TALE OF RETAIL.....My Experience!!!!

As I suddenly find myself bidding adieu to RETAIL, I feel like dedicating a few lines to this one word which completely enveloped my life in the last two and half years. I come from a small town where people are very fashion forward but retail is mostly unorganised. It was only five years back when I looked at this word seriously. I saw this Notification from NIFT and then read some articles on "Retail Boom" in the Economic Times(can't believe that I used to read that paper word by word....now I can't even risk reading one article). Fashion Week was a big hit and India all of a sudden emerged as Retail hotspot for all kinds of Brands. I too managed my way into NIFT where the daily doses on Retail further strengthened our believe in a career in retail. "India's organised retail was only 3%"....this was the start and end to all discussions on Campus it seemed. All sorts of subjects were introduced- Buying amd Merchandising, Customer Relationship Management and Visual Merchandising to name a few. Initially the names were bouncers for a Commerce Graduate who only new his Accounts and Economics. Infact, these are still bouncers for all of us as we struggle to master these on a daily basis and yet find that the TARGET is mostly beyond us even if it is by Re.1.

After two years at NIFT, I found myself in Big Bazaar as a Management Trainee along with other 41 poor souls. We started our training and suddenly Sundays were no longer holidays. I had to choose Monday as an off. First day's duty was at the Customer Service Desk where you try to convince people with all kinds of funda and return back home with lots of leg pain, a bit of headache and a few new "words" that you learnt from some customer. Gradually, we were taken through all the functions and the departments for "Parikrama". Next monster was the Store Opening and Closing. For openings I had to be there by 6 O'Clock in the morning and follow all the protocols of the process which was exhaustive. The Closing bit was tougher for a bachelor living away from home....No Dinner, Autowallahs charging for flight tickets and dogs awaiting in the Galli. But then I mastered this process and the "Chowkidar" in Pantaloons would endorse that. I settled in and then was unsettled with the dual responsibility of an MT and as well as a VM. From that day onwards "Night Out" meant working all through the night locked from outside and without AC, if I may add. Till that day, "Night Out" would be something on the lines of that popular show being aired on NDTV 24x7 at 11.30 P.M. There was an ocassion when I did night-out as a VM and then continued the next day only to find myself doing Stock-take as an MT. Was too tired to go home and sleep. I just walked into the nearest theatre and slept for 3 hours. Came back to the store...this time as a VM. One fine day, I had a sudden change in profile and found myself in an Office setup. That was the best time that I had in that organisation. But, the honeymoon period was cut short as all the MTs had their final confirmation reviews scheduled after the Exchange Offer. With the end of the Campaign, most of the MTs were unfortunately(or fortunately for them....don't know) were shown the door. MTs are Most Tortured any ways and so no hard feelings. But we had the best reality check possible coming out fresh from College. We learnt a lot more than what was there in the Induction Manual.

Anyways, I was confirmed and asked to join Pantaloons as VM. They knew that any body passing out from NIFT could be either a designer or a visual merchandiser. Spent almost an year there. I was "at home" in Pantaloons, atleast I spent the maximum time there so what if I was not in Pyjamas. Two of my hobbies as a child were photography and travelling and my job as a VM allowed me to do plenty of that but not exactly the way I intended it to be. I was not clicking pics of scenic places nor was I clicking pics of beautiful models... I was capturing in the frame "clothes sans the models". Nevertheless had a nice time with a few of my colleagues and that was what kept me going. By nature, I hate being indoors and I was feeling claustophobic.

A call from Levi's came to my rescue and the opportunity to manage multiple stores without spending nights like a prostitute was a fantastic opportunity. The Brand name and exposure ofcourse were there. I joined the Levi's team as a VM for AP thinking that Change would do good to me and allow me to start thinking again. I must say I enjoyed my time at Levi's irrespective of a few negatives (life otherwise would be so mundane) in terms of execution goof-ups, communication gaps, differing ideas and lack of elbow-room. This was so because of the healthy vibes within the team which was a big motivating factor. Oh I must mention here that my love for travelling was tested to the core here. Would have liked to travel a bit more comfortably but what the heck...seeing new places itself is very refreshing.

However, the journey was cut short and I am done with my stint in Retail. Good and Bad moments, positive and negative environment, achievements and failures, opportunities to learn and opportunities to share, easy and tough customers, a few nice people to work with....that was my tale of Retail.

Before I signoff, I would like to put down 5 general observations that stood out from my experience in Retail. Those would be:

1> The best thing to happen due to Retail Boom is that toilets are available every 5 steps and hence there is a marked decrease in the "wet walls"!!!!

2> Cheap Labour is easily available and Donkeys take home peanuts.

3> If you don't achieve targets, you don't get incentives. If you achieve, you get incentives first and then get punished later on as often the targets are not based on the micro and macro environment but whatever is there in that excel file.

4> VM has gained importance but only decorative importance. Things will improve as soon as people stop fiddling with it. Too many cooks spoils the broth.

5> Customers can't be taken for a ride any longer. "*Conditions Apply" won't apply after a point. There are too many options at the Customer's disposal. "Innovative products that solve problems" and "Benefits with no Riders" are going to be the key drivers. Afterall, Quality and Service are taken for granted now.

Do share your take on Retail based on your experience...Bye!!!

Ground for Transformation....

Yesterday night I just happened to find some CDs which had stored in them the memories from my College days back in Shillong. For a moment I was nostalgic but that is when I realized the impact that those years had in my transformation. I would of course give credit to my School and school teachers for being the initial source of all the values n whatever virtues that are there in me. However, transformation in me happened at St.Edmund's College. Past is just not a bag of memories but often a bag of lost learnings, forgotten achievements and lost inspirations.

If I can recollect correctly, I had applied to this institute for Commerce after my 10th Board and infact ran the risk of going back to my school for Science if I would have been rejected. This was so because this idiot did not apply anywhere else. For once this idiot's hunch paid off and I became an Edmundian. So here I was in the class at 7 AM with a notebook, a bit of sleep in my eyes, a handful of English words to speak and lots of nerve as this was an Institute of Irish Brothers. I had come from a very good school with good learnings but the only issue was that of the 12 years spent there, English was a language only to be written well and not practiced verbally (Don't misunderstand me but both the students and the teachers had a far better interaction levels with Bengali as a medium of instruction as the Vernacular System was still with all of them).However, that was not the only issue that I had. The bigger monster was that four letter word "GIRL"(What where you guys thinking????). I know you can almost visualize an image of a poor chap wishing to speak to all the beautiful girls but not able to because his English and the unfortunate NO GIRLS SYSTEM of his school were proving to be the major roadblocks. Somehow, I made two friends (Arup and Ankur) and we were surviving.

Then came the big occasion...the College Week (rather College Month). Cricket team was formed and I was not there because I was not able to gel with those people. But how could have I stayed away from Cricket then???? One fine day when the team was practicing, I just walked towards the only person I knew quite well in the team and asked him to let me bowl some deliveries. He agreed and the next moment I was in the team. Before you all start repenting that you have missed out on somebody of Akram's pedigree, let me clarify that it was more like "Andhon ki nagri mein Kaana Raja". Right on that pitch, my transformation started. I began hanging out with these guys for lure of more cricket and started making more and more friends. This led to me joining almost every second competition in College Week. I did not care whether I made a fool of myself in front of others but only thing I knew I was having the best time of my life. Infact, I still remember that I had a casual opportunity to coach the Girls' team before their match as well. It’s a different story though that they won the Cup and we Boys' didn't even make the semifinals. A great Coach need not be a Great Player I guess...hehehehe. Dronacharya Awards were not conferred on me that year though. However, what I won was the confidence to converse with people (and most importantly with Girls) and Converse in ENGLISH.

I had a great opportunity to speak in English as a child as well as most of my friends were from Missionary schools but at that point I did not see the importance of all these. My School was a Safe Zone for me but now I pat myself on my back when I think of the two best decisions that I have taken in my life: 1. To join the great institute called ST.Edmund's and 2. To play cricket of course irrespective of the skill levels.

Communication classes, reading, writing, watching English movies (that was one excuse to see some GOOD stuff on screen) and Commentary with TV on Mute were part of the effort on my part but when you don't know the next words being uttered by another person, that is when you improvise. THAT IS WHEN YOU LEARN......

I always felt that I could write well but while speaking I needed time to translate a sentence first but by that time the other person would lose interest in conversing with me. However, after a couple of years in that institute I started being much more vocal in the class. Thanks to Late Conrad Sir for the interactive sessions that he encouraged in the class. All those debates and discussions (which often stretched to the level of ridiculous sparring of words) in the class helped me learn better and made me understand the value of knowledge gathering and sharing. My teachers in NIFT would vouch for the fact that they knew that every time they came to the class, they had to answer at least one of my questions. I was infact quite optimistic this time that the SONY guys would choose me to host KBC 3. But it was not to be. May be this time I will be a Crorepati by answering questions.

Anyways, I would leave you guys rolling on the floor by putting down the first English sentence that I started speaking (infact repeating like a parrot) when I was a child and that was "WHAT IS TELL?"......I have come a long way but yet it feels like as if the journey has just begun!!!!!

NIFT....time for F5, isn't it?????

On my last visit to NIFT, I interacted with the newest Batch of students and they had quite a few questions which I now realise were infact the same ones that we had when we joined this institute. I always admired the infrastructure at NIFT Hyderabad and things have become better now. But my concern is not NIFT Hyderabad but the brand called "NIFT".

NIFT, a decade ago was a big brand name in the apparel industry and it had a kind of aura around it. NIFTians were the most sought after breed of new age professionals in this sector. The irony is dat in the age of extensive media exposure, NIFT has lost some of its sheen for sure. Its true that there is an Act by Parliament which puts NIFT right up there with IITs and IIMs. But the people who matter failed to act on the act. Sadly, it is viewed as a Cashcow for milking more and more money but the Cow is getting weaker. However, not much ground has been lost and I can see some efforts being made to get it to the level where it deserves to be. One area that I would like to address here is that NIFT is the premier institute for Fashion in India(along with NID) and is seen as an Institute at par with IIMs, IITs and AIIMS. But, the ground reality is different. Compare the offers that students of these institutes get in Placements. IIMs and IITs are able to attract fat packages.Somewhere, there is a great disconnect between the industry and our Institute. This is primarily because the NIFT ALUMNI network is not half as good as dat of IIMs and IITs. It is the Alumni which is the Bridge between an Institute and the Industry and if the Bridge is not taken care of then there won't be any long term benefit that the Institute can derive out of educating each and every Alumni. Many students do not get the desired result out of the time spent here and then develop negative vibes about the institute and then those vibes spread across. Agreed that the student is as much responsible for his fate as is the Institute but I guess the time has come to set things in order so that henceforth the students get the best of offers. For this, I am putting forward these 10 points:

1. Regular Alumni Meets and building a wide network so that the good word spreads far and across. Especially, the students of the first 10 batches would be now in positions where they can play a key role in placements and projects. It should not be the case that these students are remembered only when the new students require jobs but they should be invited into councils at each Centre for the betterment of that particular Centre.

2. There should be effort on spreading the awareness about the various courses offered at NIFT as I have seen most people having a notion that anybody who comes out of NIFT is a designer. That is why, the Fashion Management Students have not got that what they expect out of the PG Course.

3. The selection procedure must be much more watertight to ensure that only genuinely interested students join this course.

4. The projects appraisal should leave no scope for mediocrity or dupllicity in the work. There should be a system in place where the Faculty Guide gets a constant feedback from the Organisation where the student is doing his/her project or internship. The scores should that feedback seriously along with the Jury Presentation.

5. There should be strategic tie-ups with organisations so that students can get involved in projects round the year. This would build a relationship which might translate into pre-placement offers. This is very important as often placements suffer the wrath of recession.

6. Consutancy projects should be taken up and the students should be active part of that.

7. For PG Course, the 2-year term should be a rigorous(ofcourse the students would find ways to enjoy) and inculcate the discipline which they can carry into the industry. When the so-called "NIFTIAN ATTITUDE" wd be backed by the DISCIPLINE, everyone else will shut up.

8. There has to be a minimum threshold level in place for the participating organisations.

9. The Coursework should be regularly updated to be in sync with the pace of the industry.

10. WE STUDENTS SHOULD LEAVE NO STONE UNTURNED TO ENCASH THE OPPORTUNITY THAT WE GET BEING PART OF NIFT.

Sincerely, I feel that I should have done somethings better and somethings should have been better.However, we cannot discount the Brand name of "NIFT" that is already there. The idea behind all that I have written is just to put it across to all of you that is about time that we(the Institute, the faculty, Alumni and the Students) work together to take the brand called "NIFT" to a level which would make it the most important 4 alphabets in a Student's CV.

From Bay Leaves to Curry Leaves....my journey

It was sometime in mid-2002 dat I thought of moving to Delhi University going by my result in 12th Standard but I was shocked to note that even the Topper is no where near the Cut-offs required to get into SRCC. Dat was perhaps an indication from the almighty dat "beta tujhe toh mein nichey bhejunga" n here I am in Hyderabad for the last 5 years. What no girl felt....Hyderabad certainly saw something in me and dat is why I never quite managed to move from here despite a million efforts and another million escape plans already in place. You see obsessive love is not good. One person in dat relationship (yours truly dat is) has to suffer a lot den.

This relationship started in 2005 when I landed up at my Uncle's place in Hyderabad exactly 2 days after my Graduation examination. That was a crazy time.....learning sign languages, understanding nod of the head, missing bus stops, getting on the wrong bus, falling from the bus and lots of other misadventures. Thats how love stories start.

Being ambitious, I just had one thing in mind and dat was to get a Management Degree either from the top MBA institutes or from an institute which is the top one in its field. The former didn't materialise and I came out of the examination center feeling raped inspite of my good preparation. Actually, I was let down by my trusted comrade(read as Data Interpretation)...saale ne sahi time pe dokha diya. Anyways, my performance was like dat of our cricket time....jisdin Bat achcha chala...usdin bowling se maar kha gaye. I was not working(as a professional) as my Mom had told me dat she doesn't want me to be on the phone at the dead of the night talking to strangers. So Call Centers was a no-no for me and I was getting calls from only call -centres. Infact had joined an NGO as well but it didn't work out. Teaching was my past time then. At the same time I had applied for Fashion Management program at NIFT as dis institute is known to be the best one in the fashion industry(though I sincerely feel this institute is need of quick revival as decay has set in...will deal with dis aspect in my next post).I left Hyderabad and went to Kolkata.I appeared for NIFT dere and got thru to NIFT, Hyderabad.

I still remember dat I wanted to stay back at home and join NIFT 2-3 days later as I had realised I would miss d World Cup Final. In hindsight, It would have been better if I had missed dat as Matarazzi antics won and football lost dat day.

The First day at NIFT(accompanied by Father and Uncle)....oohh...we were entering thru d Gate and a Girl passes by in 'miniest" mini....My Uncle looked at my Father..My Father looked at me and I turned my head towards the sky(though I wanted to look somewhere else....but your body becomes stiff at such situations). Dad went back(don't know what must have been goin thru his head)....but I don't want to mean dat "main khula saand ban gaya"....I started dividing my time between the Class, the ground and the enclosure where we had the TT Table. For 2 years, my breakfast was either a plate of puri or a pack of Tiger Biscuit. I didn't want to waste time taking out the curry leaves from whatever they served. It used to look like Dosa bhi ek bahana hain...unhe toh curry leaves hi khilana hain. That heavenly smell of Bay leaves is still afresh in my mind and perhaps that is why I am still able to survive here.Lunch used to be a formality.It was the dinner which I used to have to my heart's content at a Bengali joint.My veggie friends used to pull me to a veggie eatery where they served Buffets for Rs.60. I used to dismiss them saying dat I will have "Fish thali" for Rs.45. My friends,if any of you are reading dis, I go to dat eatery for veg buffet everyday and now it costs me Rs.75. Well moving away from food habits and to the next stage of my tryst with Hyderabad.....it was when I was placed with Pantaloons....they told me to join at Bangalore.....I disposed off everything dat I had only to hear at the end of my induction in Bangalore dat I have got the posting in Hyderabad....so I came back to my obsessive lover again...

Half of my relatives mistake me for a fashion designer( at par with our next door tailor). Rest of the relatives and friends who use internet....I just ask them to Google it. I was fed up of explaining to people...even a criminal doesn't have such a hard time in explaing his work. But the Security Guard just simply introduced me to his friend as a "Decorator".....a term so crude for all these years of education. Perhaps, he is right....we tend to complicate life by introducing fancy elements which are so superficial in nature. But to that friend of mine, I am no longer a decorator for now I have got a much broader meaning to my work. To my Father...I just say....I am not into any kind of unlawful activities....Trust me. He is happy with dat and I am happy for he is happy.

Since then it has been almost 2 years with many ups and downs, many twists and turns, many friends made and a few unsavoury experiences. Last month I had my First Dosa in almost 3 years....but waiters wonder why this guy wants tea to be served along with any kind of SI snack. How can I tell them my true feelings??? But thanx to them that I have my Breakfast everyday at least.

I have seen so many people in relationships....I sometimes wonder what would have been life like if I had a Girl in my life who was obsessed with me....nah nah...."love is a virtue...obsessive love is a vice"....but still I would prefer an obsessive lover to a tyrant lover(read as Chennai). So, Hyderabad is ok for me for the time being.Waiting for the God to say dis time "ab toh main tujhe upar bhejunga"....let me clarify dat God is referring to North here.

Optimism....is it what people make it out to be???

Going by the trend of my posts....this is for the month of May I suppose. One glance at the title would perhaps bring about two thoughts in your mind...either the writer is into philosophy or else the desperate blogger couldn't find anything better. But this is one word which I find fascinating and would definitely like to talk about.

Let me set the record straight....I am no optimist but that doesn't mean I am a pessimist. I prefer being realistic. I guess people have created a monster out of that simple word from our grammer texts. From millions of books and audio cassettes to the standardised recruitment criteria(inviting artificial answers), we find optimism everywhere. Optimism is natural to human beings. A person on the verge of execution would ofcourse think about averting the imminent death. That is optimism if you call it so...I just call it wishful thinking. On the other hand, a Company in the red would obviously aim at turning things around. What's so optimistic about that? They have no choice but to rise. Setting a target....is it optimism then??? Setting a target beyond the normal trend but knowing that it is achievable with a bit more of extra effort and having a roadmap for that is reasonable, rest is foolishness. As a retail professional, I have been a witness to many weekly meetings....where the team is given an inflated target and the next week the team is battered for not achieving so.What happens is that, initially the team tries very hard to achieve that figure(you see they are an optimistic lot) but as the day draws to an end they realise the impossibility of the task at hand(now they are a realistic lot).In the next meeting, they have to keep their heads low as their competency levels are questioned(finally they turn into a pessimistic lot).And that last bit remains with them for some weeks to come. 

Why make this unnecessary and self-defeating journey???Why can't we all be "realistic" in our approach and stop exaggerating our so-called optimism.I know people would tell me great things wouldn't have been invented, great places not discovered and great businesses not established if not for "optimism".Was that really optimism that did the trick or was it just a mix of realistic approach,self-belief,honesty and right application of knowledge??? If these all are collectively called optimism then I am fine with it or else the word is redundant.

I know this post lacks structure but I am "optimistic" that you will get what I meant and you will get to live another day with your brain intact but incase you are lost amidst the words, please be "optimistic" about retaining your sanity!!!

Massacred yet again and yet the same old Inaction..

The news of the 75 odd jawans being murdered by the naxalites came as a shock but what's more shocking is the persitent hesitance on the part of the establishment to take strict action against those animals. Time and again our jawans have lost their lives in this battle against the naxalites but their sacrifices have gone waste because of our Government bowing down to the fire power of the Red Brigade. There is a time for political thinking and non-violent measures and then there is a time to bludgeon the enemy with sheer force. I think time has come for the latter.

The days of tolerance are long over and there is nothing to be achieved by mutual talks.Because the fact of the matter is that the Naxalite leaders and endorsers are playing with our establishment through their hypocritical approach.On one hand they are dropping hints of favourable dialogue and at the same time they are striking the vulnerable targets.Infact, Kanu Sanyal had himself developed a distaste for the shape that the Naxalite Movement had taken off late. The cause perhaps might have been noble when it started off but it is has lost all that now and evolved into an ugly unjustified guerilla warfare. Its a common occurence.How often have we seen a noble cause getting distorted into an ugly threat because of manipulations by the Scavengers from the social and political circles.

If LTTE could be uprooted, Naxalites should not be a problem provided there is focussed destruction of Naxalite bastions. It is just the question of will power on the part of the establishment.If once they throw politics out of the window and mobilise all its forces and state machinery, it should not be that hard to gradually breakdown the naxalite forces. An eye for an eye approach is required, otherwise we will lose more of our young men and after a point even the jawans will also become sarcastic towards the so called "war on terror".Before the Naxalites increase their foot-prints and engulf our entire nation, we must crush them once and for all.

For once, the human rights activists should consider the "Right to Live of ordinary citizens and our jawans more than the "Right to Live" of such animals. Its time to make a choice...either Naxalite Movement lives or India lives. Being an Indian, I would vouch for the latter.Let us send a strong message to the Red Terror Force. For now, my deep condolences to the brave soldiers who sacrificed their lives for us.

Mayawati Devi ki Jai.....

As I am thinking of what should be my next post...I feel very confused as I am bombarded with so many interesting pieces of news ranging from Mayawati to IPL. But, I cannot write about IPL unless I dedicate some of my choicest words for Mayawati afterall the games played by her can put any IPL to shame. The Garland Controversy is her latest offering. Can you imagine how cruel is it for a common man to see his contribution being insulted in such a sickening manner?

I have always been against the extravagent adornment of Gods and our temples. I am sure it is not difficult to understand that the best service that one can do to God is by serving the underpriveleged ones. Still, we equate our devotion directly with the amount that we dedicate to such religious extravagence.This is particularly the case with the celebrities who always have been generous to various temple trusts. Hence, it doesn't come as a surprise to see Mayawati being presented with a garland made of Rs.1000 notes. Afterall, she has over the years created a God-like aura of herself in the minds of her followers.It is a case of lunatic fan-following or a shameless display of narcissism, the latter being the most likely answer given her obsession with her statues. 

Please mummify her and dispose her off to Egypt when she would be no more. Atleast, Egyptian tourism would regain its lost glory. I wonder where that garland has finally ended up but I can only hope that Mayawati ko elections main bhi ek badi "haar" miley.And that "haar" will remain with her for a lifetime. But I guess she is not done as yet. "Mayawati ka Maya" itni jaldi khatam nahi hogi.Brace yourselves Guys...next temple in UP on tourism radar is perhaps going to be "Maya Devi Mandir"....really Incredible India.