Travel Diaries: Of People, Peaks and Play

“Kahaan hai saale? Bus choot jaayegi! Late ho raha hai toh tickets mail kar de, main chala jaaunga!” he said… How? Just how is this guy my friend for the last 17 years??! Thankfully, I made it just in time after a long hard day at office. The rendezvous point was Majnu ka tila in Delhi (I wonder what the story behind that name is)! Our destination was a small town called Dharamsala in the northern part of Himachal Pradesh, known for housing The Dalai Lama, and of course, hyped to have the most beautiful cricket stadium in the World! It was 1^st October 2015 and we were on a long weekend trip to watch the T20 International between India and South Africa the next evening. There was no time to exchange pleasantries as I arrived at our bus stop and frankly, after a lifetime of knowing each other, there wasn’t a need for it! “You’ve grown old man” he taunted as I took an avomine to survive the 12 hour journey up the Himalayas.

Direction signs to the T20 International venue had made their appearance some 50 kms before Dharamsala. The roads narrowed almost uncomfortably as we entered the town. The bus dropped us at a junction and moved ahead to Mcleodganj. There was no sign of any public transport which got me thinking about a trek up the 5 kms route to the hotel. Just then we spotted a yellow number plate Maruti Alto moving towards us. It was carrying a match official and refused to take us. I requested him to return after dropping the official to the stadium, being well aware that he wouldn’t! After all there would be 100s of others between the stadium and us who would kill for his services. I looked at my friend’s expression which said to me “Don’t even think of asking me to walk it up”. Not having another option, we decided to stand our ground in hope that at least one free taxi would stop by.

We stood there for the next 15 mins without any luck. The sun rays were soothing in the 15 odd degree temperature. Just then, our Maruti Alto taxi guy showed up! Why would he leave all the other potential customers and come to fetch us? What if we had already taken another taxi and gone? The smile on his face and the sweetness of his greeting answered my questions. We were in Himachal Pradesh! The people here are as sweet as the apples they grow. GPS and Google maps had failed us, but this little taxi guy hadn’t! Used to being looted when touring a new place, it was a pleasant surprise when he charged us a very reasonable sounding fare for the drive to our hotel, The Origin. Brings me to the most important point of this article – The experience of a tourist is defined not so much by the scenic landscapes, architectural marvels or adventurous sports, but by the manner in which he is treated by the locals! The assurance that you will not be harmed or cheated gives you the confidence to explore the area that much more. Your satisfaction at the end of a tour depends on how well you have traveled and how well you have spent your time and money on your travel.

Take for instance the hotel that we booked. This was 1 day of the year when all hotels in Dharamsala would be a complete sell out! This town of 20,000 population was hosting 24,000 people for the match! But the hotels did not hike their rates. Not very business minded you would think but very tourist friendly! The Manager at the hotel was another example of the pleasant nature of people from this part of the country. An early check-in and a delayed check-out was acceptable even at this rush hour. Our small but cozy rooms were readied in a jiffy and we were served with some delicious food, again at standard rates. He had 8 guests at his hotel without a vehicle and he owned 1 small car which would drop us to and pick us from the stadium. After many failed permutations and combinations from his side, he asked us to figure out how the pick-up and drop would work ourselves. Not very sharp but very sweet, I thought to myself. All sorted by the afternoon, we were to share the cab with a guy who worked for Google and his elder brother. They hailed from Delhi and seemed like smart chaps… (Duh! He worked for Google!!!) The simple arrangement was that the 4 of us would be dropped first and while returning, another family of 4 would be picked first and us later.

We entered the stadium about 3 hours before the start of play thanks to the not so long queue in our segment of seating. A thick cloud cover hid our view of the Himalayas but the atmosphere inside the stadium was electric! The arrival of every player saw the sound levels rise a few decibels. The largest of the cheers were reserved for Virat Kohli and AB De Villiers! Just then, the clouds moved out and exposed the greater Himalayas to our sight… Oh what a sight it was!

The match itself, was a thriller to say the least! We saw it all… A Rohit Sharma Century, a Kohli cameo, A Dhoni six off the last ball, a De Villiers cameo, a Duminy class, flying sixes, energetic run-outs, great spells, constructed innings and a close finish! It was a complete match which had it all (with the exception of Dale Steyn may be)! As we got out, finding our Google guy was a challenge thanks to the jammed phone networks! There were 25,000 people trying to access those limited towers and no one succeeded! The traffic made it all the more difficult and it was 1 AM by the time we got back to the hotel. Quite early as we walked up about a kilometer to meet our cabby so as to avoid the traffic. The long queue of cars however, waited patiently till the traffic was cleared by the residents. Another quality of the localities worth appreciation. Back at the hotel, the cook had stayed up to make some delicious hot food for us.

The next morning, we set out on a half day sightseeing tour of Mcleodganj. This trip was arranged with the cabby from last night, again for a reasonable sounding rate. The crowd who had come for the match would be leaving and we would be driving uphill, against the traffic. Anyone who has an experience of the roads in the Himalayas would know that this isn’t as easy as it sounds! Hence, it was crucial that we got there very early in the morning to avoid the traffic, and so we did. The Bhagsunag waterfall looked fresh and lively! The icy cold water re-energized the body after the short but tiring trek to the fall. Breakfast was served on the way back. The parathas and the hot tea felt all the more delicious to a tired, cold body!

Re-fueled, our next stop was the local market. This market was quite typical of any tourist hill station. The shops sold similar stuff - different varieties of winter wear and hand-made jewelry. The striking feature of this market was that it was completely set up and run by Tibetans. This place is the biggest refuge for Tibetans in India and that was clearly seen!

A short stroll took us to the Dalai Lama temple where we saw a huge gathering of monks! I asked one of them what the matter was and she cutely replied “Dalai Lama Ji aa rahe hain” (I didn’t know there were female monks!) Were we lucky or what! People do not get to meet him after years of waiting and here we were, ready to welcome him home after his trip to Canada. We quickly joined the gathering and waited patiently for his arrival. After a good 1 hour wait, he finally arrived with a fan following which could rival a Shahrukh Khan in Mumbai! With closed eyes and folded hands, all the monks welcomed their spiritual leader, their God! And my friend, who claims to be a photographer and owns a DSLR, did not even manage to get a picture of him! :-P

We came back to our waiting cabby who was ready to take us to our last 2 sightseeing spots, stopping every now and then to allow us to get a good shot of the Himalayas. Expected him to be quite irritated by now, but he surprised us yet again saying “Bhaiya yahi toh Memories hoti hain aapki”. The surprises from his side didn’t stop at that. He went on to tell us how he spent an year in this state called “Goa” trying to figure out there language called “Konkani”. This was soon after my friend had just said something to me in Konkani fully confident that no one other than me would understand! Luckily for us, our disbelief was resonated in him when we told him that both of us hail from Goa! The drive back to Dharamsala just got more enjoyable as we had some Konkani lessons to offer to our new friend!

Soon, the trip ended and we hopped onto the bus to Pathankot to catch our connecting train to Delhi. The Himalayas have it all! Breathtaking scenes, amazing weather, meandering rivers, beautiful people (if you know what I mean ;-))! We both considered setting up a small business and settling in here, forever… The pristine weather, the freshness of the air, the innocence of the people were all holding us back… The Great Himalayas never disappoint! Lost, I was in my thoughts as the phone rang. It was my boss and I had a problem to solve in office the next day…

A Game of Chess

It was a warm early morning of October. The year was 2003. I set out to play my first tournament of Chess in high school. My opponent was a scholar, the topper of the batch! And here I was, a rookie in the world of chess. Or so he thought. 3^rd move of the game, I delivered the knock-out punch, I took his queen! The expression on his face told the story. It was of utter disbelief! He was using the “Scholar’s Mate” move on me. He was supposed to win the game in the next move! How the hell did this happen? His expression slowly changed to surrender and in another 45 mins, I had won the game. This experience gave me my first major learning in chess and in life alike…

Having sat through multiple sessions on “Strategy” during my B-School days, I was always intrigued by the fabulous moves played by businesses around the world. Acquisitions, advertising, promotions, product launches, so on and so forth always threw multiple lessons in business strategy to be amazed by. One question remained unanswered – It’s okay for us to retrospectively analyze the moves but when these businesses are actually into these situations, how do they come up with these masterstrokes?

Some claim it is experience accumulated over the years. Some say it is having ‘expert analysts’ on their side which works. Some claim it is ‘compare and contrast’ with other businesses that have been there and done that. But if all that had to be true, wouldn’t it be applicable to both sides of the table? Wouldn’t both competing businesses have access to the same information and have services of equally smart analysts? How then, would one side ever emerge victorious?

Having spent some time in the corporate world, I see a different side to this hype of “business strategy”. Can we consider it like playing a game of chess? And the business moves we make, inspired by the moves in chess? Let’s dig further in to this. Each company has different business units called verticals. Each of these units has different capabilities, different set of objectives. Each of them competes with a similar business unit of another company. Just like the pieces on a chess board. However individualistic, these pieces are working towards a common purpose – To get the opposition king, to achieve the overall company goal.

The game of chess has numerous teachings to offer which can be applied to a business scenario. For one, chess is a game where you keep your cards close to your heart. Play one move at a time without giving the opponent a hint of your larger game plan. Else, you could get drawn in and beaten at your own game! Think of TATA Steel’s acquisition of Corus where TATA went head on for it and a silent Brazilian firm CSN played smart and made TATA Steel pay so much more than it would have otherwise paid.

How often in a game of chess that we sacrifice a pawn for a queen. Or rather use a piece to serve a larger purpose in the game. Then think of what P&G did by introducing Luvs Diaper in the market. To serve the larger purpose in a fight between Pampers and Huggies, Luvs was “sacrificed”. On the other hand, when P&G was to make an entry into the market with Oral B, Colgate flooded the market and occupied all available rack space. Just like sometimes, how we position our pieces to occupy strategic squares on a chess board, not to attack the opponent but just to restrict their movement.

The importance of the king is well emphasized in Chess, just like it needs to be in business. If your king falls, the empire, however large, will collapse! (Ramalinga Raju and Satyam?) In chess, the pieces fight while the king does not come into the fray until the very end when the knock-out punch needs to be delivered. He is protected from all sides and exposed just when needed to check-mate the opposition. Just like business, where your highest authority will not be exposed until the very end, so that the power associated with the highest authority does not get diluted. Think of the letter written by Sachin Bansal to buyers after the Big Billion Day disaster. Would it have gotten the respect that it did had Sachin Bansal been exposed too much before? Think of how major companies associate their brand name only with certain products at a certain stage. Protection of the ultimate power center you would think?

There is so much more in a game of chess that can be related to businesses. Think of giving the opposition a “check”, a threat with an intention to make them play a certain move which they were not willing to. Then think of Google’s move of acquiring Motorola to threaten Samsung thus getting the desired usage restrictions on Android. Think of a head-on battle between the queens in chess. Reminds you of Sprite vs Dew or even the current e-commerce scenario in India? A good player of chess can always think 3 moves ahead of his opponent and then the opponent just follows terms dictated by the leader. Think of Apple and its products? A weaker player sometimes plays the slow game waiting for the opponent to make a mistake and then pounce on them. Like years ago when No. 2 Pepsi pounced on market leader Coca-Cola after they changed their formulation and it went wrong (“They changed my coke” campaign). The game plan in chess needs to evolve with time. You cannot always win a game with a plan you started with. Think of Kodak and Nokia who failed to evolve their game plan. A game of chess always gives you an opportunity to make a come-back if you play the right moves. Think of how Cadbury roped in Mr. Amitabh Bachchan to endorse it after the insects’ disaster.

Today, we see how a new Fogg deodorant beat heavyweights like Axe to become the market leader. Or how a Patanjali group by Baba Ramdev is threatening the likes of HUL, ITC and P&G in India! Or how a small brand like Micromax has captured market share like no one imagined. This brings me to the most important learning from a game of chess that any business can take. A lesson my opponent, the scholar, learnt on that October 2003 morning in high school. Never underestimate your opposition, else 1 wrong move, can be the game-ender for you! Brings me to this intriguing thought that may be, just may be businesses look at strategy like playing chess. Simulation of your business situation on a chess board might just give you the right move that you need to make to emerge victorious!