It was my 20th visit (well, almost) to Gujarat last weekend. I was more shocked than surprised with various experiences I had. So decided to "e-pen" it down.

Well, my trip included a visit to various villages. Reached the first pit stop in a state transport bus around 5 am. I was surprised to see various multinational companies grabbing my eye balls with huge hoardings in "Local Languages". (Well ok, it must be pretty normal to go CUSTOMIZED for them, but let me confess, I was surprised & found it rather funny to read LG, Tata Photon, Airtel, CCD, Raymond, etc... in Gujarati.)

What made me put on my thinking caps was, the obsession rural people have with "BOMBAY" (not at the cost of offending any Political Party back in the Financial Hub of the nation) & various other so called "Modern English" words. An example to justify would be, "Bombay Bollywood Style Saloon " ; "All-in-one Super Store".... Whats most ironical was that every single letter of the above mentioned "Bombay style names" was in Gujarati. Obviously, I would definitely think twice before entering the saloon of a person wanting to cash on " the Bombay chauvinism" of the poor villagers.

Also one fact of matter was the penetration of various FMCG products into the markets & more importantly the mindsets of people was very high.The sachet technique works very well in the roots, it seems.
One company which made me bow down with respect was, PARLE. It had an excellent penetration compared to various others. The retailers & distributors were more than happy stocking up the products.I could relate the smiles on the faces of people behind the counter with the margins being given by the company.

Here comes the Shock part of the blog. Various cheap & duplicate brands tried & replicate the logo, design, packaging etc & used Mr. Kotler's "PUSH Strategy " to penetrate. Eg: Patel Packaged Drinking Water: Mr. Patel ensured the packaging was strikingly similar to Aquafina  & made sure the store did not stock up the original brand. Well, great job done by Mr.Gujju Entrepreneur, but hope Mr. Patel doesnt have to "Liquidate" his company soon.Pun Intended.


Also one thing which I feel is firmly associated with Rural as well as few parts of urban India are "Superstitions & Traditional Practices." But, they feel that is the way of living. I was lucky enough to meet an 110 Year Old person (Yea, You read it right: 110 Years Complete 111 Running, even I was shocked.)
He was totally fit & fine, has lived his life all alone, goes for a walk daily, & the most cutest part: makes TEA for people who visit him. (Yea, he makes tea himself & serves) He, obviously has not even in his wildest dreams must have thought of Double Burst or a Foot Long Subway !!!!
All he craves for is "Shudh Ghee ka khana." How could I forget. he had 2 Feet long beard & a dozen huge necklaces, which supposedly gave him all the strength. He has never taken a medicine in his life & is confident that he will never need one. If he falls ill, he might add a couple to the earlier dozen.

To sum it all,
I couldnt figure out,

• Are we really changing?
• Are the roots (which we proudly boast off, at times) moving towards the "BOMBAY" style culture ?
• Will they really change, given the fact that the superstitions around them may not allow them to. !!!
• Will the unaccounted profits of the likes of Mr. Patel ever affect us, as a nation?
• Will the rural India get the taste of Real BOMBAY... err MUMBAI ???

More than half of India is still craving for a better lifestyle !!! Hopefully we help them get closer to the dreamed reality !!!

Soon, hopefully, we might see a Farmer with a facebook profile page, promoting his produce of the year. (We never know !!! )


-Shrenik Gandhi