Anecdotes & memories of a sales guy

  On the morning of May 21,2021 Krishnapatnam, the small port town of Andhra Pradesh, was in flash news. Thousands of people, including a few critically ill COVID-19 patients waiting in ambulances, were lined up, eagerly awaiting the distribution of a herbal/ayurvedic “cure” for COVID-19 that Anandaiah has been dishing out for nearly a month. Medical validation of his “miracle cure” was awaited by the regulatory authorities. The crowd was not observing the mandatory physical distancing, threatening to become another super-spreader event. Medical practitioners and rationalists view him as just another fly by night individual catering to a section of gullible public. But to literally thousands of people, Anandaiah has become a miracle man whose concoctions of herbs and spices protect them from the dreaded corona virus and cure them of the disease. This is the biggest health problem facing independent India. No modern doctor can guarantee a hundred percent cure for Covid-19. When a d...

  What changes from liquid state to solid state at a high temperature? USA: science does not support it. France: absurd question. UK: even Google doesn't have an answer. Japan: we do not know. Russian: no such thing exists. Indian: it is idly. One such message was doing rounds in WhatsApp chats and it recently landed in my message box also. Reading it brought a smile on my face. Suddenly it triggered a curious thought in my mind. Idly is one of our light foods. It is an exclusive food occupying a special place. Irrespective of claims made by any other regional groups, Idly is a gift given to the world by the Telugus (as documented by Sri Mokkapati Narasimha Sastry garu in his most famous book, Barrister Parvateesam) Regardless of where it came from, the idli has inspired many variants over the centuries. From the huge, plate-size thatte idlis, to ‘mini’ or button idlis, and Goan sannas (jaggery sweetened or plain), Mangalorean khotigge and mudde idlis steamed in leaves, this versa...

From being a tender-foot Scout in 1960, I graduated to be a First Class Scout in 1962. I qualified for the President's Scout rank in 63. I had chance to attend Scout camps at Khajipet(near Cuddapah) and Brahmamgari Matam.  The Khajipet camp was opp. the travellers' bungalow . I remember that there were some participants from Chennur who regaled all campers with their Balanagamma playlet during the campfire in the night. I can recollect a bird nest being used as a head gear in the play. It was my first time to see an intricately woven natural bird nest. 2 flint stones (chekumuki rallu) were used to light campfire. Tracking & Observation was practiced with a Treasure hunt in the forests around the camp.  Brahmamgari Matam camp was bigger one with more campers. The camp was conducted a few kilometres away from the village itself in the forest region. We had to dig snake pit around each tent to prevent snakes entering the tents. Tests for various proficiency badges were condu...

  Disclaimer: Expressed or implied views/opinions are strictly mine and may not conform with reader's views. Ingredients. CARBONATED WATER, HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, CARAMEL COLOR, PHOSPHORIC ACID, NATURAL FLAVORS, CAFFEINE. Regular consumption of these ingredients in the high quantities you find in Coke can lead to higher blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, and obesity. Suffering from an indigestible mass trapped in the digestive system, also known as a gastric phytobezoar? Drink some Coke. The soft drink has been shown to effectively treat the condition. Coke is slightly acidic, so over time it’ll break down organic substances, like teeth and flies. However, the myth that Coke’s ingredients are so corrosive that it can dissolve a tooth or housefly overnight is nothing but an urban legend. Avoiding a Coke will help you have fewer cravings for junk food. Drinking less Coca - Cola, you’ll be consuming less sugar and caffeine. You will sleep better and will have a more balanced ...

  ప్రతి ప్రొఫెషనల్ లో ఎదో ఒక ప్రజ్ఞ ఉండు కానీ సేల్స్ ప్రొఫెషనల్ లో ప్రజ్ఞలు మెండు ప్రొఫెషనల్స్ నందు సేల్స్ ప్రొఫెషనల్స్ వేరయా విశ్వదాభిరామ వినురవేమ. Every Professional will have a talent But a Sales Professional has many talents Amongst all Sales Professional is different Viswadabhirama listen my dear Vema! Not always talent or skill ensures success, certainly not in sales profession. Sometimes, one has to be tactful to succeed. There was a Doctor who was running a small nursing home in Ongole. He was generally friendly with medical representatives. One big source of information about changes in medical field in those days (in early 70's) was Pharmaceutical companies, particularly for doctors practicing in smaller towns.  There is a class of products called anabolic steroids used in convalescing patients with chronic ailments. These products also were used by sports persons for performance enhancement. Most of these were derived from male hormones. All of them exhibited varyin...

  There are many creatures in the world that suck human blood, such as mosquitoes and leeches. There was one more class of crawling insects about 4 decades ago called bedbugs (or Khatmal in Hindi) scientifically called Cimex rotundatus. The history of bedbugs, the diminutive bloodsuckers dates back to ancient Egypt. That's right — bedbugs have been a household pest issue for more than 3,300 years!  Bedbugs are not new to our generation of 60-70 years olds. We can easily recollect many sleepless nights because of them. Bother from bed bugs in those days was like the present mosquito trouble. It is no exaggeration to say that homes without bedbugs did not exist in those days! Luckily the current generation have not seen them. That is why we don't hear hear anyone say "he is a blood sucker like a bedbug" these days. Almost certainly we carried home bedbugs with us if went to watch films in a movie theatre or travelled by train or bus or visited hotels or lodges for sta...

Konaseema Vantillu hoarding as a picture appeared in our WhatsApp message box one monsoon day while it was raining cats & dogs . It was accompanied by a small suggestion for members to plan a meet at that location (unlimited servings of items of our choice @Rs 120 for a person) That was a mouth watering proposal. As there was no response from anyone regarding time & date for visiting that place, I was disappointed..   Reacting to that rainy evening's urge to eat something hot and spicy.... my finger tips started to dance on the key board bringing out into the open my inner feelings turning them into words: Meet plan for buffet not in place Disappointment writ large on my face With Mirchi Bajji the only option open  wife agrees to make them at home Stuffed Chilli with a coat of besan  Skillfully slides dancing into frying pan Swirling in the oil to golden brown hues That aroma blows away your mind's fuse With each bite you feel flying into skies But spicy tas...

  I was a Medical Representative. We meet doctors to generate prescriptions for our products. Every company has medicines in many disease areas. Hence when we meet the doctor, we discuss only medicines as per specialisation of the doctors we meet. Generally we limit our presentation to 4-5 products during each visit since we have limited time available.  In 1980s my company (Ciba-Geigy) introduced a pain killer drug called Voveran, an anti inflammatory. The product (called Voltaren in other countries) was a big seller world-wide. As per the company strategy the product was to be promoted only to Orthopedicians initially for some months (although the product has uses in most other therapeutic segments also) I visited a lady doctor (general practitioner with predominant maternity care practice) in Nidadavolu, a town in West Godavari District. I discussed with her a few of our products of interest to her. She was a great supporter of our products. However, Voveran was not introdu...

  In July 1986, I got my promotion as a frontline manager in CIBA. I was called by Regional Business Manager, Mr.K.B.Sarma  to the Regional Office in Bangalore for a job familiarisation training. Record keeping and administrative works to be handled in my new responsibilty were the subjects to learn while I was in Bangalore. My trainer for this was Mr.K.B.Sarma himself. I attended the office training for about 2 weeks. The field staff based in Bangalore (i.e Medical Representatives) used to drop in at the Regional Office quite now and then, particularly those who were in the vicinity of the office in connection with their field work. On one of such occasions, Mr.S.Venkateswaran, our Medical Representative in Bangalore dropped in at the office. Finding me there, he greeted me saying "Hello Mr Betal, how are you?" Ramanand Sagar's Vikram aur Betal was a very popular TV serial that was telecast during 1985-86 period. Since I had just got my promotion as a frontline manager, ...

  I have been using an Elliptical Exercise bike to do my daily exercise for keeping myself physically fit. The machine has served me for over 10 years albeit with periodic servicing by the maker's service personnel as also by my own small attempts at good upkeep of the gadget. I told my wife that we needed to replace it with a new one. I started to look for the replacement. Search for it began in right earnest, in online stores like Amazon, Flipkart, Snapdeal etc. Surprisingly, when I opened any of those online apps, I didn't have to search for elliptical bike, as even without my effort, the page opened displaying info on it. My Facebook page also displayed ads of excerbikes. I noticed that Google Chrome, YouTube, Facebook or almost any other site opened always displayed info (or Ads) just about anything I conversed with anyone in the vicinity of my mobile. The smartphone seemed to read your mind and tailor made responses appeared on it,  the next time you opened it! In a mobi...

  Today I saw a Face Book post which said "Changing Times or Changes in Governments don't change prices of agricultural products." Probably it was a cry from a farmer expressing his despair at prices of his produce not going up like other consumer products in the market place over years. Farmer was right in saying that the prices of agricultural products didn't increase much over the years. But he didn't realise that another commodity price also remained without much increase over the years. To the consternation of a housewife, it was her dear OLD NEWS PAPERS. The good old stuff always added to her secret treasure box (the spice storing jar called పోపుల డబ్బా) in the Indian kitchen. Old Paper buyer's sleight of hand with the weighing balance added to her woes... She has been suffering this double whammy for too long. Like flip through the good old family photo album, Old News Paper reading is a good pass time for the Oldies. You get an opportunity to reminisce...

  I was travelling by an APSRTC Bus one late evening (around 7pm) from Akividu to Eluru in West Godavari district after completing my day's work (I was working as a Medical Representative then) The road was bumpy and in very bad shape. Half full bus was moving slowly but the driver could not prevent the bus from swinging sideways due to uneven road surface. This road runs along the border of the beautiful kolleru lake (intercontinental migratory birds make annual visit here) Suddenly a jack fruit rolled down from the overhead luggage rack and fell on a passenger sitting on the seat there under hurting him, albeit not very seriously luckily. His loud cry brought the bus to a sudden halt. He then asked to know who owned the fruit and had so carelessly kept the same on the overhead rack . None dared to own the fruit which provoked the man to lose his cool. He started to use choice abuses for the next 3-4 minutes. Still no one said anything. Slowly the bus conductor apologetically said...

   My father was subscribing to The Hindu news paper ever since I can remember. My first attempt at reading news papers probably started in early 60s when I attempted reading satirist Art Buchwald column which used to be humour based. My father's lawyer friend Sri B.C.Sarma kindled my interest in that weekly column.   Buchwald's piece on "Retirement being Twice as Much Husband on Half as Much Money" is one article that I remember best. Jack Fingleton's cricket column was another attraction. Know Your English is a regular feature in The Hindu which helps in polishing one's English writing and speaking abilities. As for the news appearing in it, I have never found it presenting the latest happenings in its columns. The paper never dares to take any stand on govt policies, programs, politicians or public activity. It makes always bland neutral observations. You always hear elders advising yougsters to bolster their English by reading The Hindu regularly as if ...

  A friend of mine was curious to know if I was a front or back bencher in my school. And he also wanted my views on front/back benchers. I am sharing my response to him with you all. I have been a front bencher in the school. The two varieties of students who generally occupy front benches are  1. those that are studious 2. short statured persons Bright and intelligent students do not necessarily occupy any specific bench rows. I also notice that the front benchers are those who are "byhearting" (కంఠస్థం పట్టే) variety. They like to raise their hands everytime a question is asked "who can answer this?" - half the time to please the teachers and at other times to satisfy their yearn for recognition from class fellows. It's my view that most of the front  benchers suffer from this impresso-mania. My front bench preference was more due to my height. My analysis is borne out by the fact that not all front benchers succeed in getting into premium colleges or course...

  Sarma: I joined as a medical representative in a Multi National Corporate pharma giant, CIBA in 1972. I was just 21 years old. My first posting was in Guntur. About 50-60 pharma companies had their med reps based in Guntur. A few of those had two or more(upto 4) reps based in Guntur, our company too had two. My colleague was 5 years senior to me and was married with 2 children while I had come out of college just a few months before. I was obviously a bachelor. My colleague's name is Sarma. Apart from being colleagues, we vibed well with each other and maintained very cordial relationship. Being a bachelor, I was frequently invited by Sarma for lunch at his home. Mrs.Sarma had an extraordinary culinary talent. Anything she touched turned into very tasty foods. She had a habit of noting the food preferences and the likes of guests visiting them. She always prepared menu based on her knowledge about the guest's likes and dislikes. But she was baffled with me since I was unpredi...

  Guntur is a unique place - it boasts of an Arundelpet (Arundel Castle is a castle in Arundel, West Sussex, England), a Brodipet (Brodie is a surname of Scottish origin, and a location in Moray, Scotland,) and a unique Jinnah Tower (named after the founder of Pakistan) There is an overbridge across the railway track that runs through busy localities of the town. On one side of the overbridge are residential localities and on the other side are shopping and business areas. I used to live in Brodipet and for my work I had to go across the railway overbridge everyday to go to Govt.General Hospital where I used to meet Doctors as a part of my work as a medical representative. For about a year after my taking up the job in May 1972, I did not own any vehicle. Necessarily, I had to hire cycle rickshaws for my movements. Coming from Proddatur, with only horse-drawn jutkas for intra town movements, I hadn't travelled by rickshaws till then (rickshaws made their appearance in Proddatur lo...

  There are so many varieties of fruits that everyone wants to eat in summer, especially fruits with high water content. Among them Water Melon, Musk Melon are important. These two fruits cool the body and provide relief from summer heat. These are the fruits that are available to everyone at low price. Musk melon is a fruit of the genus Cucumis. Its scientific name is Cucumis melo. Per 100 grams, melons provide Vitamin A and Vitamin-C and 34 calories. The outer skin of the musk melon is thick and rough. But inside everything is soft. In some varieties the outer skin is also thinner. They emit an odor when ripe, the kind of wonderful aroma associated with Musk deer. Hence they are called muskmelon. During the summer, muskmelons are grown in dry sandy river beds. Siddhavatam in Kadapa district is very famous for these fruits. The taste of the fruit is unique and very sweet. The pulp is light orange in color and tastes good providing low calorie sweetness. After drying, the seeds are...

  I went to Guntur in May 1972 to join as a Medical Representative in a Swiss Pharma Company, CIBA. There was already a person working in Guntur as a Medical Representative for my Company. He was 5 years senior to me in the company. The job of a medical representative is very different from the usual office jobs you are familiar with. Ours is a field job. We meet doctors (on an average 10 of them per day) in the area assigned to us (in our Company, in the 70s, it was 1 or 2 districts) and promote our brands of medicines. Those days, we didn't have any fixed hours of work but we generally were working in 2 sessions in a day (morning session between 9am - 2pm & evening session between 5pm - 8pm) We usually work independently and our boss joined us in our work for 3-4 days in a month. During such visits, he assessed our work and also helped in improving it by way of giving on the job training. Our boss was stationed in Hyderabad.  I had finished my college studies and in ...

  When I went to Guntur in 1972, Sankar Vilas, Anand Bhavan, Balaram hotel, Mysore Cafe and Swagath Hotel (all these in Arundelpet or Brodipet area) Central cafe and Hotel Sudarshan near Jinnah Tower were the most prominent eateries. Since I was a bachelor till 1979, I was frequenting these joints regularly. Sankar Vilas had 4 independent units, each unique in its own way - one serving only snacks and tiffins, second one serving only meals, third one for Special meals and the fourth one being an AC restaurant (called Uday Sankar) which catered to the upper class of the society. Kotha Avakaya (New mango pickle) was served as soon as mango season started. One could buy a cheruku rasalu (squeeze & eat variety mango) or a banginapally (cut & eat variety) from the cash counter in any meals hotel. For no extra charge you could get it cut into pieces for eating with your meal. Pesarattu is a very popular dosa variety. Either at Sankar Vilas or in Mysore Cafe you could order for ta...

  What is a pancha baksha paramannam (పంచభక్ష పరమాన్నము)?  Let us first understand that we eat 5 varieties of foods. They are: 1. Bhaksham - what you Bite and eat (vada, purnam filled bonda, sweetened pan cake etc) 2. Bhojyam - what you chew and eat (lemon rice, curd rice etc) 3. Choshyam - what you suck while eating (kheer, rasam, dappalam (Andhra sambar) 4. Lehyam - what you lick to eat ( honey, icecream etc) 5. Paaniyam - what you drink (water, fruit juice, panakam etc) The above forwarded message appeared in our WhatsApp group some days ago. Another friend responded as follows: Welcome. The post has offered a full course festive meal on a platter since it talked of Pancha Baksha Paramannam. I hope every one can send posts with our varied experiences and opinions on how and when we had the best of Pancha Baksha Paramannam (పంచభక్షపరమాన్నము) This WhatsApp message triggered a pleasant recollection of memories connected with Bobbattu, a Bhaksham. Puran poli/ Holige/ Obbattu/ ...

Retirement Day is a unique occasion in one's life more so if that person happens to be MNRao, my colleague in CIBA. We were both frontline sales managers based in Hyderabad since my promotion to that rank in 1986. MNRao was quite co-operative to me as a colleague since I moved to Hyderabad in 1986 on my promotion. We got along very well with each other which is a rarity among equal ranked employees in field sales jobs. MNRao is a very lively person sporting always a smile on his face.  Sometime during December 1989, I started to notice that something was worrying him and the trade mark smile on his face was missing. Upon my repeated prodding during our meetings, he disclosed that he had received a communication from the HRD department of our company informing that he was due for retirement from service six months from then on 31St May 1990. He said that as per his S.S.L.C record, his actual retirement date should be one year hence on 31.5.1991. I suggested to him to take a photo c...

  I studied in Municipal High School, Proddatur. The school was privilaged to have Saraswathiputra (meaning, Son of the Godess of Learning) Sri Puttaparthi Narayana charyulu (సరస్వతిపుత్ర శ్రీ పుట్టపర్తి నారాయణాచార్యులు గారు) as a teacher in the past. I was in my 9th class in 1963-64. The current generation of youngsters will not understand what an Annual School Inspection means. Those days, schools were inspected every year by inspectors sent by the District Education Officer. The school gets generally about a week's advance notice about the imminent process. Then, there will be a feverish activity on the part of both students and the teaching staff to get ready for the inspection (event). Everyone wants to earn a good name for the school. An Inspector could walk into any on-going class as a part of conducting Inspection. The selection of class room was done randomly by the Inspector himself with an element of sudden surprise attached to it. He would assess the ability of the ...

  The state government is planning to make Andhra Pradesh a beggar-free state. AP ranks third in the country in having the most number of beggars, after West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh. But then, like in any class or group of people, there are good and bad beggars. Have you not noticed that beggars have their territories which they claim as their kingdoms and don't permit any intrusion by outsiders (other beggars) You will notice that some prime points for begging are bus stops/ stands. It is here that we find beggars to be useful to us. Now imagine what would have happened to our good friend, Geigy Ramakrishna if it weren't for these beggars. He had a habit of dozing off (light sleep and not slumber) while travelling by bus. He and I had almost identical working territory (Guntur City and Prakasam District) So quite now and then our outstation work used to coincide. So on one of such days of coincidence, we were planning to work at an outstation (Kandukur) travelling by bus from...

  I remember my aksharabhyas (initiation of education) at home in Proddatur with all pomp in 1956 when I was 5 years old. This ritual is very common in Hindu families of Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. The ceremony is performed by the Maternal Uncle (Mother's brother)/ Father/ Paternal Uncle (Father's brother) along with the family keeping the child in his lap holding the child's right-hand forefinger and make the child write the OM. In my case, my father held my hand, while I sat in his lap, and made me write 'OM' while our family purohit, Sri Kistaachar chanted the mantras. OM symbol is treated as a Beejaakshar (Beeja in Sanskrit means the origin) Sannayi melam (nadaswaram combined with dhol) was hired to play at a function that was going on in our opposite house complex on that same day. A distant relative of ours also living in that complex, thought of utilising the services of mangala vayidyakars to be a part of a small procession in which I ...