Saturday, June 30, 2007

A thing created is loved even before it exists

Was just reading through the Deccan airways buyout by Kingfisher. Consolidation is in the air, for good or for bad. And this is happening in all sectors. Small fishes being gobbled by the larger ones.

But how does a person who has created a company from the scratch feel like when he has to let go off, the control of his firm. The company which he has built so that it could become a powerhouse in its own right. True that Business cannot be done with emotions, but just give a thought about how a person would feel when he has to sell his firm, something which has meant so much to him and is perhaps one of his Life’s big dreams, something for which he has developed a filial attachment to.

You might have had some plans for your firm but the financers don’t follow your mind and sometimes the compulsions of being listed in the stock exchange ensure that you cant follow your heart even if at the bottom of it you know you were right. Its like a friend coming to your birthday party and walking away with the entire cake.

But then again, life is a game and the courgeous and the innovative will make new rules to play the game and be back at it. People will attempt to take back the sparkle in your eyes and the ambition in your gut. You have to fight to keep this sparkle and ambition.

Adi

Sunday, June 24, 2007

Walking through the rain.....

I sat at the window sill

A Tea cup in my hand
Taking in the sweet fragrance of my wet Land

Besides the heavy rain drops was an undercurrent of silence in the air

Not a single voice nor a fidgety creature
Man is a helpless plaything at the mercy of nature

At that point a thought entered my mind

There would be farmers and today their eyes would not have a shine
There would be a wet child who could not afford to dine

A sweet young couple could be having the best of their time
An unfortunate urchin hoping to atleast get a dime

A lonely old man just going through the grind
His days are numbered he wouldn’t mind

There would be a young boy all raring to go
For with the morning Sun he needs new ideas to sow

Even he wants to apprecite the wet grass and the weed
But he cant sit back, hes got a family to feed

He wants to feel the blades of grass and the dew
He himself doesn’t know how his youth just flew

There would be a policeman keeping vigil to his own soul
For fighting this system has always been his only goal

He’s heard those hushed whispers in the corridors of power
Tonight he has to ensure shelter for all who will cower

He would see a Businessman, a virtual paragon of ingenuity
Seeking shelter in a slum, disasters don’t follow any disparity

A Damsel would be singing along with the rain pellets
Showing off to her friends her new bracelets

Proud to be an earning girl and independent
Hoping the next monsoon she bears a pendant


She likes this guy for he is honest about his sleaziness
Perhaps he could be the factor to bring her the happiness

There would be youngsters out on the streets
Helping out the homeless not for any credits

In this deluge they will dare
For people with a passion always care

There would be the confident young man

Walking through the deluge
Not thinking of it to be anything huge

He’s seen the Businessman
And also the policeman

He’s seen the youngsters help the old man
And thinks of the passers-by to be one of his clan

The plight of his fellow men brings to his eye a tear
He is not the one ashamed to acknowledge his fear

He’s ready to lend a helping hand
But does not have time to just wait and stand

He wont digress in his path which is long
Still he makes it a point to enjoy the song

He wants to reach quickly to his destination
For he knows he owes his vision a realization

Each of this kind knows the other exists
Perhaps thats the reason they all co-exist

Taking in the sweet fragrance of my wet land
I feel life is absolutely beautiful and grand

To strike the right chords it does take a while
The world belongs to the one who can walk through a disaster and smile

adi

Sunday, June 17, 2007

Theres music in all things, if men had ears

After quite some while I have resumed my piano classes, after almost a gap of 4 years. Feels good playing those keys, though the tunes I play are still far from being melodious.

I guess I would have been an outcast by now had I been in the Carribean or Queens’ own island, not knowing to play a single instrument. The American President, whenever he goes on foreign visit, one of the things he carries is the music quotes of the national anthem of the country he is visiting. While our Ministers, am not sure even know all the wordings of their own national anthem. If the King loves music, alls well with the land.

This is because music and for that matter even sports arent given enough importance in our culture. Learning a musical instrument is a part of the curriculum in most European Schools. Like we have to score a 40 in each subject at our graduation levels, why isnt that an imperative even for subjects such as athletics, music, painting etc with proper parameters set. If you can make every person to know atleast the basics of arithmatics by class 10, then developing a ear for music or atleast a liking for music for every student definitely is easier! Period.

This would not only give some poor musicians some kind of job at schools, but also ensure the drop out rates in schools are lesser. And perhaps the number of suicides at student level would reduce.

Adi

Monday, June 11, 2007

Theres no making lemonades out of this !!

The Indian snack and cold drinks industry is something that has always fascinated me. Probably an industry that has a tremendous and forever potential for growth in a tropical country full of foodies.

Being a tropical country, India is probably one of the biggest markets of cold drinks in the world. By cold drinks I also mean the plethora of options at your discretion like nariyal paani, nimbu paani, kala-khatta, lassi etc. Soft drinks are a big part of this industry but in India they are just a part of it. “Nimbu paani” also known as “shikanji” in north india is still the highest consumed drink in this country.Also lemon drinks form a good 11% of the soft drink industry by sales and this is set to grow since Indians do know how to squeeze lemons!

Do they actually prefer squeezing lemons to having Mango Milk shakes? Well the truth is that lemon drinks are popular because they are cheap. And price is the single most factor determining the popularity of a drink in India.

Milk drinks though healthy, form only 2% of the entire beverage industry. Also the milk industry has been able to reach a figure of 2% thanks mainly to the smart pricing of “Amul chaas” at Rs.5 which forms a big chunk of the milk beverage sales.

Those urbanites prefering soft drinks to roadside nimbu paani is mainly because of the hygiene factor. This gives a wonderful opportunity to corporates to come up with a packaged/bottled drink offered at somewhere around Rs.4-5. How they will manage this and how will they handle a pan-India distribution network would be interesting to see.

As the development status of a country improves, Pepsi and Coca Cola are two companies that start getting the jitters, for across the world whenever a country has started progressing and reached a certain level, the market shares of both these companies have started reducing due to the entry of local players who have the capability to build proper distribution systems. And I believe India has reached that stage now. And with the retail boom, soon this industry could get flooded with many different packaged drinks at various prices to suit every consumer segment. Whether someone is able to come up with a 250 ml bottle for Rs 4-5 remains to be seen. Perhaps after the 1 lakh car the next big news could be “ the 4 rupee drink”.

Till then when dealed with a lemon make lemonade. Leverage the beverage market!

Aditya Khandekar

Tuesday, June 5, 2007

First blog

The penchant for writing was always there, but never thought I would write a blog until I saw an article in the Sunday times which claimed IBM would surpass Infosys and TCS as the No. 1 IT company of India. I had predicted with my own analysis and had written an article about the same a few days before I read this article and my reaction was ….Hell! Even I had stated this though had not circulated my article in a Sunday daily or even amongst most of my friends. (What you do in this world is of no consequence, its wht you mke others feel you have done is what counts, so true, aint it)So my first blog starts with this very article, which though not well edited seems a good start. So here it goes



I have always been the one to crib about standard practices and theories. So this is a further addition to it. Not that I feel you should challenge it for the heck of it. But these practices get formed because they were a success somewhere, but its not necessary that these practices will get successfully replicated anywhere else.

I always feel that an organization should grow horizontally,move into different sectors once they have kind of established themselves in one sector. I sometimes don’t agree to the conventional thought of sticking to your core sector. According to me every organization has to venture into different sectors if it has the wherewithal and the capital.

For example, a bank has to move into the transport sector, because its big revenue business which only banks can afford since they can call the shots and bring consolidation. No bank has tried this anywhere in the world which surprises me. They start and end with tinkering of financial instruments and once in a while do come up with brilliant concepts, but always in the same field. People who can manipulate and tinker with finance can definitely apply their minds successfully at various other things which they never try to.

Its so much of cash doing the rounds every day. An active entry of a bank in the transport sector will change the way everything functions

A telecom company should look at ways to act as clearing agents instead of banks. Remittance is big business ....and what better way to remit money than with the instrument you fiddle with the whole day long....

A company like Infosys I believe is restricting itself and at some point of time the growth will stop. Imagine having around 40% of its balance sheet total in cash. I would say they are playing it too safe, something is terribly wrong. This is what differentiates a TATA or Reliance from everyone else in India, because they have constantly ventured into different sectors. Infosys on the other hand have been doing the same old business for the past many many years and are stocking up too much of cash. Don’t understand why all the IT companies have a penchant to stock up cash. Even after 10-20 years of operations, stock market listings, growths of 30% annually if you are still worried about a cash problem that could emerge due to a sudden depression, then those growth figures don’t mean much.

Also they say that “find a niche” within your sector. Finding niches is alright, but at the same time, niches will get you riches only if its applicable.

Everyone thought Sam Walton did not have much business sense when he started off. Because he decided to have everything in his store, from clothes to grocery to lingerie to crisps. No one had thought of this before. But he became the worlds richest man breaking every single rule in the book. To the extent that he never maintained a proper accounting system. He infact had an ESP accounting system, where ESP stands for Error Some Place. Imagine a company of the size of 18 stores at that time maintaining everything on paper and just writing error some place at the bottom to make their books balance. This is an absolute example of getting on with things without bothering too much about rules and practices. Because the underlying passion of such people does not permit them to bother about things they feel are unneccessary.

Being passionate not packaged is the key to such successes.

Aditya Khandekar