominance is that majority of the shops the owners do not sit and manage and leave it with the cashier....he is the big boss....the cashier....in some cases apart from the CSM, you have to also take care of the cashier and the guy who is incharge of procurement.....open markets like Maharashtra, Goa and Telangana just to name a few, the CSM is very selective and unlike this UT business....so small players are left with thinner bottom line....and the credit period taken.....biggies are able to collect their dues but small players really struggle....some retailers take more than 120 days....there is one big retail shop near the bus stand in Pondy and this person pays, if he wants to, after 6 months. The beauty is he sells 20% more than the MRP and liquidates whatever comes to his shop but refuses to pay....and if any bottle breaks due to their own mistakes, the burden the distributor and the distributor ends up paying for the broken bottle for no fault of his....this markets were never like that, till the locals were managing the distribution....the moment outsiders came and set up shops, things changed....to get an entry and make a mark, they started these unfair trade practices...and everyone has to follow suit....we have to, in 2017 remove the entire team and appoint a new one and we introduced certain strict measures across these markets at the cost of some sales loss....

Also one of the thing we pioneered is opening up the market. When we launched GPL VSOP brandy, we looked at options of giving it to another distributor in Pondy as we faced issues which we could not resolve with our existing distributors....so we appointed Clinton in Pondy and GNS in KKL....Sudeep took these initiatives....but soon we realised that Clinton could not penetrate much apart from his own outlets and GNS also had similar issues....appointing GNS also upset our existing distributors in these markets and especially Ding Dong....and did we gain? And GPL VSOP, despite fabulous presentation and liquid, didnt sustain the excitement it created on launch....we tried different tricks but nothing paid off as core of the issue was with the distribution...in Pondy we could still do something with Clinton's own outlets but in KKL it was becoming tougher...we even looked at giving the brand to Ding Dong but could not....in Mahe too we had similar issues....when we launched VSOP in Mahe, our distributor who was having around 8 shops under his belt. But Anand, the major partner in the set up, decided to sell off 4 outlets to Velu of Bangalore who was eying this market to launch his own brands. And in those 4 outlets we were not even given entry as he ensured they sell only his brands....

I need to also share with you something which I did to a friend of mine and that turned out to be our nemesis....Ding Dong who was a small time player when he started...once during my conversation with Ravichandran of DeeKay he told me about his struggle in KKL...he was mainly in to cheap segments....I told him about Ding Dong and organised a meeting...and they got the agency....from nothing they took his brands to 5000 cases per month and in the bargain, lost their focus in building our brands....I will write more about DeeKay in the later part....

From GPL VSOP we learnt many a lessons....so decided to develop another brand with the same Geo's Premier League umbrella name....The idea is to use the same bottle but create something more premium both in looks and content....and hence started looking for a 'master blender'....we moved to NJ Menon from Natarajan and he recreated the Le Roi' blend and also Wassup flavours (will talk about this later), GPL VSOP and Le Roi' whiskey.....but for our new brand we wanted something special and I got hold of, thru a contact, Prabhat Barik with fantastic pedigree.....he gave us few blends as we briefed and we did a very extensive research on the blends across the UT markets and zeroed in on the current one which is in circulation. We named it Geo's Premier League XO......GPL XO in short...with an olive green label.....

As mentioned earlier, we were bottling all our brands at Gemini Goa for export to all the other markets barring TN.....including overseas export but we started getting in to problem with Gemini primarily due to one single person. Our efforts to manage the relationship or to get him removed didnt work out with Neil and we started looking at options....when we looked at bottling in Pondy we received lots of resistance from our distributors and our own team as they felt the consumers wont touch anything bottled in Pondy especially the premium brands....Balaji was bottling for Mcd including their McD VSOP and they were doing well. Also bottling locally had its own advantages in terms of saving on transport....we explored the options available to us and it was my call to start with DeeKay, despite my teams reservations....as i felt, considering my long relationship with Ravichandran of DeeKay, the owner....we started small with our 60ml SKU of Le Roi' and it started doing well and there was no negative feed backs....when Gemini problem became worse for us to handle, we shifted lock stock and barrel all our brands to DeeKay except supplies to Chattisgarh from Gemini.....

We started bottling Hobsons, Clovis, Le Roi brandy and whiskey and GPL VSOP.....guys I have to write a full episode on DeeKay which i would do....but shifting to Pondy local was a major step and as I envisaged there was no negative feedback from the consumers and we started doing better.....but it was a struggle to manage DeeKay....there was his manager, Sivanandam and Ravi....our guys were getting shuttled between these two and every time i have to intervene....anyway we decided to move our XO to Balaji....Balaji has never bottled outside USL/Diageo and for the first time, thanks to my dear friend Shivkumar Reddy, they signed with us.....we launched XO in September 2019 first in Pondy followed by Mahe and KKL....we also changed the RTM in these markets....In Pondy we made it explicitly clear to Clinton that they would be our direct/preferred dealer for XO and Kalathil will be our distributor.....we also convinced Singam wines to be our direct dealer (3 shops) and Anandu Brandy Shop ( 7 shops) . We have been following up with ABS for quite sometime but finally with XO we could break through. Kalathil was against but we convinced him with some additional incentives. In Mahe too we opened up the market and appointed my old friend Jairam of NFLS as our distributor and direct supplies to Sastha, Krishnan and Thirumal....this helped us enormously. In KKL we went back to Ding Dong for XO...

We were desperate for a volume brand and XO received instantaneous positive response from the trade in all the markets. When I met Karthik of Clinton after the launch, he said 'U made a success of XO'....thats a top compliment coming from Karthik.....finally we got a winner on hand.....not a single bad review......

Meanwhile we worked on a premium whiskey and developed Maker's Delight....this and more in the next episode......

 Memoirs.....Musings of a sales guy at heart.....

Episode 38...

SNJ and our tryst with them.

SN Jayamurugan is the owner of SNJ distilleries...he was in to lottery business and was quite successful too. He produced two movies where Karunanidhi the then CM wrote the story and dialog and he became close to him. He got the bottling plant license and also the brewery license along with Elite and Kals...

Jayamurugan is not the typical corporate guy....though he is from lottery back ground his grasping is fantastic and he learns the nuances fast. Always smiling and open. But inside a shrewd businessman. He recruited the right kind of people and many of them are still working for him. He is a hands on person and hence learning happens super fast.

In the 36th episode I spoke about tie-ing up with SNJ for our Le Roi' brandy.....it took off well with SNJ team also managing the distribution. This was our understanding with SNJ while singing the deal with them but within around 3 months we realised this was not going to work out.....so we transferred the distribution to our own team but the volumes were not as per our expectations due to the initial goof ups by SNJ sales team and also the negativity created on the honey comb design on the neck....we ended up changing it ultimately....we still were doing some decent numbers but wasn't consistent....As we experienced with others managing production and getting what we want is not easy in TN.....We really struggled and due to the initial issues, the brand also didnt take off as we expected. Probably doing the distribution ourselves would have given the expected numbers to us. Brand came down to 2500 to 3000 but with constant push for production with SNJ. Since the bottom line was nothing great we also could not invest much on the brand. Our team had Hobsons from SAFL, Clovis from MBDL and Le Roi' from SNJ but due to inconsistent supplies protecting our consumer base and growing from there was the task faced by us....

Le Roi' presentation and product was great in its price segment. We launched this cross line Mansion House-slightly expensive....but in TN due to the issues we faced with 1) distribution which was managed by SNJ, 2) dust forming on the neck due to honeycomb design-but we felt it was more of an issue created by SNJ and 3) inconsistent supplies....even after taking it away from SNJ we continued with the issues....went on for sometime and we changed the presentation...the label and mono carton and bottle all got changed....this gave us the required impetus with our team fully driving the sale but our projected volumes were always elusive.

SNJ has also launched many new brands of their own and started driving them hard...suppressed the sale of Morpheus and Bols and started promoting British Empire which they launched in 2012....though this brand was not the choice of consumers, by cutting down on Morpheus and with the strength of their huge volumes, they somehow managed to get volumes of British Empire. This also proves how important to have own bottling plant in TN. When you are a player in the cheap segment, you can manage to sneak in some volume for your premiums.

Also suppliers play a game by supplying good volumes of their premiums and when it gets stuck at the retail more than 90 days, while TASMAC debits you for demurrage, they also curtail the outlets buying any premiums and thus making the retail push the ones which are stuck with them. This means even if there is demand for my brand, the retailer wont buy till he clears the stocks stuck with them. This is a major dampener for small players like us. SNJ managed to get Morpheus from Radico on Royalty basis like what they had done with Bacardi.....so SNJ business model is simple....use the Indian and International brands to get the image and use it to push own brands....this has clicked for them well.

Around end 2019 SNJ started really squeezing our volumes and after things opened up in June 2021, I met up with him and pleaded with him to allow us to get around 3000 cases per month till March 22 and after that we would shift to another bottler. He told me we should shift it to MBDL and said he would give us the NOC to shift. But before the NOC our accounts have to be settled and it took some time and after hard bargains, we got our accounts reconciled and got the NOC. We signed with MBDL under the new management and along with the NOC gave the required letter to TASMAC. Ashok Kumar was the ASM then and he was chasing it but somehow it was getting delayed.....we wanted to get the approval and the required GO before the assembly elections in 2021 but despite efforts didnt happen. Its still pending....what should take just 15 days or a maximum of 30 days has taken more than 2 plus years and it is still WIP.  A brand which has the potential to do around 20 to 25000 cases is stuck due to procedural delays (this is as on 8th June 2023 (!) 3 years and still counting.

Someone called me the other day and asked me why am sharing these info in public domain. Am doing this because if you are still in this industry and looking at entering TN with a bottling tie up you would come with a clear understanding....ie the idea and also to make everyone due to the protectionist mechanism the bottlers in TN have an upper hand...

The local bottlers have a field day and its all about managing the environment and the logistics. If you visit any TASMAC depot you would find number of trucks waiting there for their turn to download the stocks....The sales rep of the company's main job is to release their trucks asap and also ensure their stocks are liquidated....Since most of the times and especially for Hobsons, our stocks are sent in a combined truck and that adds to our woes.....

2012 we launched Hobsons in TN and since then we have launched Clovis, Geo's Clovis, Wassup and Le Roi' in this market. Our brands are world class in presentation and consumers choice....

We started with SAFL team to distribute our brands....later when we launched Clovis we created our own team....again to another promoter in Happy Wines Anand of Pondy....after this it was through our team till Dec 2019 when we appointed Parthasarathy as our promoter...this coincided with the bottling of Geo's Clovis and Wassup in MBDL, and this arrangement is still continuing.

Our first ASM for TN was Viswanath then it was Jai Mohan....he stayed with us for few years and after that it was Ashok....today we have KGR managing the entire business with just one RSE....

TN is our highest volume generator but with thinner margins compared to other markets.

My hope is that TN also would open up like other markets and allow national and international brands to sell here..and also remove all the long processes for a product to be launched. It should just be registration with Excise and approval of TASMAC. 

We can only hope....

We will look at the UT of Pondy in the next blog....

 Bangalore Days....

1st May to 25th May 2023....

Chennai heat was becoming quite difficult to manage for us starting April and we thought we should get out of Chennai for few days and look at life outside...

After dilly dallying and looking at available and close by options where the heat would be comparatively less with occasional showers, we zeroed in on Blr....my ex colleagues and good friends looked at all the options and finally thru Uthappa got a serviced apartment in Golden Orchard on Lavelle Road, just behind Southern Star.....the building is 22 years old and slightly dilapidated but the apartment we stayed was well kept, furnished with functional kitchen equipments/utensils that included gas stove et al. Good housekeeping staff and good neighbors around...the beauty of this location is that lovely restaurants around and also Cubbon park which is just across the road on the Kasturba Road entry...MTR, Airlines hotel, Smoor, Konark on Residency Road, Rice bowl in Southern Star and Smoke house Deli are some which are walkable....also MacDonald just next door.....There are two grocery shops nearby and they do home delivery too....So fantastic suggestion by Uthappa and a million thanks to him for this....

We left on 1st morning around 0600hrs and reached our destination around noon....walked down to MTR and had the first taste of great KTK cuisine to start with.....

Our food experience to start with....I avoid eating out due to my digestion related issues....and in Chennai apart from very selective places no outside food as the Chennai food doesn't suit my system and create heaviness and indigestion....but believe me guys whenever I travelled to Blr/KTK I eat out and in small 'darshinis' too and never ever had any issues...touch wood....so this time we decided to just manage the breakfast at our apartment and venture out for lunch and dinner.....which we did religiously barring a couple of times.....but mostly the local veg food....the places we tried were Rameshwaram Cafe, MTR, Konark (Residency Road), Pathasala - MG Road (adigas), Airlines Hotel, Vidhyarthi, Maiyas, Kamat (North Canara food)...this place is on Bull Temple Road, Basavangudi), Roti Ghar (Gandhi Bazaar, Basavangudi), Rice Bowl (thrice), Chalukya Samrat in a food court Church street, Udipi Uphaar in White Field and Smoke House Deli on Lavelle Road.....we also tasted the holige at this small but mouthwatering Holige Mane in Jayanagar 4th block.....Food in general, esp the Kannada food are excellent across all these places but I rate, from my own experience and how easy it was on my system, Rameshwaram Cafe......no doubt it is attracting huge foot fall and a turn over of around 5C per month.....every single item I tasted there were of great quality....I would say the vada, masal dosa, Bisi Bele bath and Akki Roti should not be missed out.....in MTR SBI road next to Dewars Wines is also good especially their Bonda Soup and set Dosa....The best bonda soup is Konark and their Rava dosa is something you should taste...Tandoor on MG Road a restaurant which probably is over 30 years, is also a great place for North Indian Cuisine....their Black Dhal is something you should not miss.....Vidyarthi is good but others have either matching it or doing better than them....but there are still some die hard fans of Vidhyarthi and they would do anything to get their share of Masala dosa there....

Also two other places worth its mention....1) Mylari (original) in Mysuru.....We had Idli and masal dosa there....their chutney is fabulous.....Idli too but Dosa.....decent only.....its a very small place and not very hygienic....but the food we ate didnt create any havoc.....

Another great place is Prasad Hotel in Mulbagal....This small town is on the Old Madras road and when you are driving from BLR, it is around 30 KMs from Kolar.....worth our time....their Mulbagal Masala dosa is something I have never tasted before....its divine.....their thatta idli, masal vada and lemon rice are also good but it is known for its Mulbagal Dosa.....its a very small joint....smaller than Vidyarthi in Basavangudi.....if you havent tried this, pl do asap.

Okie....enough of food....we spent one night in Coorg.....the trip was to attend my ex colleague Uthappa's daughter's wedding at Gonicoppa....This place is around 2 hours from Mysuru by Road....We stayed at The nest,  home stay, devarapura, Gonicoppa, Virajpet-Mysore Rd, Gonikoppl, Karnataka 571213. Pl make a note of this home stay....its a great place and Asha Sagar, the host is a super host...This place is on a 50 acre estate and is very scenic....and Asha ensures your stay is well taken care of. The Koduva wedding is something one should experience....its simple but very beautifully conducted. I also, for the first time, learnt from Asha the Coorg culture.....The Koduvas worship Cauvery Mata....The story is that when Cauvery Mata decided to leave her base and spread her blessings across South, the Koduvas tried stopping her as they wanted her to be there 24x7.....A Koduva lady tried to hold her and in the process her sarees 'pallu' changed the other way and since then the women of Koduva community wear the saree in that style.....7th of November every year is a very auspicious day for the Koduvas....they all gather at Thala Cauvery where they believe Cauvery Mata appears in physical form and bless them.....they collect a bottle of water that day and keep it in their prayer room and use it only on special occasions....Also in every home they have a lamp and any one who attains 'Mukti', the body is kept under the lamp and also the new borns.....Cauvery Mata is everything for them.....They are fun loving and work hard in their estates....its a beautiful place....they eat lots of pork, non veg and also enjoy their alcohol....weddings alcohol is a must....another interesting thing in the wedding is that the boy and girl dont perform the rituals together....the rituals are done independently in their respective places and even the party and dance in the evening....The mother has a bigger role to play than the father. Father of the bride, offers alcohol to their ancestors in the evening before the bar is open for others....they also have a traditional head scarf worn during the wedding....its a sight to behold....

But Coorg has now settlements from across the border....Lots from across the border have settled down there and are in to business....the place where we went, most of the shops are run by them...there was a restaurant by name 'Tallaserry'....and Koduvas are taking this with a pinch of salt(!).....

Till 9th of May, I was releasing videos supporting the BJP candidates in KTK and also did some house to house canvassing. It was a good experience. Most of the people I spoke to across BLR and Coorg were very supportive of BJP but in Mysore I felt there was some under current. Even in Virajpet the staunch BJP supporter was not happy with the candidate BJP has fielded.....I remember 5 years back the metro connection in BLR was just from MG Road to Indra Nagar and it was moving in snails pace.....today Metro is well connected.....up to Kengeri on one side (I travelled by Metro to RR Nagar)....It takes around 35 minutes to Kengeri and you can catch a bus from there to Mysuru and you would reach your destination with in 2 hours.....This side they have to just connect to KR Puram which is likely to be done by July and once it is done from White Field to Kengeri by Metro in probably one hours time....Also up to Bannargatta and almost till Hosur.....all these WIP and by 2025 the metro network would be fantastic. Also the road infra....its happening across BLR....all BJPs initiative. The Mysure expressway....till BJP took charge, it was again in slow pace....BJP finished the project in record time......The KTK voters some how felt that if Congress is elected the gas price would fall.....this is something BJP has not probably countered well.....also the freebies by Congress.....even if Congress fulfills this promise without any compromise it would cost the people of KTK in some other way......and they would feel the pinch sooner....

In general the Kannadigas are very nice and hospitable....but the road rage, I find, worse then Chennai....they dont abuse but the guys on two wheelers-majority of them-are inhuman. They dont stop except at the signal....if you have to cross the road it is at your own risk.....they even ride on the pavement.....the traffic on the road, most of the time, is just impossible....the new government, hopefully would do the required infra to ease the traffic and make the locals to use the metro more.....also I didnt find any traffic police on the road to control the traffic or to catch the offenders....hope they do it by what they capture on the CC TV cameras....penalising the offenders is the only way they can bring some semblance on the road....

The old BLR is still charming with lots of trees and shades.....

A special thanks to these guys who made our trip enjoyable....Uthappa for guiding us to our acco and also inviting us for his daughters wedding. Kamalesh for all the physical work in figuring out our acco...

Met up with our dear friends Dr Sashikanth and Dr Savithri whose son is married to our dear friends Kumar n Padma's daughter Athmaja....on 9th we had yummy lunch with them and also did some karaoke....and another lovely evening with them in the Rice Bowl....

Also my friend KGRs daughter Shanthini and her husband Yogesh visited us and spent some good time and again at Rice Bowl.....

Lunch at Jeyanthi's folks place once and also one afternoon with them in MTR's...

Visited Kiran and his lovely kids at Whitefield.....

Spent good time with J Krishna Kumar, Kamalesh, N Manohar my ex colleagues....Janardhan invited us to his home for lunch and it was really fabulous....We met his wife after a long time......they are blessing with a grand daughter just 10 days back....

Had dinner with Uthappa and Tina....nice time....

Lunch with Subrat....my ex colleague and he manages Radico for South from Blr......

Met up with Amit and Kannan my ex colleagues....really felt good as both of them are doing extremely well.

Spent some very good time with Padma Rajan.....and she is the one who took us to her friend Prameela who lives just two houses away from the Jayanagar BJP candidate KCR...thru her we met up with KCR and wished him good luck....also did some canvassing for him....

Hah......get to know better Ashish and his lovely family...his wife Namita and son Aarav....Namita and Ashish invited us for lunch to their home and it was a great afternoon....Aarav is a happy child......Also met with Harjit who heads key accounts for South for PRG based at BLR....his lovely family too.....Ashish looks after the CSD business south for PRG based at BLR.....So some new friends too.....

We attended 3 weddings in total during our stay in BLR....one was Uthappa's daughter in Gonikoppl....the second was our family friend Chandra n Ravi's sons wedding in Basavangudi....the 3rd was our Chennai friend Nagis daughter in laws brothers wedding in Blr.....

Also visited the Cave Temple of Gavi Gangadheshwara in Basavangudi thanks to Kamalesh....we were told this temple is from the Threda yuga.....the presiding deity is Gangadheshwara....in the form of Linga...and it is Suyambu ie not man made....own creation by the God himself....pl make it a point to visit this temple when you are in BLR.....

Overall the 24 days just flew off.....great stay, great food, good weather, meeting up with friends and thoroughly enjoyed our stay.....there was one major disappointment which was the election results....and the second one was RCB losing out to GT at Blr despite Virat's second consecutive century.... 

Thank you Bangalore and hope to keep this city as our second home.....

BTW, the candidate we did some work won by a margin of 16 votes...happy for him.....

God Bless Blr and KTK with his choicest abundance.....