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.

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.

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.

NEW YEAR BEGINNING 2011

With the fast India becoming part of globalization, most of the urban Indians celebrate the last day of previous year with great fun followed by parties, drinks, dance and so on to welcome the New Year. However, I had different idea this time. I felt these parties are artificial, you have to smile, drink and dance even if you don’t like and you to behave like a pre programmed machine and act in a particular manner.

Hills have always fascinated me. Shimla has been my favourite haunting place. The the long deodar trees, the welcoming pines, green carpeted mountains, diamond glowing glaciers and scenting air always add charms to this lovely city. But above all, what inspires you is the innocence of local habitants, their mannerism, beautiful and lively interaction and optimism towards life and that always have a magnetic effect on my imagination. I wished to go to Shimla, but due to extreme cold weather, we decided to opt for the Valley of Rishikesh.

Along with with Kaku’s family and Raju’s family we made programme of this holy city. Of course, Raju joined us after much persuasion from Kaku. But he will now admit it was worth.

On 30^th December, we headed for Rishikesh from Chandigarh via Nalagarh, Nahan, Ponta Sab and Dehradun. It was raining heavily when we started from Chandigarh and passed through deep forest of Shivalik hills. The beauty of hills was mesmerizing. After having a small break at Ponta Sab, we reached Rishikesh at 2.30 pm. Our hotel, “Ganga Resort” a venture of GNVL is situated on the bank of Holi river Ganga. We checked in and without wasting a single minute, came out to enjoy the serenity of nature. My eye could not believe that a place could be so beautiful. You have direct access to river from the porch of our hotel. Stadium kind of sitting arrangement at the bank of river from Kailash Ghat to Ram jhula has added special significance to this place. So one can spend whole day watching the pure transparent water flowing.

Of all the main river valleys of Garhwal, the Bhagirathi valley is perhaps the most beautiful, for deep glens and forest of deodar, birch, oak, and pine flank the river here. Legend has it that when Ganga descended from heaven to earth, Lord Shiva received her in his matted locks, releasing her slowly, or else the sheer force of the flow would have washed the earth away. Indeed the forest of Garhwal could well represent the locks of Shiva.

Seventy kilometers downstream from Devprayag, at a point where the Ganga meets the Chandrabhaga, stands the holicity Rishikesh built above the very last gorge that the Ganga must negotiate before entering the plains. Rishikesh is a cool, beautiful, restful place, with a kind of benediction in the air. The serene east bank of the Ganga is home to a string of ashrams, centers of Vedic and yogic learning, meditation and herbal medicine. The mighty Lakshman Jhula spans the river, dwarfing the habitation on either side.

Facing our rooms was the deep forest of Himalayas. The small temples from the midst of trees were giving a serene happiness in our mind.

Because of winter, Arti time was about 5 o clock at the Greta Mandir. We crossed Ganga by a boat and reached Geeta Mandir for evening prayers. Lot of Diyas were lit by students and teachers of Parmarth Ashram. The devotional songs and bhajans were all were in the air. And Ma Ganga was flowing in its own current giving blessing to all its children.

Next day was a fogy day. We went for an excursion towards hill side. We tracked for around 1 km, but due to rain had to return from mid way. It was 31^st evening, so Arti had to be very special. I just closed my eyes, listened to the Bhajan and lost myself in the divine mystic of nature. Small speech was also given by one Sadhvi for making new commitment in the new year.

1^st Jan, 2011 was a sunny day, a perfect day for rafting. We started from Shiv Camp for onward journey to Ramjhula, an 18 km journey of 2.5 hours in raft. There were around 5 to 6 places where water was rapid and was taking quick turn and twist and that was the really attraction of raft journey. Kartik, Arpit, Kshitij and Kaku did not lose the opportunity and jumped into the icy water when challenged by the raft master.

The evening was again spent at the bank of Ganga for prayers and this is the place where I enjoyed maximum and got real spiritual pleasure.

On 2^nd jan. we all returned back to our home towns. However only one thought is still in my mind. Sacred and pious Ganges gives lives to millions of people, running through thousands of kilometers at different places. Some people pray it like Goddess, some people throw their garbage in it, but it keep on flowing without any complaint and gives its blessing to all. Can we learn something from Ma Ganga?