Thanks :) :)  :)

I woke up today, with a thought and pray, 
Why are we always shy to express our way....... 
I looked back through my Life's bay...... 
There are so many i would like to say..... 


 “ Thanks” 


 Thank you is what I have to say,
For helping me the other day.......
 I dunno if it is a little late ,
But gratitude is what i want to convey..... 


 Each day brings in a new ray, 
 With somebody helping me in his own way, 
I dunno if the aid is planned by you or god, 
What i know is you rescued me in some special way... 


 Thanks is a word we don’t often say, 
Thinking aloud if that’s a useless stray...... 
Don’t make your words a little grey...... 
There is nothing to lose if you choose to say.... 


 Throw your ego or whatever you may, 
Why to wait only for the thanks giving day, 
Go ahead and say this right away.... 
After all Barter is our traditional way.......


Thanks :)

The Tipping Point...

The Tipping Point

“16th December 2011 , Honda City at Rs 6.99 lakh” A headline which gained attention of not all but atleast for the passionate automobile followers or people like me who nurtured the dream owning the first personal car to be the Honda City. However the idea behind penning down thoughts on the City is not my love for the car but the tipping point which made Honda to kneel down and adopt a price cut strategy for the first time in course of 15 long successful years in Indian market.


Honda has remained the pillar of Indian automobile Car market for long establishing itself as the best in breed Sedan & an iconic symbol adding to the pride of the person owning it. Throughout the 90’s and mid 2000’s the CITY aptly followed the India’s punch line of “Owners Pride, Neighbors Envy”. But as they say, Change is inevitable ,Success and struggle are complimentary and the same is being experienced by the Hondas in the ever so growing Indian Market.



Who would have thought, City would have to come up with a price cut launching a lower end variant. The short history of the Indian car market shows Honda has always seeked a premium and throughout the campaigns never ever given focus to the price of the car. From the old 90s classic City to the sporty new City of 2000’s, To the iconic Civic to the ever hyped Hybrid cars, the focus has always been on the design and the Class. Then what made city to come up with such a strategy, probably the tipping point is crossed sooner than later.

“Tipping point: Gladwell defines a tipping point as "the moment of critical mass, the threshold, the boiling point."


It all started with the success run of the Honda city and Honda Civic post 2000s. An iconic model whom people bought for pride rather than value. No matter which new model is launched City remained the most sought car and made Honda if not the market leader but the market monopolist in the sedan segment. Never been there were any discounts on Honda cars nor were there any major price customer schemes. Probably a game of pure supply and demand Honda being the at the gainers end of the spectrum.

“Being perceived as the best bring definite rewards but only till the rewards are shared across both the Perceived as well as the Perceiver.

In my point of view, the idea of being perceived best & being the single monopolist rented a lot of space in the mind of Honda’s India Management. In a nutshell it meant working on their own terms rather than giving value to the market dynamics. Somehow knowingly or unknowingly the customers were ignored but that was only acceptable until the customers ignored the same.

As always Honda has been close to the hearts of Indian consumers and so was the wait for the launch of another great product “ Honda Jazz” in 2009. The hype was so much that everyone wanted to seek a look or pre book the Hatchback. However the launch was a surprise not because of the great design but because of the great price being seeked for the first hatchback from Honda’s kitty. Probably there was nothing wrong but nothing right as well about the launch strategy of this car. Reason – the mind space of Honda’s Management I talked above. But this time the customers didn’t ignored of being ignored by their favorite brand.

The initial launch was successful with hiked up bookings and great interests by customers. The design was explicit but the price tag did raised the eyebrows. The car was launched at an ex showroom price of around 7.5 lakhs. It was definitely high for majorly middle class Indian consumers who would get any alternative sedan in that price. Paying Premiums for Honda was a habit but paying something way ahead than a premium raised doubts. Probably Honda was trying to establish an all together new segment of Premium Hatchbacks in the Indian Market. As I understand Indian market is always driven by the masses and seldom has a product for a niche segment succeeded here. The customers not only rejected the entrance of a new segment but in the process also moved closer to the tipping point of considering Honda as a just another brand.

If not the failure, Jazz was never a success. But still Honda was in a monopolist market with great design of Honda city and civic segments. Jazz failure didn’t had an impact on the sales of other Honda Products , However there was a definite paradigm shift on the perception. Honda still had that unbeatable design in the monopolist territory of their own.

There were many a options available in the market but none posing a threat to the crowning space of City. This was to change soon , with the launch of Hyundai Verna Fluid , Honda faced the biggest shock of their lifecycle. The biggest strength of being the best design was challenged and hence left Honda with none but just the general features a car have. They were shown backs by the customers on the price front and now even on the design which was once the biggest strength.

The volumes declined, the growth projections were revised and sublimed. The customers over crossed the tipping point and Honda no more remained the favorite brand for the sedan segment.

As a habitual to summarize ( being a Management Graduate) I would extract following points as jist to the extract above :
• Customer still remains the king.
• Monopoly is time bound until you are challenged strongly.
• Ignoring a customer is acceptable until customer ignores being ignored.


PS : These were just few personal views (No offense to anybody) on the brand so close to my thoughts & a strategy which was a little overdone to me. To say the least it still remains the best of the sedans in Indian market. However the future lies on the market factors (Rising petrol prices- Being predominantly Petrol car) & more so on the strategy adopted by the management in the coming days, the actions being evident in the headline above.

I would love to hear from you about agreement or disagreement to few of the points stated above

Right or Wrong - II

Right or Wrong….

We have spent our lives half way long,
Thinking about things Right or wrong.
Right is right and the wrong is wrong,
Why did I wasted so much time just thinking along.

I watched a spider build a web weaving it through stand by strand.
She didn’t thought who would land, she just weaved it with a hope so grand…
Her hope of trapping might pay off or not
But she didn’t wasted her life just thinking along.

Touch your heart and ask, has there been a time before,
Where you thought of the things as wrong,
But in the end, Regretted …
Only to find it was not the things but ‘you’ who went wrong.

Its still so much left to do which we can,
Not thinking too much over the foot we land..
If it turned right , it’s the luck for us
But turning wrong would not cost us that much….
After all what is there to loose…
The punch is not effective until it bruise….


Its just the other half left with us & the choice is ours..
To be the spider building a web,
Or To stand at the shore, thinking for the river to take us along…….

Flying Thoughts......

Last week I went to Mumbai on a small official trip… I don’t know why , but I was pretty much excited of moving back to place which I left some 6 months back….Anyhow with tight workschedule I could not find much of the time to meet my old friends and visit some hot spots of mumbai but yes, got some time to brain storm something and write these few funny lines…..

I wrote these lines not because of some prolonged deep thoughts but just out of sheer boredom on my flight back to delhi & hence :

I would like to dedicate these (good or bad at discretion of reader ) lines to those boring air hostesses or I should say air aunties ( You can very well guess the airlines ) and a heavy weight gentleman sitting on my left seat snoring like hell who compelled me to take up the pen against his loud music……

So here it goes …..

Mixed vichar..( Fusion)

Khule aasman se maine jab zameen ki aur dekha,
to aisa laga maine apne khyalo ko aur kareeb se dekha.
Upar dekha to neela khula aasman,
Mano keh raha ho apni he dastaan………

“The sky says to see the limitless universe, suggesting to spend my life without any boundaries and spun.”

Neeche dekha to sir chakraya,
Kaise yeh zameen aaj itni shant, yeh samaj na aaya,
Main thoda ghabraya fir Bapu ka wo rule yaad aaya..

“Life mein aage badna hain to ucha socho but hamesha neeche dekho & then this world would look so much beautiful and nice place to live “


In thoughts ke saath fir khidki se jhaka,to Arabian sea nazar aaya ,
Yeh gehrayi aur behta pani fir mujhse kuch kehta nazar aaya…

“The flowing water says to be energetic , suggesting to keep moving without thinking about any results”

Mujhe yeh vichar kuch atpata(confusing) khabar aaya,
Kyu main chalta rahu bina kisi result chasing just my saya…
Pal bhar mein he mujhe ek taapu(island) nazar aaya,
Usse takrata paani saari confusion dhoondli karaaya...

“The island says it all….once you move with energy and focus the destination would sooner or later follow”

Thoda aura age bada to upar baadlo ka sehra nazar aaya,
Yeh chamakti hui dhoop ban gayi Ghana saaya…
Yeh sochte soche jagjit singh ka wo gana yaad aaya,
Zindagi dhoop kabhi Ghana saaya……:):)


“ The cloud says us to be patient, there would be ups and downs both sunny and funny days …

Chalte chalte waqt guzra aur main destination ke karreb aaya…
In boring air hostess ki wazay se mera likhne ka shauk fir ubhar aaya
Khair yeh Mumbai to delhi ki yatra mujhse kafi kuch keh gayi,
Kuch in shabdo se aapko aur kuch apne man ko he bayaan kar paaya…..

Final Destination

Final Destination ……

Rohan was getting late.. It was only 30 minutes left and he had to cover an entire span of 11kms to reach to Final Destination. It had nothing to do with his aim in life or some kind of dream but he was going to watch the latest Hollywood flick “Final destination 4" whom he awaited from the time he saw a previous part of the same movie.

"Those of you who are phynique about numbers would say 11kms in 30 minutes ... Easy job done...but then try driving the same in Delhi rains and you’ll shatter your overconfidence pretty soon...."

Excited about the plan, Rohan drove fast his new car Hyundai i 10 which he recently took on his own. As with every one of us, that first car is somehow emotionally attached and so it was the case with him. He had already jumped two of the signals at full throttle and was about to jump the third, when suddenly......

He had to change over foot position, from the full throttle at the accelerator the foot moved to the brakes with double the energy he had.... The energy paid off he was able to stop the car at time, though a young boy had already fallen on the road....

"Hey you bastard , cant you see " yelled rohan moving out of the car..

" Sorry Sir " came a weak voice from the other side ....

Unbothered about the boy, rohan just gazed off to his car bumper all worried .It was a look as if he had bumped his car into a truck rather than into a boy....After entire clinical research which made him sure that nothing has happened to his beautiful car it was time to turn around...

Turning around he saw a young lad, probably 14-15 yrs neatly dressed in school uniform with a tie and a big school bag. The guy was collecting his stuff from the ground when again Rohan spoke :

“You should see your steps, you nearly killed yourself just now”

“Sir i was watching my steps, it was a signal for me to move rather than you, and it was you who nearly killed me ..."

He didn’t expected a reply like that, but then thinking of the destination he was getting late he decided to avoid and move on...As he drove 50 meters ahead a thought stopped him .. It was his conscience which reverted him to ask at least if that guy is all right or not...

Rohan parked his car and went back... as he moved towards him some thing unusual striked ....

He saw the same guy standing up at the same crossing talking to car owners one by one ..Confused he covered some more distance to see what is he engaged with....He saw the same young lad selling pencils at the traffic signal....He was shocked to see the determination of the boy who crimpled from one car to another asking the owner to buy a whole bunch of pencils from him .

"why is he doing so " Rohan thought ?

Is it for some drugs , rohan asked to himself ...But soon seeing the determination and the pain in the eyes of the boy this thought of his washed away......

Rohan moved back to his car , but didn’t had the energy to roll the keys.....The thought which troubled him was not that a kid is street selling (obviously in a country of 1 billion street selling has become a big industry and we have seen kids selling things at each nook and corner ) but it was the strong character of the boy and the questions posed by him . He sat there for another 20-25 minutes watching the same lad moving from one car to other requesting cars to buy stuff from him... The tears rolled out of rohan eyes as if the pain of that young boy is flowing down his cheeks....He thought of helping him with some money but then decided against it for not hurting the determination of the boy...

Later, He went to the boy and said:

“Sorry” and bought 2 pencils for himself....

While driving back the shadow of that young lad empowered Rohan . There was so much to learn from the boy, will power, calmness & keeping all the pain under cover. Also present are some of the never ending questions:

"Why is there so much disparity?”

“How can we help and spread some smiles to people around us”

Neither does rohan had answers to his thoughts nor do i writing this. We all are still living in ignorance of our self centric happiness..... T

oday Rohan possesses more than 30 odd pencils which he bought time and again from him..Whenever rohan feels shaky he moves to the same lad and buy those pencils which serves as a energy pill making him more determined. Till today Rohan didn’t had courage to ask the pain this boy possess for the fear of feeling guilty of not being able to help him adequately.. But what he knows is a young lad named “Sarthak” fighting all alone against the storms...He calls him Rock which brings a small smile to both ….Sarthak has now become an integral part of Rohan’s prayers to give this boy all the strengths to reach to his Final destination …..



"If the misery of the poor be caused not by the laws of nature, but by our institutions, great is our sin." – Charles Darwin…..

And we should look forward to do a bit to overcome these sins :) :) :) :) .....

"Someone"

"Someone"

Life is a lonely path ,
where everyone of us ran so fast.
Amidst this race, you need someone who cares,
one who holds us close in their thoughts and prayers.

Everybody search for someone,
one who is like none other,
someone to hold you tight
who gives you a feeling that everything is allright.

Someone i can walk to
Someone I can talk to
Someone I can trust
When everything of mine rust.

The one who laughs when i am a clown ,
but the same cry when i drown .
someone who picks you when you fall,
but the same pushes you hard when you crawl.

Someone who listens
At any time of the day.
Someone who brightens ,
Any thing that’s gray.

The one who always wants to be my friend ,
but the same fights for me until the bitter end.
Someone to hold you when you're weak
Someone to make you feel complete

Someone who wil save me,
When everything goes wrong.
Someone who will comfort me,
And help me to be strong.

The one who knows the real me ,
but the same drives to the better me.
Someone who will always be,
Just like I want to be..


Actually we dont live for the wordly fame ,
neither we require a great acclaim.
But we live to know that someone cares
Someone who wil always remain true-
Someone who is my best friend.
Someone just like u.......


" Happy Friendship Day "


..............................Nits................................

Devil has Arrived !!

DEVIL has Arrived !!!!!!!!!!!!! 20th June ,9.30 am

Yes , The Devil has arrived. On June 20, 2009 at the midnight stroke the devil has creeped into the city that seldom sleeps. Putting an end to all speculations and billion of rupees “ Satta” ,Devil Monsoon has arrived today in Mumbai with a bang.

Arrival of the first showers, announced by dance of the peacock, the birds begin their songs. The smells of the damp soils roam the air, and the Earth turns to a modest green. Monsoon rain always gives you nostalgic feeling, taking you back to child hood times when you rushed out just to get the feel of that first drop. Rains are the best thing which work as a mood switcher , however stressed you are it washes away those worries and tensions and brings to you a little spark.

The silence before rainstorms give a feeling of excitement, and the immeasurable peace following them leave a feeling of satisfaction and contentment, as though a great pressure had been released.

But , People who knows Mumbai would understand why I choosed the word “ Devil” for this sweet and unarming phenomena of nature . Rains are completely embibed into the mumbaikar culture and brings with it a new flavour to this city . Obviously there is joy of rains but along with also comes a fear of what might paralyses the city .

I used the phrase “ it embibes into Mumbai culture” because henceforth inspite of whether it pours or not the day would start with the thought of rain and end with the same thought. Umbrellas would now become an essential part of daily routine and you cant imagine moving yourself without this 2 feet creature. As any other city , water logging and transport problems are complementary gifts with the entire package . The world has already seen the pictures what rains brings with it to Mumbai. E mails have already started started jamming your inbox telling you when not to move out of your homes and when to move out early from offices.

Personally the 2 M’s , Myself and Monsoon entered the city last year at the same time . Though I have always been in love with rains but somehow I hated it last year after my initial days in Mumbai . As I wrote before :

“Rains and travel are the two things I am worried about the most in Mumbai. Both are so unpredictable that for first you always have to carry an umbrella and for second you always have to keep extra time at your stake. The funniest part is even after taking care of both the things you might end up struggling with both.”

As everybody I sincerely hope that rains this year should portray itself as that sweet and unarming phenomena coloring Mumbai in green and bringing the best of the valleys rather than exhibiting the power ( floods and high tides) which it showed 2 years back .Everyone salutes the mumbaikars spirit but none of us would like to check that again .
As I conclude the rain have started again though with a much little bash….

“ Ghode jaisi chal , Hatthi jaise dum” Plays in the background

PS : Humans have sought to be in such perfect tune with Nature that their own heart is consumed with its beauty, moods, and expressions. However when there is a trade off between them the ego of both hurts each other . For all these floods , late monsoon it is us who are responsible. It is us who should take a pledge and do our little bit to save environment .
For more , you can visit :

http://www.simplygreens.com/green-tips.html

………………………………nits………………………………