Half a day Trip to Chunchi Falls & Sangama

If you are looking for a day off from your regular schedule and looking to enjoy nature, I would suggest Chunchi Falls & Sangama.

Though it is not a place for girls, if you are a group of girls and guys and guys outnumbering girls, it is worth a visit!

We left at 8.15AM on Independence Day. Chunchi falls is approximately 90kms from Bangalore-15kms from Kanakapura. 

It is a lush green State Highway unlike our NH roads. A few small villages which reminds you of your own native places on either sides of the road makes you go nostalgic (if you had enjoyed being in your village).

We reached Chunchi at around 9.50AM. It is basically a rocky place and the river cuts through these rocks.

If you love trekking on rock beds, this is the place for you!

One thing which I did not like was that this place seemed like it was often visited by guys who love to booze in isolated/undisturbed areas. You need to walk with a little extra care to ensure that you do not stamp on broken glass pieces/bottles. 

In between the rocks and on your way down to the falls, you will find a lot of small streams crawling over your feet! It feels like heaven!

It is strongly recommended not to take bath in the falls. But this time since it wasn't raining and the water was considerably less, we decided to have shower in the falls. The falls bed is a little slippery, so be careful. But once you get on to it, you will have the time of your life! Since we reached there a little early, we were the only ones in the falls. But when we were on the way back, there were close to 30 people around.

Chunchi does not have any outlets to sell snacks or even water for that matter. So, please carry what you will need. From Chunchi, we started at 12 PM and went to Sangama.

One annoying incident on the way was that the kids in the villages started stopping the cars and collecting toll on account of Lord Ganesha. This happened 4 times to us-may be this was because we were there on Independence day.

Next we went to Sangama. It is just a river and you can take a "parisal" trip to reach the other bank of the river. There are even buses on the other side of the river which takes you to Mekadattu (this place is similar to Chunchi). Sangama had a good amount of families visiting it and guys on their booze trip. 

The water level when we went was only upto the knees-a good place for people to play in waters. Beyond one point the force of water is a little high, so it is recommended to restrict yourself.

There is a KSTDC restaurant called Mayura which serves you decent food. We had our lunch there and started back to campus.We were back at campus by 3 PM. It was indeed an awesome day.

Are FMCG Companies sucking the blood of Middle-class population in India?

Are FMCG Companies sucking the blood of Middle-class population in India?

I was talking to Prof. Avinash Mulky at IIMB and came to know of this "blood-sucking" by FMCG companies. I then started investigating it myself for almost half a day and found it to be 100% true.

Here is what it actually is!

For ages and ages, all products have been coming in different quantities. "Bigger the quantity per pack lesser is the price." This is done 100% of the time to promote the product and ensure consumption increases. 

For example:if 100g of Product X's price is Rs.10 then the price of 200g of the same Product X's price is expected to be <=Rs.20.

This does not hold good in a very few cases-And the classic example all these years has been Shampoo bottles and Shampoo Sachets. The primary reason for this has been to promote the product in the rural areas and ensure even rural masses get to use shampoos.

I just went on to investigate if it was just a perception or true in all context and found it shocking. 

Brooke Bond Red Label:

100 gms pack : Rs. 25

250 gms pack : Rs. 87

These pictures were clicked at Hypercity, Bangalore. Another noteworthy fact here is that 250gms pack is at the reachable space on the shelves and one needs to invest time in searching for a 100gms pack of the same.

The same was the case with most of the "Premium Tea" brands which includes Tata Tea premium, Tata Tetley and Brooke Bond Red Label Natural care. This wasnt the case in coffee powder brands-not to mention coffee itself is considered to be a premium product when it comes to Tea.

This did not stop with Tea. 

MTR Snacks:

50 gms pack : Rs.10

80 gms pack : Rs. 20

Colgate Max Fresh:

40gms : Rs. 15

80 gms : Rs. 40

The same was the case with Colgate Active salt, Colgate sensitive and all these products are considered to be the "Premium" products in Colgate's tooth paste category.

Arguing the same way as in case of Shampoos and assuming that this price differentiation was done inorder to make the product available to the rural masses. The argument does not hold good logically. This was not the case in Colgate dental cream and close up, products which are actually available in most of the rural mom and pop stores.

When Prof inquired this with the shop-keeper, his obvious answer was that "Consumers generally ask for a bigger pack assuming that it costs them low". Even if there is a price comparison being made, it is usually not being made between different pack sizes of the same size, it is made only between different brands.

A few questions which remain unanswered here are:

1. Why are companies like HUL, Tata and Colgate-Palmolive into this?

2. Do they have an ethical rationale behind this?

3. Are consumer's perceptions being taken for a task?

4. Are these FMCG giants milking rather "blood sucking" Indian Middle-class?

Right now investigating on the lines of Excise duty. Will write to you once its done.

Hope to get an answer sooon!