Movie: Panipat - Sensational Trailer

Business: Patanjali FMCG Products (Part-2)

After my earlier post: Will Patanjali Survive? Some Successful Patanjali FMCG Products, which btw, got a very good reception with 113 page views in first few days, I realized that I could have posted a few more products from the Patanjali stable which I use. Therefore here are a few more FMCG products. If it needs to be said, I have been using these for many years and like these.

Patanjali Moong Dal Namkin and Tasty Peanuts

Patanjali Milk Biscuits and Orange Cream Biscuits 

Patanjali Whole Moong

Patanjali Ata Noodles – I find then much better than Nestle’s Maggi Noodles

Patanjali Gonyl Floor Cleaner (Contains Gomutra) and Toilet Cleaner (HCL Free)

I shall try to post more pictures of Patanjali products I use. 

- Rahul Tiwary

क्या दिवाली पर पटाखे जलाना गलत है?

क्या दिवाली पर पटाखे जलाना गलत है? यह सवाल आजकल सबके मन में है। खासकर सोशल मीडिया पर इस बारे में हर दिवाली काफी बहस छिड़ती है। यहाँ मैं अपने विचार संक्षेप में लिखता हूँ।

पटाखे प्रदूषण (पॉल्यूशन) फैलाते हैं - यह सच है। पर यह भी सच है कि सिर्फ दिवाली के पटाखों का ही विरोध होता है, बाकियों का नहीं। दशहरा, शादी-ब्याह, कोई बड़ा उत्सव, क्रिसमस, क्रिकेट मैच में जीत, खेल आयोजन, नया साल - इन सब मौकों पर पटाखे छूटते हैं, पर विरोध सिर्फ दिवाली के पटाखों का ही होता है। राइट-विंग के लोग या कन्जर्वेटिव्स (परम्परावादी लोग) सोचते हैं कि ये हिंदुत्व का विरोध है इसलिए वो दिवाली के पटाखों का समर्थन करते हैं। पर असल में बात कुछ और है।

जहाँ तक यह बात मुझे समझ में आती है - दिवाली के पटाखों का विरोध इसलिए होता है क्योंकि हमारे देश में हर जगह दिवाली मनाई जाती है, इसलिए उस दिन एक ही समय बहुत ज्यादा पटाखे जलाने से सच में पॉल्यूशन की ज्यादा समस्या होती है। बाकी अवसरों पर कम समस्या होती है इसलिए विरोध नहीं होता है। जिस तरह बकरी और बाघ दोनों में जान है पर बकरी को मारना गुनाह नहीं पर बाघ को मारना गुनाह है - क्योंकि कुछ बकरियों के मरने से कोई बड़ी समस्या नहीं होगी पर कुछ बाघ मर जाएँ तो उनकी प्रजाति विलुप्त हो जाएगी। उसी तरह बाकी अवसरों पर पटाखे जलाने पर कोई खास समस्या नहीं होती है पर घनी आबादी वाले जगहों पर दिवाली के दिन एक साथ पटाखे जलाने से समस्या हो जाती है - इसलिए बाकी अवसरों पर और कम जनसँख्या वाले जगहों पर पटाखे जलाना गुनाह नहीं, पर कुछ बड़े शहरों में (घनी आबादी के कारण), अदालत ने पटाखों पर "बैन" लगा कर गुनाह बता दिया - ये बात समझी जा सकती है। और इसमें कुछ गलत नहीं।

तो हम यह कह सकते हैं कि कम आबादी वाले शहर, गाँव, या विदेश के शहर (जहाँ अप्रवासी भारतीय रहते हैं), या बड़े शहरों के ऑउटस्कर्ट्स, जहाँ अधिक जनसँख्या का घनत्व नहीं होता और इसलिए पटाखों का प्रदूषण कोई बड़ी समस्या नहीं है, ऐसी जगहों पर पटाखे जलाना गलत नहीं है। और घनी आबादी वाले शहर या इलाके, या ऐसे जगह जो पहले से ही प्रदूषित हों (जैसे दिल्ली), ऐसे जगहों पर दिवाली के पटाखे जलाना गलत माना जाना चाहिए।

- राहुल तिवारी 

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