Café Oval @ Churchgate

And finally a place where you can have cheap beer and the ambiance is, if not amazing, decent.
Café oval is a small Parsi beer bar located opposite to the Oval Maidan in South Mumbai. The place is amongst the cheapest in Mumbai to have beer. A pitcher of beer cost just Rs 230, way cheaper than any of its contemporaries.London pilsner, the brand mostly unheard of, is served at only Rs100.



Many people might not be aware of its existence as it does not carry any fancy signboard, though the place is frequented by patrons and other regulars. The bar has 10-12 tables with cartons of beer stacked along the walls.
The laid back feel of the place and prompt service makes it a perfect spot to chill down after a hard day’s work or even otherwise.
Go to café oval for cheap beer and cheese chews.


PS: The beer joint is located next to Cafe Sundance in Eros Cinema building.
(Photo courtsey http://www.flickr.com/photos/kapsi/1277401970/)

Prithvi Theatre

Away from the cacophony of traffic and routine commotion of the city lies the prestigious and legendary Prithvi theatre. Surrounded by green trees and lit beautifully, PT enchants people interested in plays and theatres from across the city. In fact PT has become a name synonymous with the active theatre scene of the city. The beautiful place is home to a theatre building, a café and a small bookstore. Newcomers and familiar faces of TV and cinema and other art forms can be found sipping tea in the café discussing on topics wide and varied. While waiting in the café for play to start, I got to hear the conversation between two wannabe actors sitting on the next table. From their conversation it became clear that they were migrants who landed in the city of dreams to fulfill their ambitions.
Excerpts:
First Man (F): Yaar, ab to pareshan ho gaya hun.
Second Man (S): what happened?
F: yaar, ek saal ho gaya hai yahaan par, but still there has been nothing that has come my way.
S: kya matlab?
F: I mean there is no work. Joote ghis gaye hain.
Second man, who appeared to be more carefree tries to imitate Dharamendra while speaking.
S: koi baat nahin beta, abhi to aise bohot saare joote ghisne padenge. I have been trying for more years than you but with only little success.
F: at least you have got something to do. Mera case toh bilkul barbaad hai,
S: oye! Koi nahin mere sher. Mehnat karte raho, phal ek din toh milega hi. And there is no denying the fact that you are a good actor.
As the conversation continued, first bell rang indicating audience to move inside the theatre. I got up from the table hoping that someday these actors will also get their share of luck.

PS: Prithvi theatre was established in 1978 to recognize the efforts and to provide platform for the revival of theatre in the city. It was established by Mr. Shashi Kapoor of the famous Kapoor clan of Indian film industry. It hosts an annual theatre fest known as Prithvi Theatre Festival in which theatre troops from across the country perform.

The Good Bay

What makes a city great? Is it the people or the great history it carries? Not many cities can boast of both. Bombay can. Not a very old city to interest archaeologists but the city, in its four or five centuries of significant existence, has witnessed more activities than the places twenty centuries old. Cities around the world are driven by the energy of its residents but the glorious Bombay drives its citizens through its never ending energy.

Bombay has always been a melting pot of various cultures, languages, tradition and people who come from different places to fulfill their dreams. Migrants are known to be coming to the city from early 17th century . Parsis, Bohras, Gujratis and Marwaris were amongst the early migrants who along with Britishers contributed in creating a culture that indeed is unique to the city. The influence of different cultures can be experienced in art and architecture of the town, noteworthy among them being Indo-Sarcenic and Indo-Gothic. In fact Bombay is home to the second highest number of Art Deco buildings.
In a country where million dreams sprout every day, Bombay gives confidence to turn those dreams into reality. As the city grows at a swift pace, it has been able to maintain its old world charm (though limited to only certain places and areas) which continues to fascinate artists, tourist and inmates alike. Bombay, indeed is the jewel in the crown of India.

Rise of the Evil.........

It was a bright morning. Everybody was back after a much needed break, rejuvenated and revived. Classes went on as usual without much ado. When things started falling into place, suddenly news broke out that one amongst us had been tested positive for swine flu and as a precautionary measure he was taken to the hospital for further treatment (I am fed up of hearing “quarantined”). The morning that was so clear and dazzling made way for an afternoon equally gloomy and dark. Having lived in a small, peaceful city I never knew what chaos was. That day I not only experienced it but I was part of it. Everybody trying to protect oneself from other person. Hygiene was the order of the day. Those who had not cleaned their rooms for weeks got caught of sweeper and got their rooms cleaned. People who were in poor health were left on their own. There were others who would maintain a safe distance from people around. By the night, swine flu had taken its toll. Everyone was talking about it. Seniors, juniors, professors, mess workers alike. There was no end to the discussions. Some students showed their activeness by probing about swine flu on internet and floated whatever they could get hold off on net. The campus which once buzzed with energy and excitement was silent. No one knew the way out. There were rumors and pondering over swine flu. Even a sneeze, which otherwise would have been ignored, was taken for swine flu.
As a precautionary measure classes were called off for another two weeks. For students, another two weeks of enjoyment and fun at home.

Tryst with MANDI

Tryst with MANDI

Last night I was unable to sleep. After getting the inventory for MANDI, eight of us decided to open one JODO kit so as to make different designs with the help of straws as all of us were confident that we would be unable to sell the mathematical utility of the kit. It was a feeling of déjà-vu. Deep down in my mind I had a gut feeling that making shapes and designs was not my cup of tea. Not because I considered myself any lesser mortal but more because of our dreaded education system where I was always reminded of my incompetency in art and craft. Pretty sure that thing would not have improved much we started making different designs and Voila!! I was actually giving some meaningful shapes to the straws and for the very first time I realized I am not that bad after all. The child in me was back buoyed by the appreciation and encouragement from my peer group. At 3 a.m. we decided to call the day off.
On my way to the room I stopped in my friend’s room to wish him luck for the next day. I saw him fumbling with Tanagram, unable to decipher the conundrum. That was the moment of realization of truth for both of us (two students of MBA in one of the best colleges of the country failed completely at the puzzle meant for children). But as we sat with the puzzle we had realized that for this toy our target would not be school going kids but anyone above the age of 18. We looked at each other and gave each other that devilish smile and shouted simultaneously, “Market Segmentation”. When I went into my room I saw my roommate deep in slumbers. I was jealous. I pushed myself in the bed. But that mixed feeling of excitement and nervousness would not allow me to sleep. Birds had started chirping in the trees as if teasing me that it’s already 6’o clock in the morning. Concentrating hard against the noise I slept for two hours.
The setting was emphatic. There was excitement and merriment wherever I could see. I saw Dr. Mandi. He was there everywhere excited and buoyed. I prayed to the God to channelize his energy towards me. The God has always been kind to me. God presented me the chance to complete my last night’s deficient sleep in the form of inaugural ceremony where everyone talked to the dozen (pun intended).
After the words of wisdom from the dignitaries, our group decided to go to Infiniti Mall at Andheri. On our way I got a call from a friend informing me that MTV would be covering the event at Andheri station. And suddenly I realized that MANDI event which I dreaded so much is going to give me my “15 seconds of fame”; few of my friends had already reached Infiniti Mall so they abandoned my plea of going to Andheri station. But the lure of coming on TV that too on MTV was something I could not forgo. Suddenly I realized the opportunity cost(did I hear Economics) of going to Mall was too high and who knows my 15 seconds on MTV could impress Yash Chopra so much that he decides to cast me in his next movie. The allure of being the next “Rahul” was enough to charm me towards Andheri station (is this called branding or brand positioning? Prof. Dhume can tell better). With few of my friends I started walking towards Andheri station with no clue that only a few minutes later my dream of being the “Rahul” would be shattered. I got a call from the same friend informing that due to security reasons MTV could not shoot at stations. The “Rahul” in me disappeared and a lesser mortal “Shabbir” was back whose dream of being on TV was thwarted by one of his close friends. The lesser mortal in me could not face the embarrassment of telling it to my friends who were there at the mall. With some courage I told it to those who were walking with me.
But as I said earlier that God has always been nice to me and what we saw next was a school. And suddenly all of us realized simultaneously that this is where we want to be (kids, parents, teachers, everyone was there).
Amidst all apprehensions about our marketing and selling skills (unlike others we never doubted quality of toys) we asked watchman of the school to let us in and when he inquired about us we told him about the whole event and he was more than happy to let us in. In fact he told us that it was an open house and many parents would be coming. Talking to watchman, I suppose, was our first success.
Target No. 1: Middle aged lady who was watching her child play basketball.
We started the conversation with the lady only after she high fived her girl for scoring a basket. We started by telling her about the whole MANDI affair and our purpose behind the event. She was impressed. Although she did not say it explicitly (but certain thing need not be said). We started with JODO, and all the hard work we did last night came handy when she appreciated the design and students who were hitherto busy playing came around us and started playing with various shapes and designs (boat, helicopter, and cobweb). When we were pretty sure that the lady would buy the product we made the proposition to her but to our dismay she said her kids were in Class 9th and 10th and it’s of no use to them. Caught in the quagmire (having spent 10mins with her we were not ready to let her go), we did not know how to convince her now, and suddenly we realized JODO is a mathematical toy, we took the conversation in that direction on how the toy can help develop the concepts of 3-D, Pythagoras theorem and Euler’s theorem in students interested in mathematics. And that was the strategy that did her in and she finally bought one JODO. Before she paid us the money I decided to showcase to her the Chinese puzzle, “king of kings”, my favorite, TANAGRAM. This time target was not kids but she herself and other adults in her family. I was able to convince her about the utility of product and the level of toughness, although I had to tell her that I was unable to solve it even at this stage of my life, an engineering graduate from a top class college pursuing MBA from one of the best colleges of India. She laughed but she bought one TANAGRAM also.
We decided to take permission from principal of the school to showcase our products to teachers and students. But we were stopped at her gate as she was busy in some meeting. But after tasting success we could not have allowed it to ebb down so we started to find our next prospect and we saw two or three lady teachers sitting in verandah. We went to them and asked if they had kids at home. One of them said yes and there was sparkle in our eyes as our prospective customer was sitting in front of us and we could not have allowed the opportunity to go in drain. She had a small kid of 2years and we all knew it was not TANAGRAM, not JODO but RANGOMETRY that we had to showcase. We tried talking to her about the utility of product, on how the small colorful pieces could help ignite the imagination of her kid. Then we showed various designs that we had captured in our mobile phones to her (for the very first time I realized the usefulness of technology embedded mobile phones). Impressed by the presentation she bought the RANGOMETRY from us. Other teacher who was listening to the conversation also bought one for her niece. Meanwhile other people in our group were also selling different products to teachers and parents depending upon their needs. Meanwhile there was one more teacher standing nearby. She was an old lady. When I asked her about JODO and RANGOMETRY she politely refused telling me that both her children are working. But I knew TANAGRAM was one product where age does not matter. I started telling her about TANAGRAM. I challenged her that it was not any other puzzle and it would completely tease her brain before she gets the solution. She told me that she would buy not one but two of them and took it as a challenge to solve the riddle (what kind of marketing strategy is this? Don’t know).
By that time parents started pouring into the school to pick up their wards and time could not have been riper for us to sell our products. We launched a blitzkrieg. We knew if we succeed we would be free by two in the afternoon. The parents were more interested in knowing about the products and if they found utility in the product they readily bought the product. In fact there were instances when we were told how useful the product was and how they failed to find any such product in the market.
RANGOMETRY which I thought would be hard to sell; we were able to sell in no time. In fact there was shortage of it. Meanwhile TANAGRAM continued to sell like hotcakes equally popular among all age groups.
The biggest challenge for us was to sell Big JODO Kit which I feel was a hard nut to crack. It was not possible to influence customers at that price. All tactics failed. From NGO to NITIE, from educational utility to fun part, we were unable to justify the price for big JODO. We were able to sell them completely only when we were left with no small sized JODO as customers were left with no other options.
Within one or two hours we were able to sell inventory for more than Rs. 6000 and we were left with only one or two pieces of JODO which we eventually sold to a school teacher in that school.
It does not mean that we sold to everyone we went to. In fact there were more people saying no, nyet, not interested than those willing to buy the products. But as they say, “failure has no takers”, so I refrain from writing them. In fact the most important lesson from a no was that you learn how not to approach a customer. In every yes and in every no there is a deep lesson to be learnt. Dr. Mandi would sing, “SOCHO BECHO, BECHO SEEKHO, SEEKHO SOCHO”, I am sure he does not only mean that you learn when you sell, in fact the learning is greater in trying.
When we were about to leave the school I got a call from my friend. He asked me about my location and told me that MTV is coming so stay there only. The “RAHUL” in me was back. Finally MTV arrived , took a few shots of us selling products although it was all fake as we had already sold the products but who cares we were happy and that was the only feeling I wanted to be in at that moment of time.
I completely agree with the fact that association of NGO Navnirmiti was of great help in selling the product as people want to feel connected with social cause. This is the least they can do and everyone would agree that people do not pull their hands back when it comes to supporting a cause as noble as education for downtrodden. There were stories that we made to sell our products but never tried to dupe the customer. Whether they bought the product or not the smile was always there on our faces. Some people bought it for their kids, some to give it as a gift; some people genuinely thought that there was learning in those toys. Some bought it to support NGO, there were some people who bought it as challenge, there was one lady who bought because during our conversation she laughed her heart out, then there were parents who wanted to keep their children busy, wives bought it so that their husbands would not disturb them when they saw saas-bahu serials, husbands bought so they can have peace at home. We sold to people of different age, height, color, weight. We got rejections, we were accepted but we never let the success or failure to bog us down. We learnt marketing, we learnt economics, we learnt consumer dealing, we learnt coordination and we learnt many other things. But in the morning all we knew was we wanted to sell.
AND WE SOLD.