Brand-Gandhi Erosion

I’ve always considered Gandhi as one of the biggest Indian brand. Nothing derogatory about it trust me; I’m myself an ardent admirer of him. But all that I’ve read of him (and I’ve read good), I’ve known him to be a cunning politician and a damn good strategist. And if I use the same shrewd analysis, he’s (also) an Indian brand.

It’s my love for Gandhi and for the field of Marketing that made me abhor the way ‘Gandhi Mela’ has been organized in Surat. The contrast is sharper when it’s sandwiched between the just concluded ‘Trade Fair’ and fast-approaching ‘Vyapaar’ exhibitions (and all three being put up at the same premises).

The organizers believe Gandhi is all about swadeshi, but they’ve put up completely vernacular and shabby exhibition. He preached autonomy but not low quality. Each of his political and national movements (even Upvaas) was well-thought of and well-timed. (Those who’ve read him would well recall that when he took it up the first time, it’s the mass effect of this tool that appealed him rather than Jesus Christ like I’ll-suffer-for-them philosophy.) Gandhi was (very) modern in his thought process and would have known that packaging and appearance will have to be smart enough to appeal the masses today.

The starkest thing that I noticed was the skew ness of the crowd there. almost the entire exhibition was made of students from government or trust-run schools, elderly and dilapidated people, social workers and government officers of the obscure departments like Khadi Board, Alternate Energy department, etc. where’s the college-going youth, the office-goer, the urban middle-class, the school kid (who has a brighter chance to represent the country and society in the international forum)?

They are missing the target by a long-shot.

Inside of a police station

Inside of a police station looks just like a clerical department of municipal corporation. The furniture, worn out and repainted several times, the indifferent and rouged staff dressed in checked shirts and metal rimmed glasses, calendars here and there, unwashed and discoloured window curta-

Oh well, sorry for the above, I’d wanted to write about something else.

The reason of my visit to the place which I described above. It’s that email I sent to the Surat Municipal Commissioner on 21st January about unorganized parking near the Kotak Bank building on the main road here; also narrating the actual difficulties faced in that narrow but important lane. And yes I had forgotten what else I wrote.

It’s Imran (that’s what he said – no salutation, no designation, no last name, no-thing) on the other end yesterday evening when he told me to please (yes he used that word) come over to the traffic division of the city police and give my ‘nivedan’ so that it can be taken ahead. I was in double mind till the time I got some casual encouragement last night.

But I did take the second step in my mission D O by going there today. They took the complaint, apologized it took long because the in-charge was on leave. They will now tow vehicles from there regularly and each time they do that, will call me. And thanked for getting it to their notice.

He didn’t show any sign of expecting that I’m done with it., and so I’m not. Next mails will go out tomorrow morning about excessive honking and zigzag driving.

If you survived the above paragraphs, please D O yourself. And you’ll be in for a lot of surprises and a little pride.

I’ve always hated soothsayers, of every form. But I’m going to make an attempt at it. As it’s the Chandrayaan team this year that bagged the CNN Indian of the Year award, next year it can very well be National Mission on Education (NMoE). Those who keep a tab of what’s going on in the rest of India would know that today NMoE is unveiling what is fondly termed the $ 10 laptop at Tirupati. The partners to this initiative are IIT and IISc. This will also provide some necessary breather to the critics of these high maintenance institutions.

It’s beyond imagination what such a gadget can do to the scientific, economic and social fabric of the country. Like the cellphone reaching the breast-pocket of every rikshaw-walla, pan-walla and kadiya-mistri; if all goes well, an i-enabled, printer connected laptop will be seen with subzi-walla, doodh-walla and the school-child in every Ramgadh of India. The cell-phones have done its part by providing connectivity and some other important gadgetry like GPS; it’s time to upgrade the tech-pocket of the 100 million Indians to the laptops.

If you’ve started to wonder I didn’t mention education, you sure will agree it requires more attention than the one-liners above. And if this dream comes true, it will get all it deserves in the next few years. The geniuses will come out of villages and hamlets; the lazy teacher will have to pull up his socks and the passionate one will be grinning all the way to school, respiration and condensation will be animated; the gadgets will bring glamour to school followed by students, coupled with mid-day meals (it) will increase school-goers, villages have software dukans and cyber-cafes – the list goes endless. As a ripple effect, some energy source will have to be made available, marketers will find a channel to reach the rural youngsters and upgrade their aspiration levels, who knows what will happen to number of hackers though! :)

This brings back to me what I heard from Dr C K Prahlad in year 2000 at IIM Ahmedabad. He had given a simple example of making ice-cream available to the marginalized and rural kids. No rocket science he said, just control the cost of refrigeration. No high-flying he said, use local burf instead of liquid carbon dioxide. I’m sure Dr Prahlad will also smile today.