Unilever's- Knorr Soupy Noodles

As an MBA grad, I could not resist my core purpose of doing MBA i.e. “Research”. I was interested in promoting a product, especially an underdog product. Study what could be best add-on for the product to perform better. Do a sample survey, Go to the market place do a real time wet sampling, take a feed back on the product, make SWOT analysis, Draw my own conclusion after the findings etc.


Now that I was a part of a FMCG company, every time I went to the market I got a mixed reaction from the outlets regarding “Knorr Soupy Noodles”.

I took up a Research Project for myself. I wanted understand why there isn’t a significant off take for Knorr Soupy Noodles.

One of my stockiest from Ponda (Kirti Agencies) Mr. Yogesh Prabhudesai had a different point of view, from the beginning he was apprehensive about Knorr Soupy Noodles. So we planned to do a study of this product. Nothing of this study would be assumption. It real would be a real time study of this product. We would be on field doing wet sampling, Getting feedback, Understanding the need of the consumer etc.

Mr Yogesh Prabhudesai was ready to sponsor the whole study with me contributing a small part to it.

We thought to do wet sampling in two parts.

1- At a market which is close to a School & college but it would not be a prominent city like any other one in Goa.

2- At a nursery school where a kids are too innocent to make a bias feedback.

All the materials (Banners, Disposable plates etc) need for the survey was ready (Courtesy RS)

The Research Problem

• Are people aware of Knorr soupy noodles?

• Do people like the taste of soupy noodles?

• How do people perceive soupy noodles?

• Is soupy noodles easily available?

After the study we have drawn some findings which is explained in brief in the PPT made by us.

The best thing about the whole research was the acceptance of the product from the Nursery kids was encouraging. Every one enjoyed the Noodles. There was a change in the way they perceived Soupy Noodles before the sampling. We also saw considerable growth for sale for Soupy Noodles after the study. Doing sampling is one of the effective ways of marketing.

The Tomato flavour was more accepted among the varients.

Unsafe Planet for Girl- India

India! Our country that has so much to boast about, it’s Culture, Tradition & Respect for women.

As far as my thought goes, this country has distinct from the most others for its High Regards & Respect shown to women. In the Hindu mythology a Girl child is a manifestation of " Goddess Laxmi'; Means Goddess of Wealth, Prosperity, Fortune & Hopes.

We are proud of all these facts. However the question to be asked is, is this fact still prevails? The answer is a Big NO! And, I’m ashamed to say this.

I may have Million reasons to be a proud Indian, but the irony is I also have million reasons not be so. The era of a safe India, the culture, tradition is gone or maybe it is diminishing in high pace.

Couple of days back a 17year old girl was molested by a mob of more than 40 people in a capital city of Guwahati. It was a horrifying incident. I video went viral on YouTube, Media etc. I was watching the footage in a News channel and i could not gather the courage to watch the entire video. This is so unfortunate. This is just one of the Incidents. The count of such incidents is rising, some know and some unknown. Rape, Eve teasing, Sexual harassment etc is multiplying every day.

Now a day, for parents to send their children to School is also unsafe. It is unsafe everywhere be it your own house, school, college, temple, cinema, market social gathering etc.

It is very hard to even imagine the future of this girl from Guwahati.

What is the root cause of these incidents?

· Most importantly it is the mentality! The way an Unknown Girl is perceived in our county. There is no open minded culture. (My apologies to say this) A girl passing by is looked just as a sexual material.

· Illiteracy is rampant. Such incident happens where there is lack of education.

· The vast gap of discrimination between girl & boy. Boy is considered superior which is so untrue.

· The very dirty political system of our county which is damaging the every aspect of the social functioning.

· The law and order system is pathetic. There is very little trust left in the minds of public for police.

· Any one comes up takes law into his hand in the name of moral policing.

India is a Democratic country but still there is a restriction on what she wears, what she does, where she goes and even whom she can marry etc. One Such example is the

 “Khap Panchayat in India”

 Khap panchayats are prevalent in Haryana, western Uttar Pradesh and Parts of Rajasthan. Love marriages are considered taboo in areas governed by Khap panchayats. Young couples have been killed in the past defying khap rules. The main rule in the khap panchayats is that all boys and girls within a khap are considered siblings.

Khap panchyat imposes its writ through social boycotts and fines and in most cases end up either killing or forcing the victims to commit suicide. All this is done in the name of brotherhood and its honour. It is due to the inherent weakness of democratically elected Panchayati Raj institutions, Khap panchayats have been powerful. Even the government has not done much to control their power.

The entire onus of siblinghood rests on the girl. She is the keeper of village honor. Sometimes rules are bend for the boys but a girl is never allowed to bend the rules.In keeping with the khap rules, older villages try to keep the young people apart. Some schools are also forced to have separate timings for the boys and girls. Fearing their daughters would go astray, many parents marry them off at an early age. People have unquestionable faith in the justice of khap. The question of rights for women does not exist anywhere in the territories ruled by Khap panchayats.

These is this the Rural & Urban Indian of 21^st century.

In this 21st century, Is our country moving in the right direction of humanity? All this fundamental things is keeping us underdeveloped nation. We are known as a third world county and will continue to remain one. It is time to step in and stop being antisocial.

Welcoming My self to Bolg with Open Arms

The last blog was when i was a student and there after i was left out of my college gate to face the world in reality, which diverted my mind and left me nervous to perform well in a populated and highly competitive world called Organization.
Ever since then things have changed on a personal and professional front. I'm left with very little for myself. Work took all the priority and time from me. Felt like Life was becoming more cruel and tough. I was out of all the social networking to stay connected with my concerned ones. Gradually i even left reading the daily, Business news was too far even to consider about. I virtually forgot the jargons. I dont remember the last time i played cricket.  It took out the boy in me and most importantly I have stopped writing.

I'm just missing those days in college, where i could do plenty of things... I feel like a oblivion!

Now I want to break all the shackles.... Like the song from the British rock band Queen, I want to break free...(one of my favourites)

I'm starting to Blog...

I want to share my experience to myself and to the world of reading.
I dont know if i can write, and dont want to know that!
I want to write the crap as possible, I want to write the best i can!
I want the readers to Discard what i write, I want to show me one more way of not writing...!
I dont care if i make little sense in what i write!

I just want to write!

Uncertain world - terrorism

We are living in an uncertain world, there is uncertainty everywhere whether we sleep in Mumbai or Delhi, in Jerusalem, Tehran or Kabul, where most of our people hardly get any time to sleep at all. This bolg is for the same cause be it the 26/11 when Mumbai was attacked, be it Iraq war, be it the terror of Taliban, be it LTTE in Srilanka or any other Islamic group. As a matter of fact there is no hiding place for us. We are all entirely vulnerable.

"It has all started with small relations and went on to become a big war. In this world it is even hard to say if we can trust our own loved relation. Than why are they making it look so difficult?"

Who has made these concepts of caste, religion, race, rich and poor, etc? is it given by god or man made? Do you agree everything made by man are always right? Don’t you think this has been the only few reasons for war?
Like love I don’t know where beauty comes from but I do know when I see it. Beauty mesmerizes me.
Gods great creations contain both good and bad, love and hatred, beauty and loss, suffering and joy,
Beauty can be in man made work or in natural
Lot of hatred we see around is to the manifestation of religious view point, misinterpretation or misrepresentation or just plain misreading or misguidance.

"Religion is driven from a Latin word religare which means unifier."

Let me ask you something to all the readers of this blog. When you appreciate something, may be an art does it see a particular religion. Do you hate something because the source is a hindu or a muslim?
As a matter of fact when I was a child or even today I don’t listen to AR rehman because he is of a islam faith and say wow, it sounds good because he is a muslim. Mind you he too was a hindu before converting. No religion bounds you with contents.
The IPL may not be an art form but it is a platform for different player coming from different countries to play and entertain different sets of people.
Just to give you an example SRK is a muslim and is big star in the hindu dominated nation and that speaks volumes about how easily we accept some things without religion.

"It is all because you and I believe the peace is a cessation of war, the stopping of terrorism & armed conflict between nations."

It is love that you experience when you listen to stories of the saints and believer of satsangs that many of you may be attending.
The god did not sanction wars holy and otherwise. The bible taught us to offer the other cheek if somebody slaps one of yours and not to retaliate.
May be it will not stop all hatred. It will take a long time or maybe destroy us all in trying to do so.

"Let us kill each other because we want to do so but please stop using his name as an excuse. That is not spiritual."

I am a human for me falling in love was spiritual…!

Can you personify - Rain!!!

Just going back to my kinder garden days…

"Rain, rain go away, come again another day, little jony wants to play"…….!

'I use to joyfully sing every time it poured around my small little home back in Goa'

Those were the moments were rain was our friend & also our enemy, as I grew up in my teens, I could visualize something more affectionate about this weather, now its all about two cupids sheltering one umbrella and at the back drop its… "pyaar hua ikrar hua hai… pyaar se phir kyun lagta hai darr…"

After nine long months, the sky has opened. Tears of joy rolling down, warmth will be gone to welcome the coolness around; sun would be playing hide & seek with no co-friends. The weeds will shoot up, painting green all around, flowers blossom to add more colors. Small and big streams competing with each other to breakthrough and make way to the titanic sea. Adding lives in the laps of the flow is the tiny tiny fishes and other creatures playing and farmer's ecstasy of the standing crops. All this fancies is enough to romance your loved one!!! "
Now when I stand at the balcony to see the rain jumping, I feel like breaking all the shackles, with hands wide open, jump into the rain like a free bird to shower the nature. I just wait for a reason to get wet. Evenings, returning from college with the rain giving me her romancing company, just hoping that someone waiting for me at the door would serve at least a cuppa to beat the shivering, but to my misfortune it was just a day dream and I'm in the room absolutely drained and dripping down. All these takes my memory back to those school days where "I come dripping home, Maa shouting at me, running to get a towel to dry me out. Banging the cuppa along with some hot edible stuff on the table, after a quick hog run down to catch up with friends, with a raincoat on and catch fish, make paper boats, play in the flowing gutters, playing football or simply doing nothing to chat on funny thing of our days laughing " I just smile!!!

Now, that the days are different and the childhood has come to a halt, it's all about personifying rain with our loved ones… watching the rain blissfully showering the greenery allover, giggling naughtily at the breeze flowing at our face, looking at dancing flowers along with the butterflies singing around them, the earth dressed like a newly married bride and the rainbow with it's seven colors adding to the wonder, as if the fairy has blessed the creation with her magic stick and time has just come to a standstill, leaving me grabbing the moments to burry it somewhere deep in the heart to treasure it forever…

"pyaar hua ikrar hua hai… pyaar se phir kyun lagta hai darr…"

When You Believe, your Mind finds Ways to Do

It is the nature of the people to have their own sense of believing and reasoning out things and one should undefeatedly take it on their stride, as one of their fundamental rights. It’s when you believe something is impossible; your mind goes to work for you to prove why? But when you really believe something can be done, your mind goes to work for you and helps you to find the ways to do it. Believing has an own power in itself. It can pave the way for creative solution. Think of something special you’ve been wanting to do but felt you couldn’t, make a list of it and begin to work out. We always defeat our desires because we concentrate on “WHY WE CAN’T” instead of focusing our mental concentration on “WHY WE CAN”. Now if you are thinking of something… believe it and start constructively!

The Innovation Workshop at ISBR Bangalore.

Few days back we (ISBR students of SMU) met the inspiring man for the first time Mr. PAVAN SONI. He was here to conduct a workshop on innovation, which is supposedly his hobby & much more. Till this d-day I & most of my other classmate knew the dictionary meaning of it & were far too away form the implementation of this skill or call it a talent. Lots was just said & heard about these subjects (innovation & Mr. pavan soni) in the past. Apparently the environment was exciting. This elusive person & we vibrant & disruptive students that was a perfect combination for making a great Sunday.

It all started with his ever inspiring speech as though he possessed that art in him with a perfect use of diction.
Start, teams were created ironically with unlike people making a team and him candid the attendance with his camera to make sure we follow the same team till the end.
We were made to visit the city & observe how various firms work. Each team was given different segment of industry focusing on hospitals, fast food joint, transport, entertainment & retail industries.
These were the teams asked to observe PROBLEM AREAS, POTENTIAL BLACK SWANS & capture all this into our video camera and summaries the visit.
Also given a challenge to start a business (if sir Pavan Soni were to fund) what would be SO UNIQUE about it here. We had to create modals and demonstrate the worth of he putting money there.
Out of all the five teams made, the team named Creating Escalators (my team) won the appreciation for the best business model with the POTENTIAL idea,
Offering outsourcing services all the city hospitals for managing their fleet of ambulances, which actually reduce the time by half of shifting the patient from his doorstep to the needed hospital & it would reduce the management & maintenance overheads to the hospitals.