Festivals: Diwali Rangoli in Office

Credit goes to all the folks who made these wonderful pieces. 

Rahul Tiwary

Travelogue: Diwali at Connaught Place in Delhi

- Rahul Tiwary 

Business: Will Patanjali Survive? Some Successful Patanjali FMCG Products

A few years ago, Patanjali was considered as a giant-killer. Its array of products threatened the domination of so many foreign brands which had built their reputation over decades. Patanjali not only challenged them, it challenged them in a manner which scared them to their bones. Patanjali clearly targeted the foreign brands as “foreign” and positioned itself as the best “Indian” brand that was supposed to be there fighting the foreign dominance in the FMCG sector. But Patanjali’s selling point was not only about being “hard code Indian” – its products are natural or herbal which is craze all over the world; are healthier option and are cheaper too! Hence Patanjali generates the following sentiments:

1.      Patriotism in buying Indian brands

2.      Natural or Herbal products

3.      Healthier, e.g. uses aata instead of maida

4.      More economical 

This combination was lethal. Patanjali was supposed to dominate Indian market in a matter of last 2 years. But, it did not happen!  Patanjali's Annual Sales figures tell the story:

·        Year 2016: Rs 5000 Crores

·        Year 2017: Rs 10000 Crores

·        Year 2018: Rs 8135 Crores

·        First 9 months of Year 2019: Rs 4701 Crores

Foreign brands woke up and strongly countered Patanjali. On one hand, they themselves launched natural and herbal products. Secondly they launched more ads, took more celebrities and spent more money on promotion (which Patanjali did not do). At the same time some malicious rumors were spread among people that Patanjali products were not good and failing the quality tests (which was never proved). Hence the foreign brands were able to contain the rocketing sales of Patanjali! 

We see that the foreign brands used below tactics: 

1.      Launch competitive natural or herbal products

2.      Taking in Indian celebrities as brand ambassadors

3.      Increasing spending on marketing and promotions

4.      Spreading rumors against Patanjali 

The question is: will the foreign companies’ strategies work in the long run? I have my doubts because of following reasons:

1.      The core competencies of foreign companies is not Ayurveda

2.      The natural variants of brands are ‘cannibalizing’ their core brands

3.      Clutter of natural vs chemical products will confuse their core consumers

4.      If they continue this path, they will increasingly disconnect their global image

5.      People will ultimately switch to “hard code Ayurveda” companies

Due to above reasons, I think the foreign companies strategy is more of a tactic to stop and choke Patanjali in the short term, rather than being a long term strategy. 

Now, what is Patanjali’s response and will Patanjali really be Stopped? 

I think Patanjali will not be stopped since the foundations on which its branding is done, are too strong. There always be consumer trust in “Indian Ayurveda” as compared to the foreign companies making pseudo-Ayurvedic products. There is an upward trend in patriotic flavors currently which is expected to continue. And Indians will always distrust chemical based products; the increasing health hazards that we see will only add to their sentiments. 

What is interesting to be seen is, how Patanjali sustains in the next 2-3 years. By that time, the fate of the war would have been decided. 

At this note, I present to you some of the successful Patanjali brands from the FMCG space: 

Patanjali Aata Noodles – Healthier and only Rs 10!

Patanjali Coconut #Biscuits - kids favourite and coconut delight! 0 Maida and 0 Trans fats. 

Patanjali Dalia - healthy and delicious! 

Patanjali Poja (Chura) – good quality at low price!

Patanjali Namkin Biscuits – Zero Trans-fats and only Rs 5! 

Patanjali Agarbatti (incense sticks)

- Rahul Tiwary

Sports: Why Day Night Test Cricket is a bad idea!

The newly elected BCCI President Sourav Ganguli is strongly pitching for Day-Night Test Cricket. He wants the second Test match between India and Bangladesh to be held in Day-Night format. Media is widely spreading the chorus without questioning the reasoning behind the demand. 

It is understood that Test Cricket invites less number of watchers. But the reason is not that the game is played during the day. The reason is that the game continues for 5 days! No one has such kind of time and hence Test Cricket is one of the most "Outdated" games today. And Day-Night format will not solve this problem. 

Then the question is - what is the problem that Day-Night format of Test Cricket supposed to solve? No one has any good answer! 

But the pitfalls are many. Day-Night format will lead to increased cost or expense in conducting the matches. Also, it will mean the employees and supporting staff will have to work at inhuman hours in order to make the arrangements. Their families and kids will suffer apart from their health. The BCCI or their super-rich President may not be worried about increased cost, since their coffers are filled with gold, but the human cost of conducting the matches at inhuman hours should not be over-looked by the decision makers. 

The sane thing to do about this proposal is to ask questions. And if there are no good answers, simply disagree with the proposal!

- Rahul Tiwary

Travelogue: India Gate at Night

Do you know that India Gate is illuminated with colorful light during the evening/night?

Here is India Gate, New Delhi at night: 

- Rahul Tiwary 

Travelogue: Moving Around Delhi NCR (Part-II)

Statesman House, Connaught Place, New Delhi

A road around Connaught Place

Maharashtra Sadan - Office of Resident Commissioner, the authorised representative of Maharashtra State at the country s capital.

Magnificent Chhatrapati Shivaji’s Statue at Maharashtra Sadan

Rahul Tiwary 

Health and Economy: India's Cooking Oil Problem

Today, I went to buy cooking oil. While shifting through the shelves, I reached up to Saffola Active and went through the texts. I noticed the following:

1.      It is a blended oil which is supposed to be better

2.      It is 80% rice bran oil which is supposed to be the healthiest oil on the block

3.      Rice bran oil it is produced from the outer layer rice i.e. it is not from any exotic seed

4.      It is manufactured in India (near Mumbai) so it is not an imported oil

5.      Saffola is from the house of Marico, a trusted Indian brand

At this point, my mind went into thoughts.

Recently, India removed an article from its constitution viz. Art 370 which was provisioned to grant special status to the state of Jammu and Kashmir temporarily. This was entirely an internal matter of India. No other countries were party to it. Most other countries supported India in its decision when Pakistan tried to make an international controversy out of it.

But later on, Malaysia Prime Minister supported Pak in United Nations on J&K issue because of religion (both countries are dominated by Islam). Btw, Malaysia is also supporting hatemongering Islamic radical preacher Zakir Naik and not allowing his extradition to India. I think Malaysia is taking unnecessary risk in this regard and it is almost stupid.

On economic front, India and Malaysia share an interesting bond. India is world's largest importer of edible oils. And India is the biggest importer of Palm Oil from Malaysia and hence India and Indian interest should matter to Malaysia. Note that India has option to import it from Indonesia, Argentina and Ukraine. Here are some articles about this matter: Article 1, Article 2

But I do not understand how we reached this situation where we are importing since we still have plenty of local traditional oils like mustard/coconut oils. The trend is summarized very well here:

In India, since time immemorial, the oil you use in your kitchen is largely dependent on where you come from. In Kerala, it's coconut oil, in Andhra and Rajasthan, it's sesame oil, in the east and north they use mustard oil and in central India and Gujarat groundnut oil is used. Different cultures eat differently and the type of oil fits beautifully into the food landscape of that region.

But all that changed in the 80's with the scare of cholesterol and heart disease. Overnight ghee got a bad name and we were told that we should avoid trans-fats and sunflower oil became popular. That was in the 90's.But today it's an altogether different story. You have new types of oil spilling across the grocery shelves from around the world and each new bottle label brings with it a new health hope.

The same article tells about rice bran oil:

A fairly new kid on the block and a fast rising favourite amongst the manufacturers, rice bran oil is made from the outer layer (bran) of the grain of rice. Health experts claim that it's the healthiest oil on the planet. While I cannot vouch for that, I do know that while trying it out on my food show series, called Guilt Free, the taste did not clash with Indian food and it worked pretty well in cookies and cakes.

Apparently, rice bran oil has a chemical called oryzanol which is good for your cholesterol. It is high in monounsaturated fats and has a fair amount of polyunsaturated fats too, both the good type of fats. Since it has a high smoking point, it works well for deep frying chips and all.

I think it is always better to consume local products; hence we should avoid imported and fancy oils including much hyped olive oil or palm oil which is always imported. Rice bran oil and its blended oils like Saffola Active seem to be good enough. Going for it will also help our economy by avoiding imports. It is a win-win for Indian economy and health. Hence I was proud of my purchase!

- Rahul Tiwary

Thoughts: Successful Singles and Future Human Race

Sometimes I come across some very successful people and celebrities who are exceptionally well in their respective fields but have chosen to either not marry or not to have kids. They are certainly busy, enjoying life and enjoying their success. May be family life would complicate matters for them or else they may have diverse reasons for their situation. I do not want to think negative about them, since they must have reasons for their decision. But then, after all is said, there is one aspect which troubles me. All other living beings try their best to pass on their best to the next generation. This is how species have survived. Each living creature has an inherent desire to procreate and leave his or her offspring when one disappears after death. And for the benefit of the future generations, human race would certainly want that the best of the lot produce children. The weak or those who are not so fit may skip it and there won’t be so much of loss to the human race. But if the best of the lot skips it, that would be a loss in entirety. 

At this moment I may be sounding like pointing to the Spartans. But the Spartans had taken it to the extreme and we may not need to follow them in that manner. But still, it would help humanity of the best and noble people produce children for the future generations. Then I think about those who do not. Think about Swami Vivekananda for example. Due to his celibacy and missionary work, he never got married and left this world at the age of only 39. On the other hand, Rabindranath Tagore had 5 children (out of whom 2 had died). His son Rathindranath Tagore was also an accomplished intellectual and served as the vice chancellor of Vishwa Bharati University. 

I know there are complexities and there are no guarantees in life. Even if an offspring is born, due to many other constraints there is no guarantee that he or she would inherit the qualities of the parents. But still, there is chance and there is hope. If there is no children, there is zero chance and hope. 

On the other hand, weak, negative and malicious people are often found to be not uninterested in married life or in procreating. It is common sense that if good people do not make children and bad people do, earth will be doomed subsequently. This same sentiment is being voiced at times by people in those European countries where White population is reducing since marriages are either failing or not happening at all; or if happening then there is no interest in having kids. On the surface this may look like an act of “selfishness” – since materialistic people would find kids as hindrance to their life of indulgence; but it is more than that. 

I would not be stupid to pass judgements on anyone, but collectively at times the current trend and situation looks not so good. 

- Rahul Tiwary

Movies: WAR Movie Review

WAR was supposed to be a movie which would testify to our expectations. Since the movie featured Hrithik Roshan and Tiger Shroff and promotions were being done by both actors since about a year, everyone thought this would be a “dance movie”. Afterall, Hrithik and Tiger are one of the best dancers in Indian movie industry. But the movie turns out to be a lot more than about dance. The movie turns out to be a one of its kind!

War is not the movie of the year or a decade, it is of a generation! James Bond or Jason Borne are all surpassed. Hrithik Roshan and Tiger Shroff have done iconic roles in it. After watching War it feels that God himself has incarnated in the form of Hrithik Roshan to make the world realize that India can have such a Star!

Kudos to War a million times. If you have not watched it in the theatres, you are missing something big. Remember, a movie like War is best watched on big screen.

- Rahul Tiwary

Travelogue: Moving Around Delhi NCR

Dwarka, New Delhi (Above)

Gurgaon (Above)

Dwarka Sec 23 Metro Station, New Delhi (Above)

Under Construction Bus Terminal at Sec 82, Noida (Above)

A Converted Bajaj Pulsar in Gurgaon (Above)

DPSG Palam Vihar (Above)

A BJP Election Vehicle in Gurgaon (Above)

Colombia Asia Hospital, Gurgaon (Above)

MDI Gurgaon (Above)

Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University (IP University), Dwarka Campus, New Delhi (Above)

ITC Hotels Division Office, Gurgaon (Above)

- Rahul Tiwary

Ethics: Is it fine for Nirbhaya Case Victim to Ask Money for TV Appearance

A journalist has claimed that in year 2013, the male friend of ‘Nirbhaya’ (nick name given to the female victim of the heinous 2012 crime in Delhi which shook the nation) had demanded money to appear on camera and narrate what had happened for TV News channels. The message is that his demand for money was unethical. Hence the journalist recorded the demand on TV in a ‘sting operation’. The journalist decided not to expose the man way back then because of some God knows what reason but now due to some curious reason, he has decided to reveal that episode on Twitter. 

There are several aspects to the case and I would like to think about each one of those.

1. Is it unethical for someone to ask for money to appear on TV? I do not think so and I hope you would agree about the same. Most of the persons who appear on TV get paid for their screen time and efforts and other sacrifices in order to make the appearance. Plus, the TV channel makes money from their appearance. Be it the participants of debates or so called ‘reality’ shows, getting compensated monetarily or in some other form is the established norm.

2. Is it ethical for a journalist to make a recording of a person without his information, even if he can later label it as ‘sting operation’? I do not think so. You need the person’s consent before you record someone on camera. Most people who record others on camera without their awareness do so because of some malicious intent. Only, the kind of journalism that has become the norm in India, our journalists label such acts as ‘sting operation’ and then people are told that it is okay to do so. Think about it – if someone comes to you and offers a huge sum of money or some undue offer (like school admission for your kid), if you agreed to do something which you won’t do in normal times. Now if that person recorded it as part of his ‘sting operation’ and showed it as a proof that you are corrupt. But the fact is that you did not do anything wrong in “real”. It was all a “hypothetical” act. It is one thing for someone to wish, think or vow to do something. But in real they may not do it. So speaking and doing are two different things. But the manner in which media projects “sting operation” is as if the person has already done something wrong and hence I do not support it. Sting operations are unethical and hypothetical scandals employed by media and journalists because they enjoy a powerful influence over the way we think.

3. Do journalists offer money to people to make them speak; when at first they decline to speak? It is obviously common. And most people won’t consider it wrong. But think about it – if the person demanded money to speak, it is considered unethical. But if they journalist offers him money to make him speak, it is considered fine. It is all about “perceptions”. Both acts are not so different and it is possible for us to call both acts as either ethical or unethical.

4. Did Nirbhaya’s boyfriend really do TV-hopping? Nirbhaya case was so much outrageous. I remember the media coverage around the time the incident had happened. I have following pointers about the incident and its media coverage:

-          Media had reported about the incident with graphic details about the victim and the crime. We can still remember the chilling details like “intestines being taken out”. Such brutal reporting with graphic details is never seen in most other cases of violent crimes. (In my opinion, media coverage was excessive)

-          The true identity of the victim was revealed shortly after the incident. Even though the nick name “Nirbhaya” was available and widely accepted and there was no reason to reveal the real name, her religion, her caste, her parents name, her home town etc, all these details were revealed soon after the incident. Who would be held answerable to this? (In my opinion, victims privacy was not protected by media)

-          The parents of Nirbhaya were too vocal and visible on the TV in due course after the incident. When I first came to know about Nirbhaya’s parents giving TV interviews and media showing them with their real face and names, talking about the incident and demanding stricter laws to prevent such cases, I was shocked in disbelief. Initially I did not believe that they were actually coming out and talking about it. Then I realized what was happening; I thought that it may be their way to come in terms with the grief. So I explained myself that it was fine. (In my opinion, it is surprising that the journalist is attacking Nirbhaya's boyfriend for TV-hopping while not accusing her parents for doing similar act. The intent is clear: it is not considered proper to accuse one's parents but it is okay to accuse one's boyfriend - since society anyway looks down on boyfriends)

-          Nirbhaya’s boyfriend was not so much seen anywhere in TV news those days. From the time of the incident I do not remember seeing Nirbhaya’s boyfriend anywhere. After a while a few news reports had started coming up about him as well. But in my understanding, Nirbhaya’s boyfriend was also a victim. From the news report I remember, he was also beaten up by the accused and he was thrown off from the bus before the accused committed the crime. (The journalist attacking the boyfriend want us to forget the fact that both Nirbhaya and her boyfriend were attacked and both were victims).

Now the final question is: should we trust the journalist totally and demonize Nirbhaya’s boyfriend now (as the journalist wants us to do) for doing something which is the norm in journalism: asking money for TV appearance? Here, I have following points:

-          Most of the time if journalists want someone having some information which viewers may be interested in hearing, to speak and the person is not speaking, they offer money to the concerned person in order to “incentivize” them to speak. This is not considered unethical.

-          Nirbhaya’s boyfriend was her real friend she trusted, that is why she would have gone out with him at that hour of the evening. So my first feeling toward him is not so negative. In other words, I do not believe he was a bad guy.

-          A lot of people in the media are corrupt. It is not uncommon that the journalists cook up stories by portraying someone as “evil” in order to increase TRP or popularity of their shows or content. I do not know if the journalist accusing Nirbhaya’s male friend is 100% honest or if he is just trying to cook up some controversy in order to gain popularity. And if he is doing this purposefully and we all blindly trust him, then there is greater danger ahead. More journalists will use the little pieces of information they have against others in order to defame and even “blackmail” them.

-          The journalist’s accusations appear like personal grudges to me. For example, the journalist says that he saw “no pain in the boyfriend’s eyes”. Now we all know that different people express feelings in different expressions. It is totally impossible for the boyfriend to not feel bad for Nirbhaya. Hence this “he had no feelings” looks rather like an attempt to persuade readers that the boyfriend is “pure evil”. Why did the journalist need to make such personal “demonization” of the man? I think it is so because his main argument was very light; so he employed this dirty trick to complete his “demonization act”.

My recommendation is not to trust the journalist’s version of the story totally. He may be telling truth but the truth may not look like the way he wants us to look at it. 

After having a look at his Tweets, it rather looks like a misuse of power by the jounralist. It is a case of:

1. Media trial: Where audience believe in whatever is being said by the journalist just because it is being said by a journalist (since they are conditioned into believing that the journalists tell nothing but the truth)

2. Male victimization: Where audience do not look into the side of the story of the accused just because the accused is a from a group who are considered dominant e.g. males

3. Victim blaming: The journalist even wrote in his Tweets that he doubted if the male friend even tried to save Nirbhaya. Here he chose to completely forget the real facts about the incident i.e. the boyfriend was beaten up and thrown off from a moving bus. As luck had it, the boy survived. And in a way the journalist is blaming him for surviving and arguing that if the boyfriend was honest, he should have died with Nirbhaya too. This is so stupid and evil argument and we should never fell for it. 

If the journalist is telling the truth exactly as it is, then of course this whole thing is very sad. Only a sick person would try to benefit from the victim’s loss. Anyone who tried to gain something out of what happened to Nirbhaya is a sick person. But I do not trust the journalist’s version of story totally and hence I won’t judge Nirbhaya’s boyfriend personally. That is all I have to say about it. What do you think?

- Rahul Tiwary

Psychology: Father Son Conversation

The other day in office washroom I overheard a telephonic conversation between a father and his kid. The person called up his child (let us assume it was his son) and told him that he had received a Whatsapp message from school that the kid had not submitted an assignment which he knew he had taken to submit the previous day. “You had taken that assignment yesterday to school. Why did you not submit it?” The kid said that he had indeed submitted his assignment. Then the person asked him if that was the case then why did he receive a message reminder from school. The kid answered that the message must be a common message to all irrespective of whether the concerned student had submitted the assignment or not. The father simply said okay; accepting the reasoning. Then the kid asked him if he had received individual message or in the group. The father accepted that he had received the message in the “group” i.e. Whatsapp group. 

Two things struck me in the conversation. 

First, the father did not trust his son. When the son said that he had submitted the assignment, the person tried to trick him into accepting the opposite by doubting “if son had submitted the assignment then school won’t have to send a reminder!” The son had to explain how the generic messages work and then the father was satisfied. 

Secondly, the father was proven stupid when he confirmed that the “message was sent in the group and hence was a generic reminder” and it was not sent individually to him. The father should have understood this very simple fact by using common sense. So, the son would either have noticed that his father was stupid or else he would have noticed that he did not trust him. Either way the inference coming out from the conversation was not healthy. 

Lastly, these generic reminders are weird and often create confusion. I remember in my previous organization all of us used to receive emails asking us to take some mandatory actions and then in the end there would be a sentence saying, “Please ignore if you have already done this”. In the age of advance analytics and artificial intelligence, such “generic mailers” are simply time-wasting stuff which also add to the unnecessary stress to the employees. The fact that this was happening in an IT company makes it look more stupid. 

Now in my childhood days, my father never checked upon me if I had done assignments or not. I would of course do the assignments most of the times, since otherwise I would look stupid in front of others in the class and would also get punishments. Therefore, I do not understand this need to add a new check and “alert” mechanism which today’s parents are trying to put. If kids know that parents would remind them and alert them if they were missing something, they would have some less serious “sense of responsibility” and rather focus on having some better excuse making capability and certainly better “argumentative capability”. Now these may not be totally useless skills but still I would choose the scenario where the kid owns his decisions regarding school matters and has his own mechanisms of reminders, rather than his father calling him from washroom and asking him stupid questions to trap him, while being involved in something more urgent (using the washroom). 

- Rahul Tiwary

Travelogue: Durga Puja 2019 in Noida

- Rahul Tiwary

Travelogue: Vijaya Dashmi (Dussehra) in Delhi

- Rahul Tiwary

Animals: A Stray Dog in Gurgaon

A Stray Dog in Gurgaon – 

Notice how he has crossed front legs and is sitting like a gentleman