Anecdotes & memories of a sales guy

My job in pharmaceutical sales profession exposed me to all the woes associated with a travelling job. The problems were unique. Since I was a bachelor when I started my sales career covering a small geographic territory (Guntur town and Prakasam district of Andhra Pradesh) I had to eat food in small restaurants and eating joints in various small towns which  served food totally different from the hotel in Bangalore. I used to consume generally bland and less spicy but very tasty food at  a hotel (Gayathri Boarding) for the entire duration of my college studies in Bangalore. Food in the coastal region of Andhra Pradesh is usually very spicy. It was tough adjusting to the food since no two consecutive meals were generally cooked by the same chef as the travel meant that I had to be going to different hotels.  Living out of a suit case, necessiated by the travelling sales job, restricts life in many ways. We carry limited dresses while on travel warranting usage of laundry ...

I received an invitation for lunch on the occasion of House Warming celebration from a friend whom I have known for close to four decades. Hundred of times over the past half a century I have received invitations for variety of functions like Weddings, Birthdays, like on this occasion House Warmings etc. In the distant past, many of the invitations were from seniors like my parents' cousins or contemporaries who were performing functions like marriages of their children. A little later the list of most hosts were mainly my friends, contacts in my working life of my age group. In the recent past it's my contemporaries who are celebrating functions associated with their children and grandchildren. Everyone of those invitations makes me remember what my father once told me about gifts at all such occasions. An invitee's first thought revolves around the selection of an appropriate gift - it's cost, if that will match the receiver's status, if it will match gifts from...

It was in 1985 that I purchased a colour TV. I vividly remember making a trip to Hyderabad for a sales meeting in May, 1985. Our Company Distributor was also distributing white goods in Hyderabad City. Since many of the dealers also sold many brands of Televisions, I requested Mr. Ramakrishnan, manager in our distributor's office, to help me to purchase a good TV. Eluru, where I was living at that time was a small town and my options were limited for selecting a good TV. Hyderabad offered more brands and broader options being a big city. In 1980s TV Brands available In India were Teltronix, Dyanora, Salora, Weston, Onida, Bush, Beltek, Nelco, Uptron, Oscar and BPL. Which one to purchase was a question uppermost in my mind. After discussing the matter with Ramakrishnan, I zeroed in on Oscar Color TV (a rectangular conventional model) as my choice. He took me to a big electronic dealer in Secunderabad and got me a good discount in price. I thus became a proud owner of a TV.  Those d...

I was promoted to be a front line manager in CIBA in September 1986 and transferred to Hyderabad from Eluru where I was working as a Medical Representative. I was responsible for sales in Telangana and Rayalaseema regions of the then Andhra Pradesh State.   Technology adoption is a term that refers to the acceptance, integration and use of new technology. Persons who can identify technology trends, can adopt technology earlier than competitors. This will often result in a competitive advantage for one's success. I do not know when your fingers first touched the keyboard of a computer. But my fingers first danced on it in 1990, that too on a computer that I owned ! During and upto the end of 80s, macro level computerisation was happening in big Organizations and Corporates since the cost of computers was very high. But with the initiative taken by Rajiv Gandhi, the cost of these started to fall sharply bringing them into the affordability limits of individuals. In 1990, ET...

  In my relatives circle, I am considered as a fastidious person not given to impulse buying. I generally indulge in a lot of desktop research before any purchase, be it a washing machine or a mobile phone or even a simple door handle. In the days when computers and internet facility were not available, news paper ads, interaction  with previous users regarding their experience, discussions with dealers in the market were fully explored  for arriving at best options. Generally I prefer to try new and untried things, if my research endorses them to be good. In the days when one preferred either Royal Enfield Bullet or Jawa(Yezdi) motor cycle and didn't wish to touch Rajdoot with a barge-pole, I put my hand on it because the company had strated to use Mikuni Carburettor in its bike (considered as leap jump in carburettor technology in the late 70s) Similarly, in 1987 I changed to Kinetic Honda (one of the first gearless two wheelers) when Bajaj (with its flagship brand, Che...

  The lure of the forest, once it enters into the blood stream of a person lasts till the end of his life. The love is so enduring and powerful, that each time he visits the forest, it leaves him invigorated in health and spirit, soothing the tensed nerves giving peace and contentment to the tired, jaded mind, refreshing the entire body and moral fibre of the living being. The embrace of the forest is like the loving patting of a mother. I too was bitten by the bug of desire to be with the nature in the wild as also reading about the explores written by the famous wildlife enthusiasts like Raja Yadvendra Dutt, Jim Corbett, Kenneth Anderson and the like. I give below an excerpt from the book titled Tales of Shikar by Raja Yadvendra Dutt: "Once under a full moon I was walking back to my my house in the forest. The Jungle was full of the sound of night insects and the periodical calls of the night jars when I heard snarls and grunts, as if two animals were fighting. I stopped in my t...

  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...