Ask and you shall get what you want!

One morning my husband was making coffee and the maid was cleaning the kitchen. He offered her a cup of coffee. My maid shot back, I take coffee only with milk. My husband did not like the rejection his generous offer of black coffee met with. He shot back,” well that’s what I drink”. The maid leaned to see if his coffee was black too, she did not trust him.  My husband drinks only black coffee, the maid had to accept it grudgingly. My husband did not like her demanding when he expected her graciously accept what he generously gave her.

I told my husband, she knows how to survive, and this quality of asking upright what she needs without bothering about the decorum will help her. I was once at the receiving end of her demands. One day there was no fruit Jam and I made her peanut butter sandwich, to which she said she would prefer a Jam sandwich.  I had to eat the peanut butter sandwich myself.

When I was growing up my parents taught us to live within our means. Be happy with whatever you are given; never ask for more, it was construed as being greedy. I hold that lesson to this date. I had to live with whatever money my parents gave, or meet the gap by earning the difference. I could never make myself ask for anything. My husband has a 21 year old niece studying in a hostel. Often she calls up my husband to ask for money, and other luxuries like a cell phone etc.  When the first time she called, I was a little surprised at her ability to ask for money from her uncle. I just thought to myself, this girl will survive, because she knows how to ask. Later when I came to know she was 21, I was aghast that at this age when she should be fending for herself, she was audacious enough to put across her demands for cash and other electronics. I could never do that, I was always taught that it was wrong to ask for things. While my husband did not like the maid demanding, he never saw anything wrong in his nieces’ demands. Blame it on the feudal society we live in where principles are stretched to fit an individual depending on where ones rank in the social circle.

I held to this teaching of my parents even in the corporate world. I could never make myself ask for quantum of cash. All I could say was I think that I am not paid well. Needless to say the “I think” factor was latched on to by my bosses and they convinced me that it is indeed my thinking and not reality and that I was among the best paid J. I could ask for work, to prove my sincerity but could not demand cash for work. I would rue in private about less pay and more work but could never make myself demand what I want in terms of pay. The issue used to get manifold the moment I was asked by bosses what is that I expect in cash terms. I would meekly say whatever is as per the policy. Come on girl, I would say to myself, this is the time to quote a figure!!!! But no, how can I do it, only the greedy ask. In the end I get paid according to policy which is peanuts.

So I am very sure my maid and my niece will do in life, they have the ability to ask without guilt what they need without bothering about decorum or anything that comes close to it.

When taste buds go numb

Last week my mother was doing her monthly clean up and restacks of freezer space. She generally inspects her collection of pickle, chutney pastes, if required transfers them to the lower compartments for daily use. If she finds anything stale she throws it away. This time she found a packet of what she called chutney powder. Now she has the habit of making loads of chutney powder sufficient for a year’s supply and storing them in the deep freezer. This packet was rather small, she opened it, it was not exactly of the same colour, little blurred red/maroon colour. She tasted it and found it tasteless and threw it away and continued with her task.

Next day my brother who was away returned. My mother found my brother desperately looking for something in the deep freezer. On quizzing he said, he is looking for his fish feed. My mother said she cleaned the freezer and did not find any fish feed in there. He said it was small packet with DRY WORMS!!!. It still did not ring a bell..and my mother asked him to describe it. It slowly dawned on my mother that it was exactly that she delightfully devoured the other day!!!.She was in denial for two reasons, she is a pure vegetarian and second, she could not imagine she ate worms. My brother was hopping mad, as the dry worms that he got for his dear fishes are rare and apparently the supply of these worms are once in six months. My mother told him how she confused his worms for chutney powder, tasted it and then threw it.

It was almost a day since she had the worms and till then she had no issues. On learning what she ate, she immediately started vomiting.  She called me to say what happened, I could not control my laughter. I asked her how on earth could you not distinguish chutney powder from worms! She said her taste buds did not alert her. How about your eyes I asked, could you not see worms; she said it looked like shredded coconut! My mother spent that night vomiting every morsel of what she had in her stomach and the poor fishes starved.

FDI in Retail

With the government announcing FDI in retail, views and counter views on the decision has been floating around. Skeptics say it will lead to hundreds of job losses, kill domestic retail. Those in favor of the proposal say farmers will get better pay for their produce; there would less wastage of food and consumers better price.  I am not sure about the facts and figures behind this. In the past few years FDI in retail was disallowed to help domestic brands like Food Bazaar, More, Reliance Fresh to mushroom. I think enough time was given to them to help them strengthen their position.

Having lived abroad I can convincingly say that the Indian retail outlets are offering a substandard service. The quality of vegetables sold in outlets of More, Spencer and Food Bazaar is far from international standards. I often see vegetables and fruits kept without proper refrigeration. The vegetables are not cleaned. Potatoes and ginger carry mud. Quality of vegetables is far from being called good. Also I don’t see any price benefit to the consumer. I prefer buying vegetables from the local vendor, who offers fresh and better quality vegetables at the same price.

The Indian retail outlets have not benefitted the consumers, I am not sure if they have benefitted the farmers. I don’t think they would have. I personally want FDI in retail so that the local players are made to sit up and improve their service. Most of these global chains survive on wafer thin margins, and volumes drive growth. They are able to offer services at cut throat prices through excellent supply chain management. I am sure these giants will cut out the middlemen from the scene.  So the consumers will definitely benefit. Technically speaking the farmers should also benefit and they will get a direct link to the consumer. Farming is a lucrative profession in the western world because of this.  The other benefit will be reduction in food wastages. These giants have deep pockets to invest in cold storage facilities and have effective transportation logistics in place.

Coming to the negative side, critics say it will kill the local Kirana stores and also render middlemen jobless. The fear about Kirana stores is unfounded; they survived all these years and coped well with the influx of Food Bazaars, More etc. The key to the success of Kirana stores lies in their personal touch. They are much localized, present in residential colonies, provide service on call & deliver products at the convenience of your home. Next is the middlemen, they losing their jobs could be true as the service is unnecessary fat in the existing supply chain. This fat can be skimmed. Let’s not forget the jobs that these giants will create in the whole supply chain management space.

I believe this is a good step for the benefit of consumers and farmers.