VIZAG matters - Sohan Hatangadi's Blog

Yesterday, on the way back from Lepakshi, in the outskirts of Hindupur in Anantapur District,  Jayshree Hatangadi  and I chanced upon some silk farms. There were large sheds with beds of wooden trays in which the worms were reared for around 3 weeks and fed mulberry leaves. After which they were transferred to another shed where they were harvested. Later they were shifted to the the auction house and sold. The rates for yellow less dense cocoons is between Rs.350 to Rs. 400  per kg. The denser white cocoon is sold between Rs. 500 and Rs. 600 per kg. Then they went through further processing. We were surprised to learn that a single cocoon could yield around one kilometer of filament! They are spun into yarns, dyed in brilliant colours and sold in reels to weaving factories where they produce the gorgeous silk sarees. One weaving unit can produce three sarees a day and the more complicated Jacquard ones take a whole day to produce. The w...

This article appeared in the Times of India, Vizag Edition, 3 April 2016 Landing in trouble There is a renewed purpose in the air, the Andhra Pradesh state government’s mission is clear; this is the time for double digit growth! In order to fuel the growth we need plenty of money. A capital is to be built from scratch; infrastructure is required in every segment, airports, sea ports, power plants, highways and myriad government institutions. Where do we get the money to do all this? Obviously from taxes, we must therefore entice industry and business to bring in the revenue. No wonder then that the first priority of governments is to attract private entrepreneurs, the bigger the better.  The inducements for investing in the state are typically, ease of doing business, educated workers, adequate water, guaranteed power supply, roads, rail, ports and most important of all, the magical ingredient in the business mix …LAND! Plenty of LAND! Have land – want industry Who ow...

October 2014 Branding Vizag In the recent past, there has been quite some talk of branding Vizag. While branding appears to be a straight forward exercise, the fact is that it involves considerable research, strategy, creativity and long-term marketing discipline. Leave it to the professionals The tricky thing about branding is that once it has acquired a set of attributes it becomes difficult to change. For example, would you be comfortable with a soft drink called “Dettol” or a motorbike called “Colgate”?  Brands take years to build and cost a lot of money. In fact, brands constitute a large portion of the value of a company. They are zealously protected and very often the brand is more important than other assets that an organisation may have.  Branding products and services is complicated enough but branding a city is an even more difficult proposition. That is why branding must be handled by professionals with deep understanding and experience of the subject....

Times of India article on Hubbub about hubs Hello, Please click on the link above and read my article titled "The hubbub about hubs" which appeared in the Times of India today, 21 September 2014. Alternatively you can read the text document below. Do comment, I love hearing from you. ---------------------------------------------- The hubbub about hubs Salute the hub “Vizag to become an electronics hub”! Every morning we open our newspapers and our hearts leap with joy to learn that Vizag will soon be a city of yet another hub. The old “city of destiny” tag is out and “the city of hubs” is in. A hub by definition is the central part of a wheel into which the spokes are inserted. Incidentally “hubby” is a term derived from “hub” as he is generally the centre of the home and eminently suitable for piercing with spokes. Apparently any self-respecting city should be a centre, a pivot, a nucleus, a core; something around which everything rotates. A lowly spoke or rim o...

Hi, Please read my article in the Times of India of 6 January 2013. If you are from Vizag this perspective might be of interest to you. In order to make the reading easy I have pasted a rather big image of the news item You will have to scroll to read it fully. Regards. Sohan  

Hi, Saw this news report in the Hindu on 20th April and thought to myself -  we are in deep trouble . The "development" brigade is marching again , Vizag is already over populated, over industrialized, over polluted, over loaded with traffic and over exploited. Vizag is bursting at its seems and in a constant state of chaos. There are no pavements that a pedestrian can use. All over the city small, school going children, scurry across the roads between traffic. Our beaches - one of the few recreational spots we have - is packed to capacity.  There is complete absence of public sanitation facility. Thousands urinate and defecate in the open everywhere. Look outside your window now and you will spot a a few on the job. Every gedda is choked with plastic waste. Our sewage system, serves only 30% of the population and that is already overloaded. Garbage overflows from municipal dustbins.  None of our pristine hills ...