Bhavna from Prestige University

 Met Bhavna Oza in Pune where she works with a Solar power company. We met in 2023 at Prestige University where she was a student. Also during her Internship (with Silky and Dheeraj, her classmates) in Gurgaon last year, before I left Prestige.

Pune at Phoenix Mall of the Millennium, 2025 Oct 2nd.

Gurgaon meetup at a mall for Chaat. With Silky and Dheeraj, June 5th, 2024. 

Retailing- Malls in Thailand

Retailing is a course I teach at the doctoral level. These observations are born out of a recent visit to Thailand. Malls, in particular.

There is this matter of creating an aesthetic display of whatever you sell. It's called Visual Merchandising in retail lingo, but it's simply the feeling that a customer gets by looking at what you have. We are miles behind Thailand in this aspect. In cleanliness too, though we are improving.

Abundance of brands and choices. For any category, there are lots of options, and stores. This gives a customer satisfaction that he has chosen well, whatever he chooses. In my view, the real thing beats the online thing for sheer visual experience and touch and feel, and ability to try out things instantly.

Attractive add-ons, like eateries, coffee shops and an offer to cook for you inside the store (it was a large grocery store in a mall) are some more value-adds you can think of.

Many categories are completely missing in India. Juices of different kinds, or yogurts of different flavours (I liked the coconut flavoured one).

On a different note, the same food is available on the street as in many high-end restaurants- Thai food, I mean. Indian food is expensive, and so is American food-relatively.

Questions, Questions

If you sit in a mall and mull over something, are you mulling or malling? Extension: If you wear a mulmul ka kurta while doing so, what happens?

Why does a dentist not repair dents?

Why does a carpenter not paint cars?

Why is a hood not required in a brotherhood?

When your relationship runs out of spice, can it be a case of Humdum (Hindi/Urdu) turning humdrum?

Why would a wife want the same husband for the next few lives? (logically, at most one life should suffice)

Who pops the question in a gay marriage?

Is Goli wada pav a 'deadly' brand name?

If someone falls over his shopping cart, is he Flipkarting?

If an idle mind is the Devil's workshop, where are the products from a zillion years of idle men?

An idle mind produces some blogs, too.

Bangkok Diary

Found a surprise on my flight. The boss himself - Mr. Naresh Goyal of Jet airways. Said hello to him and reminded him that he changed the lot of Indian travellers by introducing Jet. He was courteous and said I could call on him anytime.

Visited Assumption University campus which is halfway to Pattaya from Bangkok yesterday. Long drive but well worth the effort. Some 19000 students are on this campus, which is at once majestic and functional. Most of them are doing a BBA< but also engineering, visual arts and so on.

The buildings are huge, and the library building is one of the best I have seen anywhere. Lot of marble is used everywhere. There is a pond and a temple-like structure too, and an innovative glass house which is a cafe. Architects may find it interesting. A huge sports complex adorns the campus too.

The conference kicks off today. Meantime, saw a mall called MBK which is a huge sprawling mass of stores of all kinds. Irresistible for even an occasional shopper like me!