Wednesday, December 7, 2011

NAVNEET BHANDARI

It’s now 3 years since my lovely brother in law left for heavenly abode as God wanted him to be there with him. We might not be able to touch him today, feel him today, see him today, but his memories will always be with us as fresh as if he is with us today.

I had a treasure of pleasant memories of around 18 years. He was very intelligent, sharp, hardworking, affectionate, helping, selfless and very bright person.

From schooling to professional education of law, Navneet always stood the best among the brightest students. His friends Bharat Vyas and Rajkamal always cherish the students days he spent with them and narrate how he used to excel in academics. He never allowed his low eyesight’s to become his weak point to come in his way in reaching top of pyramid.

At the age of 19 years, he went to Mumbai and worked very hard with Mamas to take their business to new strides. Navneet would never mind travelling in Mumbai’s local buses and trains. He would always engage himself in discussion with Mamas in the evening as how to explore new ways to excel in the business. With able training of both the mamas, he chose to do his own business and came to Jodhpur in the year 1986 and started business of electronic goods, cement , water tanks and so on. In later years he shifted to distributorship of Titan watches for western Rajasthan. He won many accolades from his principal every year and always achieved his targets. In return company has also rewarded him appropriately by sponsoring international trips practically every year. As a true son, he in turn gifted his first trip to papa and mummy.

As a father, he was always mindful of upbringing and education his kids Prachi and Gullu (Abhineet). His joy knew no bounds when the news of Gullu’s admission in IIT Delhi broke. That was perhaps the happiest moment of his life. Today he must be taking pride that Prachi is also pursuing management degree from N.M.M, Mumbai, one of the finest management institutions in India.


For papa and mummy, he was a true guiding force. Papa would always discuss with him all issues, ranging from family to business, society, new building, religion, friends, and anyting on this world. And papa would listen to him carefully. Whether it’s morning tea or evening tea, it would always be with Navneet. Howsoever, he might be busy in his business, he would not skip his tea with Papa/mummy. Can any parents ask for more?

Navneet was a very pious person. No businessman would sacrifice his own staff for welfare of theirs. But Navneet was an exception. He sent me his two most trusted staff members to be recruited in my company, so that they can get better career opportunity despite knowing the fact that he would face music after their departure from him. But then he was not a selfish person. He was a true friend of theirs.

On the day of Raksha Bandhan, Navneet would be getting not less than 100 Rakhies. And as a true brother, he would bless each of the sister. In this world of opportunism, all the sisters would look at him as a true mentor.

Sarita bhabhi must be missing him a lot. Navneet had always proved to be a great husband.

In the last 18 years, we had ‘n’ number of holidays together. I have finest memories of Mount Abu, Badrinath, Kedarnath, Rishikesh, Dharm shala, Manali, Kodai kenal, Saputara, Masoorie, Udaipur, Silvasa, Kashmir and so on.

For me he was not only a brother in law, but a great friend. He would take all the pain to understand problem. He would advice, guide and pave the way. Who else, but I miss him the most.


Today I pay my homage to him and pray God we are able to follow some of his ideals.

Saturday, August 20, 2011

FAMILY MEET 2011 AT PUSHKAR

































Family get together a new concept started by my parents’ family way back in 1997. Our first get together was held in Mount Abu. Subsequently we had such Meets at different places such as Ranakpur, Nathdwara (3 times), Bhilwara, Rishikesh and again in Mount Abu.
Cherishing the idea my in laws followed the suit. And afterwards we had wonderful Meets at different locations such as Mussoorie, Silvasa, Jodhpur, Pushkar, Udiapur, Mount Abu, Saputara, and Falna.
Though family member do meet during marriages or at any social functions. But to bring all of them at a single platform is a big task. Besides, during family functions, most of the family members are occupied in discharging their various duties and therefore they hardly get time for spending quality together. Especially female members are always busy in kitchen.
Therefore, the basic idea behind such meetings was to encourage participation of all family members so that the new generation can know about their cousins, grandparents, Mamas, Chachas, buas, Phuphas, Masi, Mausa and so on. Member do come from different parts of the world, therefore they do bring rich experience to share with other family members. Lot of learning takes place. The love, affection, brotherhood and sacrifices are shared. Indeed this is an exercise in building great institution in itself.
Normally such gathering takes places after every two to three years. For us three different families are there, so normally after 18 months or so one such Meet happens.
The responsibility of organising such event is taken by any one unit of the family for next summit on last or concluding day of each Meet. This time the whole programme was oranised by Ganpat Kaka at Pushakar, near Ajmer from 13th to 15th August 2011. The meet was from my wife’s parental side so ideally can be called “Bhandari Family Meet”. We are total 119 members and out of this 95 members (both domestic and NRIs) were present at the venue known as “Ananta Resort”, an excellent property with all the facilities one would dream for an ideal location. The Resort made in the Indonesian Architecture, is in the midst of a green carpeted valley, with water bodies, long walk ways, asthetically landscapped gardens, chirpping birds, gives you a serene and tranquil feeling.
The day one started with tying rakhies by all sisters to their brothers and bhabhis. This one hour programme was followed by Title giving ceremony by Singhvi family from KOTA. THEN THE SERIES OF WHOLE DAY PROGRAMME STARTED. LIGHT HUMOUR SKIT, WHO WOULD BE MY DREAM PARTNER, CHESS, CRICKET, FANCY DRESS, SONGS, DANCES AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST LATE NIGHT GOSSIPING WERE THE ORDER OF THE DAY.
The second day was again full of activities, swimming, morning walk, quiz, debate, Presentation on Virasat, were the programme upto lunch. Evening was meant for grand celebration on the occasion of Golden Jubilee Celebration of Gunpat Kaka. The whole programme was coordinated by Kaushal. It was a show of around 3 hours and almost all family members participated in various programmes like drama, poetry, profile reading and so on. And late evening was followed by disco dance by all and sundries. Some of the events which really will be remembered long time to come are:
1. Mimickery by Manoj : Ashok Gehlot and Justice Bhandari
2. Recipe Book : By Usha Bhandari
3. Interview on TV : Barkha Bhandari with Justice Singhvi and Ashok Bhandari (IPS-Rtd)
4. Who will be my dream partner : Presentation by Preksha, Vabhiv and Palak
5. Mimickery by Shail Kothari : Dadisa
6. Songs : Avi Mehta, Tanaya and Jaisal
7. Dances : Gaurv and Anshi, Prachi, Nandani, Arti
8. Presentation on heredity traits : Virasat by Preksha and Prateek
9. Fancy dress with theme presentation : Arpit (Sunny deol), Beenu (Rakhi Sawant), Smt Vandana Bhandari-Sonia Gandhi, Sh Subhash Bhandari : Manmohan Singh
10. Poetries : Sh Mohan Singhsa, Sh Daulat Singh sa, Sh Gulab Singhsa, Sh Shanta Bhandari
11. Chess : Mr Justice Singhvi

Song skit and Debates were notable programmes (peformed by me and Beenu) appreciated by all. Mohan Bade papa added special flavours to debate.

The third day was 15th August, our independence day. National anthem and patriotic songs rendered by Barkha and Usha didi enthralled the hall. This was followed by prize distribution ceremony. A visit to Pushkar Temples was in our itinerary. The Monsoon showers welcomed us in the town of temples and rose flowers. After visit to temples, the sumptuous Rajasthani meal (dal, bati, churma etc) made our day. And our Meet was concluded with a vote of thanks to Chair - Mrs. Kamla Mohnot.

Everybody is looking for next Meet. Yes….to be organised by Shri Mohan Singh sa who simply jumped to the mike and announced taking the responsibility. Great indeed. Hats off to him.

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Holi___Festival of colours


We anxiously await the Festival of Holi which normally happens either in the month of March or April. These are the months when winter bid good bye and spring and Autumn set in. Scenting atmosphere and blossoming flowers mesmerise this beautiful earth. The crop is ready for harvesting. And therefore, special significance for welcoming new season and enjoying together.

We all come together, forget our difference and play with colours. This is the only festival when you cannot distinguish between and haves and have-nots. All are equals and everybody enjoys.

With this note, I wish everybody a very colourful, cheerful and happy holi.

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

BANGKOK TRIP MARCH 2011























The geographical heart of Southeast Asia, the Kingdom of Thailand is more than a pulsating, vibrant tourist destination – it is one of the biggest economies in the region. Heavily export-oriented, Thailand, or the Land of Smiles as it is popularly known, is recognized for the openness of its economy, and willingness to accept foreign direct investment. The recent agitation by Red Shirt was also successfully thwarted.

Thailand today is the world’s largest rice exporter, the second-largest tungsten producer and third-largest tin producer. Having made significant progress in social and economic development in recent years. The current growth rate is around 8% p.a. Unlike its other neighbours in Southeast Asia such as Laos, Vietnam, or Burma, Thailand was never colonized – and the country’s developing, free-enterprise economy is slowly shifting from agriculture to manufacturing.

Thailand, known as Siam until 1939, has been inhabited for around 5,000 years with the earliest civilization believed to be that of the Mons in central Siam, although the first Siam state is the Theravada Buddhist kingdom of Sukohthai.

The land of Theravada Buddhism has had a long tradition of being one of Asia’s most culturally vibrant countries. With miles of extended coastline, Thailand has some of the world’s best beaches, ancient architecture, friendly people and unique cuisine.

The Thai traditional greeting, the wai, involves pressing the fingers and palms together at chest level while slightly bowing the head. The wai is always returned, and performs the twin functions of greeting and showing respect.

My previous posting was mainly focussed on our site visits to various interesting places of tourists destination. Please do visit.. http://mastpradeep.blogspot.com/2010/09/thailand-trip.html.

This trip was meant to be a business trip. Therefore, we were more interested to know about the retail business in Thailand and Bangkok in particular. A team of 20 Real Estate Managers of Reliance visited Bangkok from 3rd March, 2011 to 6th March, 2011. The extensive tour of retail market was undertaken and atleast 20 big properties consisting of super market, departmental stores, speciality stores and hyper mart were studied and tried to find out the reasons for success of retail business in Bangkok. A few questions were framed in mind and tried to find out the answers.


Why Hyper as a format has been successful in Thailand:

i) Meet local aspiration
ii) Both spouse are working : Easy to shop at one go.
iii) Strategically located
iv) USP : Fresh is actually fresh both Vegetarian and non-Vegetarian
v) Ready to cook and ready to serve
vi) Price points : competitive and affordable
vii) Quality assurance
viii) Quick Service
ix) Food court and impulse buy on GF : Major driver
x) Robust logistics


Normally, the stores are located on wide roads, best competitive places, good demographic profile, futuristic development etc.

Government has been extremely helpful and approval process is not so cumbersome.

Now a days Government has become a little cautious due to traffic problems and is encouraging new stores on highways.

The continous research is integral part of their business. Therefore, they have been able to meet the challenge of competition.

Currently the size of organised retail in India is hardly 5%. With economy growing at a rate of 9%, there is very good future for retail industry in India. There will be tremedous surge in employment in this sector.

We had wonderful experience moving around with all team members. Lot of learning in terms of team building, sacrificing, cost saving, new development came into being.

Let us hope for better India tomorrow.