Boss asked me, ?Can you understand what is going on with the government?in Karnataka??, as?we sat watching TV, which was showing?what looked like advertisements featuring elderly people trying to sell their brand of politics, running between breaks on news about forthcoming films starring butts of either ageing stars or their children. ?Thankfully,? he added, ?the food we serve here is not known as Kannada food, otherwise we would have been in deep trouble?these North Indians don?t even know which state Udipi is in.?
Diwali is round the corner, and if I want a decent bonus, I know how to keep my mouth shut and opinion to myself, especially since one more thing I know?if I want to see young people showing their butts, I don?t have to go to a cinema hall. I just have to make sure that they get the seat without its back to the wall, and when they sit down, it?s more than your effort?s worth. Now you also know why the young boys who walk around to clean the tables hover around the back of your chair so much, with all the young ladies wearing low-slung jeans nowadays.
The issue here is this?politicians are showing less and talking more, while actors are showing more and talking less. Both don?t make sense, frankly, but from a business perspective, it is time to ask them to reverse roles again, and take a lesson from that successful movie, Chak De. It talked less, showed less, and made a lot of money. And that actually is what I think is happening with business in India.
The real money in India is being made by those who continue to talk less and show less. My regular customers from the PR companies will disagree, I am sure, but I see that their expense accounts seem to be shrinking.?Too many of them are coming back to us for?simple filter coffee at Rs 20 a large mug, instead of paying over Rs 100 at the fancy place next door with all sorts of prefixes to their java.
Anyhow, we are not going ahead with Premium Karnataka Bangalore food in our hotel anymore. The product is bigger than the brand, and that applies to everything in India.
