New Zealand: Travelling Tips for an Indian

New Zealand was on our Bucket List for long but we finally did the 17 day fantastic trip this month. We knew what we wanted to do and where all we wanted to go but the itinerary had the flexibility to extend or reduce a day here and there. As always, we planned everything on our own, no Travel and Tour companies. I will dedicate this blog on the tips of travelling to New Zealand, especially for an Indian. My second blog will cover highlights (destinations) of the trip.

NZ $ was 50-52 INR when we traveled. $ is NZ$ and adjusted whenever compared.

Malls, Lavish Hotels and Shopping? Skip NZ: If you are one of those who loves going to Dubai, for example, for its big malls and modern architecture, then NZ may disappoint you. It is a country for nature lovers. Also it’s not for those whose one big item on the vacation agenda is shopping. The country imports most of what it consumes so everything is expensive. (If you indeed have to shop, go to Warehouse, a kind of Wal-Mart of NZ) If you like staying in lavish star hotels, then it’s not the place either. NZ is best seen outside of its big cities such as Christchurch or Auckland and there are no five star extravagant hotels in the countryside. So if forests, seas and natural landscapes don’t excite you, then maybe you don’t have to go.

Plan 2, may be 3 weeks: NZ is a small country but an absolutely beautiful country. If you close your eyes while on road and open after 30 minutes, you will see natural beauty. Close again open after 20 mins, you see beauty again. The country has done a marvelous job of preserving its national parks and surroundings. There is a lot of stuff to do, especially adventure related. Plus if you are travelling from India, you have already spent a lot of time and money reaching there. To make the most of it, a week-10 days is not good enough. Plan 2-3 weeks.

Drive, Drive, Drive: Being a common wealth nation, it has right hand drive so Indians will have no problem on judgement as long as they are following the signs and rules. All passengers wear seat belts – front or rear. Most roads are two-lane only, except when you reach motor way, (New Zealander’s Express Way) but driving speed is 100 kmph, unless otherwise mentioned. Indian DL is accepted. Book in advance, rental car companies block card but do not take the money and cancellations are easy. Read rules. Shop for rental cars wisely – look for deals across Ace, Apex, Jucy, Quality, Economy, RitePrice, Rentadent etc. plus lot of companies that operate only in North or South Island. (Type destination e.g. ‘Auckland to Roturua rental car’ for more names). Take full comprehensive insurance – while it makes the deal expensive it is tension free. Do not take GPS, your phone will do just fine. Choice of cars are not all that great, unlike let’s say in Europe or US. They are expensive as well. (SUV in US for $50 a day (minus insurance), while you will get it for not less than $60-70 in NZ). Petrol is also expensive. $2.2 per litre, US is half of that. In spite of all these costs, I would recommend you to drive. Roads are smooth and beautiful. I am not an auto enthusiast and don’t enjoy driving so much but we did some 2500 kms and it was a pleasure. The country is so scenic you want to stop often for a photo opp. Depending on your itinerary, most drives are less than 4-5 hours from one point to the other after accounting for generous breaks. Most cars will not have USB port. I would recommend that you speak to the rental company before booking as it helps listening to our music while on road. Cars do have CD though. Fill your tank in larger cities as the petrol is cheapest there.

Phone: As soon as you land in NZ, take one of those prepaid cards right from the airport. We took one Vodafone card from duty free at some $37 which gave 120 mins of free outgoing calls (domestic, international, what have you!); 2 GB of download, continuous internet access, 200 SMSs and all incoming free! On the other phone we kept the Vodafone India international roaming. While not as good a deal, kept my Indian number alive in case of some emergency.

Australia visa: In case you are transiting through Australia to reach NZ, you will need an Australian transit visa. It is not very expensive ($20 per person) but it’s an unavoidable hassle.

Season: NZ summers are from December to April. They are the peak travelling season as well. I try avoiding crowd, so shoulder months of Nov and May would be my advice. Plus you get better deals on hotels and activities. But summer is good as well as there are no weather related surprises that may stall your plans, especially if your schedule is tight.

Pay using your Master debit card: Contrary to popular opinion, debit cards give decent good deals. Before leaving we tried taking some NZ $ in cash and the rate we got was in excess of Rs. 53 per NZ$. Same was with prepaid international cards. We got a rate of Rs.50 when we used the ICICI debit card. HDFC was close to 52. Visa debit card was not working for some reason. When swiping your card, chose the credit option and enter your pin. Carry little cash since you can withdraw cash from ATMs there as well.

Stay with locals: My final tip is to stay with locals. In the former part of our trip we used AIRBNB and stayed with locals. They are friendly and their tips are invaluable. (Check https://www.facebook.com/TongariroAdventures who were our hosts. Great couple - very helpful. Strongly recommended if you are in the area). AIRBNB gives lots of options on the kind of privacy you need – separate bathrooms, separate entry exit and even separate houses. While costs of staying in a hotel vs. AIRBNB may be similar, staying with locals gives you a perspective of the country and its culture. The kind of advice they give cannot be found in guide books and Google! Plus many offer kitchen and laundry usage. For singles, there are hostels and rooms on a sharing basis at very cheap prices – say $150 a week.

Food & Drink: NZ does not have a great list of its own cuisine. Its influenced by West. You get burgers, pizzas etc. But there are lots of Thai restaurants that most Indians like. (When ordering Thai, ask them to make it hot). Looking at the price you can figure the quantity. If a dish is priced around $20-25, then you can order an extra helping of rice/bread and that would be good for two people. There are a lot of Indian restaurants as well, especially in cities. Once in a while you feel like eating typical homemade Indian meal and many places offer microwave and cooking facilities. Carry company sealed MTR, Paramapara, Haldiram snacks and Basmati rice and declare when you enter. Don’t carry meat, fruits, soil, leaves etc,. Drink NZ wine. You can get a good one for $15. You can carry your wine to restaurants and pay for it extra (mostly between $5-10). It still works out cheaper.

Talk money: NZ is an expensive destination. Cycles cost $30-50 for half a day. The bus we took from Auckland Airport to city downtown cost $16 per person. A box of Pringles may cost $4.5 to 6.5 depending on where you shop. A back of the envelope calculation for two value conscious people per day would be $120 for stay, $100 for food, $75 for car/petrol, $200 for activities/entry tickets + flight tickets and miscellaneous expenses. Yes, entry tickets are expensive and so are all adventure related activities – you would do something or the other every day and hence a $200 per day budget is decent.

Must dos: There may be lots more, I am only listing from amongst what we did and these are absolute musts. Places to visit: Milford Sound, Queenstown, Lake Taupo. Things to do: Skydive from Glenorchy (most scenic) where Lord of the Rings was shot. Take the Tranzalpine train, forest walks and cycling. Anywhere in NZ is great for walks and cycling. More on these in the second blog on Highlights of the NZ trip.

Sir Martin and Arnab Goswami

It was interesting to hear live Sir Martin Sorrell talk at an event organised by India Chapter of the International Advertising Association (IAA). Audience comprised of many senior people from the agency background but not many noteworthy from the client side. Even Sir Martin on the dais was not impressive enough for healthy client attendance.  While the IAA or any other advertising body members do a fairly good job at selling client products, they are relatively poor at selling their own events.

While Sir Martin is of course a visionary, I was rather impressed by his oratory skills and wit.  He was up against our celebrated journalist Arnab Goswami. While an honest and bold journalist, Arnab has a very predictable sort of technique when in a Q&A session. He will pick on some statement, sometimes insignificant, and will try to corner his guest by constant hammering and extreme interpretations of the statement. However either Sir Martin was well prepared or Arnab was not at his usual best, it soon seemed like a one sided duel where Sir Martin shot each of Arnab’s accusations or interpretations way outside the door, convincingly. Whenever Arnab wanted to make an accusation, he would first not allow him to finish, move on to putting context in place as per what he thought was what he meant and then justify it. Sir Martin had the upper hand of being the guest of honour and Arnab had not done his homework well or may be business was not his genre.

During the audience Q&A however Sam Balsara asked an interesting question on why is WPP focussing so much on Digital in India since it has just 12% penetration; whilst Print and TV are continuing to grow. Sir Martin backed the decision to invest heavily on digital advertising since he expected that to catch up soon. Here is where I have a disconnect.

Spends on Digital have grown substantially and it now contributes 4% of overall media spends (FICCI). While Digital will continue to grow it will be years before it catches on to Print or TV as far as Sir Martin India outlook is concerned. Here is why.

Lets break digital advertising in two broad parts – crowd created content (Social Media mainly) and business created content (News, Entertainment sites and apps etc). Advertising happening on Social Media Platforms will be eventually negotiated directly by the content aggregators such as Facebook, Google etc. These platforms know only too well the perils of having a Group M mediate a deal between the content provider and client. Group Ms of the world will be kept at bay. Also, the biggest clients of such platforms will be people like you and me and not businesses. And the large business houses will get customisation only when dealing directly. 

As far as content creators are concerned such as News and Entertainment sites, few of these sites create original content. Most rely on TV and Print to offer content. Versions of Print and TV find their way on Digital media. This part of Digital therefore is not a creator of content, it is an aggregator and  disseminator of content. If there is no Print and TV, there will be very little salable content on Digital. Being largely free, it will be a challenge for Digital to produce original content and be able to monetize it. If costs on Digital go up, advertisers will start evaluating whether Digital really makes sense which as of now they are not as it is very cheap. This is where market equilibrium will set in and allow for all three to exist. But this equilibrium is nowhere in sight at least for the next 10 years. Sir Martin’s investment may be too premature, therefore.

Digital will grow not doubt, but not at the cost of TV and Print but alongside. 

"Selling" is not the same as "Talking"

My wife and I have spent the past couple of weekends shopping for a car. For most couples this would have been a moment to look forward to but for us it’s far from being impressionable. We would rather be trekking up some hill in this beautiful monsoon rather than going for boring test drives. But first a confession: we are not auto enthusiasts. For us an automobile is just a little more than a machine that takes us from place A to B.

We had Amaze on our mind when we started off. But we also drove Xcent, Duster, Sunny, Etios, City, Mobillio and Verna over two weekends. I agree these brands span at least three segments of cars but this blog is not about what we end up buying. It’s about the experience of buying a car.

So let me start with Honda which was the first showroom we visited. This was the weekend before Mobillio was launched. There were a few customers and a teddy bear kind of cute plump guy was our ‘consultant’. He asked us questions like which car were we driving currently and what was our daily run but did not bother knowing our weekend activities, who will be driving the car or if our budget could be stretched. When we walked out, we informed him that we will be coming to see the Mobillio the following weekend. But he never called back.

Honda was not the exception here. The Hyundai salesman did not asked most of the relevant questions. He seemed more confident though but was not talking specifics of Xcent. When we asked if we could test drive the Verna as well on the Id day, he said that he wasn’t working on that day. He never called back either. Toyota showroom, except the cheerful watchman, was way too somnolent. The salesman had to be woken up from slumber to respond to questions.  

The Duster was true to its name – like a Duster. The seats had stains and felt very unhygienic. The Nissan team when called for a Sunny test drive was most responsive. When they said someone would call back in 10 minutes, someone indeed did. But the car he got was not the one they sell – it was the old version which is now out of production!

Anyways, I was under the impression that these MNCs that have been selling cars for decades now had a code of conduct and some set norms for their salesmen that would be used when people walk in to buy a car. But most were sloppy and missed out on critical information that could be used to sell better or even up-sell. I didn't find the language skills of any salespeople satisfactory. It is fine if one is not fluent in English. As long as you can communicate the features of the car along with its benefits really well, Hindi or even Marathi is fine. May be the companies cannot pay well – in which case they should clearly have a change in policy. Most cars need ‘selling’. There are so many options today that just having a great product may not be enough. You need good salesmanship as well. I am no Joe Girard but here are seven basic rules/questions that should be asked: 

1)       Know thy competition: Which other cars have you test driven so far or are planning to test drive? (No one asked us this question – I am still amazed) Sir Verna is a great car with amazing features but its engine will never last or perform like City’s. So while City does not spend on frills, your money is spent in areas such as engine durability, safety, suspension blah blah. It’s a wife that cooks well, takes great care of your parents and brings up your kids well. Verna is the pretty looking wife who does good salsa and may not be alongside you when you grey.

2)       Know thy usage: What is your daily running and which route do you take? Sir in the route you take, my guestimate is that the car will give you a mileage of xx kmpl. Ask about his office, work, working hours etc.

3)       Know thy user: Who all drive the car? Mam can use the seat height adjuster to increase the height by as much as 50mm. Sir for cars that are driven by drivers, mileage is important.

4)      

Know thy habits, passions: Do you do weekend drives regularly? In which case our boot space is largest in the category – can also fit your child’s bicycle! Are you fond of Music? Classical? Let me play that for you while we drive. (Everyone played FM!!! No music to showcase the music system)

5)       Showcase your product with love and passion: Sir Can I show you the bonnet? Show him the different parts etc so that he is involved. Throw some jargons so that he realises he is buying a better product. (No one showed us the bonnet!!!)

6)       Engage in conversation – small talk. To the child – her name, school, what she likes about this car, if papa takes it which colour will she prefer – show her the colour options. To wife – so madam when do you drive? What is the most important feature for you? General – Is you car kept in open or in a garage? Which car are you driving currently and what is the reason you want to change?

7)       Call back. Ask your client how was the experience. Tell him you want to take him again for a test drive if you were busy that day and were unable to spend time. 

Death of a brand

I admit this sounds forsaken. But let me take you through three arguments that converge to the fact that brand building, in the classical sense, is dead or soon going to be.

1.       Top Brands: Look at the top 100 brands of the world today. (http://www.interbrand.com/en/best-global-brands/2013/top-100-list-view.aspx) Besides technology brands, how many of these brands are less than 10-15 years old? Very few. It will therefore not be incorrect to imply that brands build over time because many people shape it single mindedly over years. Brand building needs serious investments and patience. In fact, many of these brands in the list were brands before the entire science of branding took shape. Why don’t we see new non-technology brands?

2.       CEO Tenure: The average tenure of Fortune 500 CEOs is down and some chief executives last fewer than three years. (http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2013-12-20/news/45378705_1_ceos-management-guru-ram-charan-business-models) (http://faculty.chicagobooth.edu/steven.kaplan/research/km.pdf) They have to give results quick. They are therefore not interested in investments that take a while to give dividends such as brand building. Their entire focus is on profitability. New age CEOs will therefore not care too much on brand building.

3.       Majority stakes are on decline. This means that there are fewer larger companies that are owned by individual or families. Increasingly, majority owners are selling their shares to investors and the later have limited attachment to the brand. They do not care so much about legacy. Most are there to make a quick buck. Hence shareholders patience will be waning in long term investments such as brand building.

If the above trends are largely true, my guess is that less and less time and money will get into brand investment. For example, investments like Coke Studio will become increasingly rare. That will be poignant. 

Five Important “Did you knows” of Air Travel

1. 1.       If you booked from Yatra or Make-my-trip or any third-party kind of sites, and had to cancel your tickets, the airline will charge Rs.1000 per ticket but these sites will charge anywhere between 350-500 additional.
2. 2.       When booking from third party sites, the price of tickets shown initially will match exactly if you go to the airline site but when you are just about to make the payment, the price goes up by Rs.125 per ticket/sector/passenger. These are convenience fees. Many airlines also charge Rs.100-Rs.125 per ticket/sector/passenger if payment is made by credit card. Net banking attracts no fees.
3. 3.       If you have booked a special return fare ticket (irrespective of third party or airline site), it means that once you have taken one part of the journey, many airlines will not allow you to make any modifications/cancellations to the return part. You have to forego the entire fare in case you are unable to travel back on the scheduled date/time. Since the fare difference is hardly a few hundred rupees when doing special return fare as opposed to two separate tickets, it is better to book two separate tickets even if you have an iota of doubt about your return journey.
4. 4.       The cheapest (not the quickest) way to book a ticket is to check prices in  third-party sites and then call the respective airline and book the ticket over phone. Once the agent books your ticket, they send a PNR number on your email and you have 24hrs to make the payment. They keep the reservation on hold for 24 hours and there is no extra charge. If you booked on web instead of phone there is an extra 100-125 per ticket charge.
5. 5.       Finally, many airlines run an unaccompanied minor service wherein they pick your minor from the airport and drop him/her to the destination. They will take care of the luggage, check-in, security, boarding, give minor food and hand the minor over to the person you have instructed after checking for his/her photo ID. The typical charges are Rs.1500 per sector. However, Spice Jet will refund this 1500 in case of cancellations but Go-Air will not. 

Right by Birth

You all must have seen that the son of a doctor, most of the times, ends up being a doctor. The son of an army man ends up joining defence and the son of an accountant has a high chance of ending up being an accountant. However, in all these cases, while the child ends up going in to the same profession as the parent, he or she has to go through the required education  - first to qualify and later years of training to be popular and successful.

However, there are two industries that beat this trend. Politics and Acting. In these two professions, just because your parent or a relative is a politician or an actor gives you a clear chance on the platter to become one yourself. Most popular politicians today are second generation and actors are the first generation. While you may intuitively know this, Manoj from my wife’s office pointed this out. Then I thought it would be nice to document it to understand its intensity.

The acting industry

Amitabh Bachchan – Abhishek ; Anil Kapoor – Sonam  ; Rishi Kapoor – Ranbir ; Shatrughan Sinha – Sonakshi ; Vinod Khanna – Akshaye ; Feroz Khans – Fardin ; Raj Babbar – Arya ; Amjad Khan – Shadaab ; Sashi Kapoor – Sanjana ; Salma Agha – Sasha ; Mithun Chakraborty – Mimoh ; Jackie Shroff – Tiger ; Shakti Kapoor – Shraddha ; Kamal Hasan – Shruti ; Dharmendra – Sunny, Bobby, Esha ; Jeetendra – Tushar ;Rajesh Khanna – Twinkle ; Tanuja – Kajol; Sharmila – Saif/Soha; Mahesh Bhatt – Alia ; Randhir – Kareena/Karishma ; Shabana Azmi – Tabu & Farah (nieces) ; Dev Anand – Shekhar Kapoor (nephew)  - Purab Kohli (nephew of Shekhar Kapoor) ; Smita Patil – Prateek Babbar ; Guru Dutt – Amrita Rao (her grandfather and Guru Dutt were second cousins); Nassir Hussain – Amir Khan (nephew) – Imran Khan (nephew); Anupam Kher – Sikandar Kher ; Mukesh - Neil Nitin Mukesh; Suresh Oberoi – Vivek ; Aparna Sen – Konkana ; And before Rajnikant gets upset and wipes Google out of the world – Soundarya, his daughter.

Then there are those that are related to Producers and Directors: Bonny Kappor – Arjun ; Vashu Bhagnani – Jackie ; David Dhawan – Varun ; Harry Baweja – Harman ; Yash Chopra – Uday ; Gulshan Kumar – Kishen Kumar (I thought I had erased him from my memory)

The political industry with little more detailing

Amit Mitra FM of West Bengal(grandson of Subhash Chandra Bose) ; Padmaja Naidu former Governor of West Bengal (daughter of Sarojini Naidu) ; Abhijit Mukherjee MP West Bengal (son of Pranab Mukherjee, who was himself son of Kamada Kinkar Mukherjee, freedom fighter and member of West Bengal Legislative Council) ; Nandamuri Harikrishna, MP of Andhra Pradesh and Ex Transport Minister(son of NT Rama Rao, former CM of Andhra Pradesh) ; Daggubati Purandareswari, Minister of State, Textiles (Daughter of NTR), Kotla Jayasurya Prakasha Reddy, MP (son of Kotla Vijaya Bhaskara Reddy, former CM of Andhra Pradesh) ; Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, MP (Son of Y.S.Rajashekara Reddy, former CM of Andhra Pradesh); Mrigendra Kumar Singh, Bihar Youth Congress Leader, (son of Dr. Madhurendra Kumar Singh, Member A.I.C.C and Prominent Leader of Bihar Congress who was himself son of Thakur Jugal Kishore Sinha, Member of first Lok-Sabha who was himself son of Sadhu Sharan Singh who was member of Indian National Congress.) Dr. Lakshmi Narayan Singh, Bihar Congress leader(Nikhil Kumar's son in law, who was governor of Nagaland who himself was son of Satyendra Narayan Sinha who was Freedom Fighter and former CM of Bihar, who was himself son of Dr.Anugrah Narayan Sinha, Freedom Fighter and first Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar.

Breathe deeply...

Pooja Mishra Jha, Member of Aam Aadmi Party (daughter of Vijay Kumar Mishra, MLA and Ex MP who himself was son of Lalit Narayan Mishra  Former Railway Minister of India);  Subhash Yadav, Rabri Devi’s brother who herself needs no further introduction. ; Mira Kumar of Congress is daughter of Babu Jagjivan Ram. Dayanidhi Maran, Union Minister (son of Murasoli Maran who was Former Union Minister  and nephew of Karunanidhi who himself was TN’s former CM). Adesh Pratap Singh Kairon a Cabinet minister in Parkash Singh Badal govt. (son of Surinder Singh Kairon MP and grandson of Pratap Singh Kairon former Chief Minister Punjab), Sukhbir Singh Badal, Deputy Chief Minister or Punjab and President of the Shiromani Akali Dal (son of Parkash Singh Badal, Current Chief Minister of Punjab). Mantar Singh Brar, MLA and chief parliamentary secretary, Punjab SAD (Son of Jaswinder S Brar, Ex. Corporate Minister of Punjab: SAD) ; Paramjit Kaur Dhillon, President Municipal Corporation, SAD (Badal) is Daughter of Jaswinder S Brar)

Breathe deeply again...

Sara Abdullah, (married to Sachin Pilot, Member of Parliament is sister of Omar Abdullah, Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, former Union Minister who himself is son of Farooq Abdullah, former CM of J&K who was himself son of Sheikh Abdullah former CM of J&K. Then there are Thakreys, Pawars, Patils and Ranes from Maharashtra ; Yadavs from UP, Scindias and Dangis from MP; Hoodas, Devi Lal, Bhajan Lal and Bansi Lal clans from Haryana; Patnaiks and Sathpathys from Orissa, Gowdas from Karnataka and many in the making.

Wow... looking at the political hierarchies, the acting industry has too much to catch on to!!!

Oops! I did forget to mention the Gandhi dynasty...

Bombay Talkies: Three good stories and a great blouse!

Bombay Talkies is celebrating Bollywood cinema’s centenary. The concept was to get 4 great modern filmmakers together to do 4 short films on this occasion. Here is what I felt.

Let’s start with Dibankur’s film that comes second in order. The story is about a day in the life of a lower middle class Mumbaiite who accidentally gets to play an insignificant role in a typical Bollywood flick. The film scores full points on two fronts – the casting and the execution. Nawazuddin plays his part very convincingly. While Bollywood never overshadows the common man’s story and is always at the back-drop, it re-ignites his desire to become an actor.

The fourth film by Anuraag is closest to the centenary theme. It shows that Bollywood fanatics can go to any extent. The movie has patchy realism but Vijay Kumar Singh, its protagonist, is very convincing for a novice. Especially the scene where he goes to the bodyguard’s house to persuade, plead and eventually convince him to get him an access to arguably the biggest Bollywood star– Amitabh Bachchan. The film showcases an important aspect of Bollywood, its fans. It is also refreshing to see the movie originate from Allahabad underscoring Bollywood’s pan-Indian popularity.

The third story by Zoya has an interesting take on how Bollywood influences us. In this case, a pre-teen boy. The interpretation is uncommon, like in Anuraag’s story, but it’s extremity and oddity make it unique. Like in Dipankar’s film Bollywood is a backdrop, here too Bollywood is the backdrop and the story is stuck to the boy who dreams of becoming a dancer like Katrina.

The fourth story, that I would call, “The great blouse”, is about how financially successful families in metros live unsatisfied lives, the topic here being subdued sexuality and gayism. Why does Rani wear a sexy blouse? Why do the gays finally not end up sleeping together? Why does the intern divulge Rani about her husband’s bisexuality? And most importantly what is this movie doing in Bombay Talkies? What is the Bollywood context? This one is a misfit.

I don’t know whether the directors spoke to each other before hand but the three movies talk about roles Bollywood plays in our lives. Dipankar’s story is about how some of us always wanted to be an actor or a singer but could not make it. Over the years the desire gets smaller and eventually hides itself in some corner of us. Joya’s story is about how Bollywood influences us – in this case the influence is about what one wants to be. Other extensions that we see in our lives are how we dress, wear our hair, speak etc. And Anuraag’s film renders that while all of us are fans of someone or the other from Bollywood, some of us are fanatics and would do whatever is required to get access to our stars.

Finally, it is critical to know what the writer/director wants to call his story. That sets the context or the ambit in which the movie is set. The films should have had a name.