Serendipity!
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| HMT Watches Company Showroom, Jhandewalan Extension, Delhi |
I was well sure of it that the durable ‘Amchi Indian’ HMT watches were a thing of the past. And then this serendipity happened. It was a chance discovery of this company showroom of HMT watches at Jhandewalan Extension. It is housed in a small shop of a DDA shopping complex named ‘Anarkali Market’. I could not snap the interiors of the shop as it was closing time 5 PM and shutters were down. Later on, I came to know this shop opens daily with jolly mood timing 10-5.
On googling, contrary to my thoughts, I found good stuff on the Internet about HMT watches. One of it was about India Post tie-up with HMT to sell its watches at post offices. In the pilot stage, five Kolkata post offices have been chosen. But most of the articles were about how this ‘timekeepers of the nation’ brand lost its way; how it could not see that coming days were of ‘Quartz’ watches. Instead it kept of making mechanical watches. And the Titan wave that started in 1987 swept it away easily. Business acumen of HMT management looks in opening outlets like this shop at a place that is basically a B2B market place with limited B2C activity and almost nil residential population.
But take it easy policy attitude prevails in Indian administration like its polity. Many ailing PSUs are surviving so let there be one more. Yes, they have contributed to the body of knowledge; plethora of knowledge on ‘what to do’ and ‘what not to do’ to kill your brand and at the same time how to maintain the healthy flow of salaries and perks.
Bravo! It also happens in India
But, for the time being, I am forced to walk the ‘showroom’ once again to take a feel of its interiors and to look inside the minds of those who come here dutifully 10-5. That will tell much about another story on the business acumen of the bosses – the revival thing in Babu style.
©/IPR: Santosh Chaubey - http://severallyalone.blogspot.com/
