Love and Betrayal

                                  Naina was not able to control her mischievous smile while introducing her boyfriend, Rohit, to her Mom as a ‘Good Friend’. Mom observed her daughter’s glittering eyes that this guy is more special for her and she was happy with her discussion. When viewed from a cool, unemotional distance their love was basically a bundle of jumpy nerves groping another bundle of jumpy nerves. Both of them were best for each other in matter of looks, style and life-style. They were rewarded as Best Couple in their College. The couple were finding each other dazzling, stunning and mind-blowing; so they moved in together to spend more time with each other and to enjoy their life together.

                   Their bed was in fire with passion and love, neighbors complaining the noises come....Moment they spent with each other was like a beautiful dream coming true.  Live-in was making them sure that they won’t move away and date others. Now, their new group was also formed which consist of three live-in couples. Out of them, Neha-Abhay was close to Rohit as well as to Naina. Partying and Night-life were on the peak. Money which was given by their parent was wasted moreover on Pubs and Disc. Sometimes, at the end of the month they survived by eating Maggie. During such time of crises Abhay was their Finance Minister. Even they also felt supported by Abhay as he was having big political background. A year went on like a blink and their so called MBA was completed but because of the recession they were not placed anywhere. Both were trying hard to get into any job as they didn’t want to get separate just as Neha and Abhay were. Naina told lie to her parents that she is placed in some company and will continue to stay in Pune. Rohit was pissing off day-by-day travelling Mumbai, Nashik, Ahmedabad in search of Job.

            One day Rohit returned back from half way from Mumbai as his interview was cancelled. He ring the doorbell, Naina opened it after 5 minutes. She was looking reddish as such she had sex. As he entered Abhay greeted him and went off within a minute.  Rohit was not sure what was happening inside between them even he didn’t ask Naina regarding this. He went inside bathroom to fresh up and he saw a pack of condoms on wash-basin. He came out with pack of Condoms in his hands and asked Naina about this. Naina started crying, said that they went intimate accidently. Rohit slapped and cursed her. Trust was broken by the girl he loved the most. He can’t even break Abhay as he was from big political famliy and if he did so Naina’s image will be spoiled before the world. So he decided to break-up and went to their separate ways. While packing up his stuff from the house his eyes were drown with tears. The things which they collected together were detaching. He went into a PG and totally alienated her from his life

               Naina has given him reasons to smile, reason to think that the life is beautiful, times to laugh about and also given him memories to cherish lifetime. He went in to the dark shadow of drugs and Alcohol for forgetting her but nothing seemed to work. He was left for Lonavala to commit suicide but on the way he realized that he still has a chance to be with his love just by forgiving her mistake. He came back to Pune and contacted her. He came to knew from her friend that she has shifted to Abhay’s Flat. On that night he burned himself with cigarettes and hurt himself by broken pieces of mirror.  He called Naina to know the reason behind this betrayal; she told him that Abhay was financial assisting him. She said that her parent thinks she’s in job and getting paid, so they stopped giving her money. In-short she turned keep of Abhay for money.  Her life remains the same, pubs, disc shopping malls with new partner but Rohit was lost.

                          One evening Naina called Rohit, he didn’t answer the call. She was continuously msging her that she’s in big trouble. Unwillingly Rohit picked up the call; she told him that Abhay is going to pass her to some of his friend. Rohit was shocked, she was yelling for help to him. He went to her apartment but was surrounded Abhay’s party workers. He was beaten harshly and was hospitalised. Next day Naina came to see him. When Rohit asked her about last night, tears started coming from her eyes and he got the answer. He advised her to go back to her Hometown. She explained that she couldn’t go because Abhay was having MMS clip of her while they were having sex. She was completely trapped.

                    After seeing Rohit condition in Hospital, she argued a lot with Abhay. She made a pact with Abhay that he should allow Rohit to stay with her in house as she was insecure about his security. For sake of Naina, Rohit started living with her again. Every alternate day, Abhay comes and use to have loud sex with Naina so that Rohit could hear. Rohit was feeling miserable and running away was only option left. Finally his mind said, Naina’s future is spoiled and it will be better that he stay away from her to make his own future. And one night he ran away from that house.

Till now Naina is passed to many guys. Abhay has stopped providing her money. Now a day, Rohit is only helping her financially. Rohit still loves her but can’t live with her. Naina spoiled her life by her own.  She still expects that Life should be as it was with Rohit…..but it will never happen.

*note : The story is real but name of Characters are unreal.

Thank-you for Smoking : ITC

         ITC, the paper to hotels conglomerate, which saw its non-FMCG cigarette business revenues rise by 24 per cent in the quarter ended December 2010, has managed to turn around its foods business. The Bingo! range of potato chips saw sales growing by 48 per cent during the December 2010 quarter.

                            In August 2001, ITC made a modest entry into the food business with its Kitchens of India ready-to-eat preparations.The launch of Bingo in March 2007 market ITC  entered into fast growing branded snack foods segment.  After it entered the category with its wafer snack brand, Bingo, ITC's foray into the Rs 1,800-crore branded snack market has fetched the company a 16 per cent market share across the country and raced to No 2 spot in snack food segment across the Country (Source: AC Nielsen). The company was also quick to realise that the foods business in India requires sound knowledge of local tastes and preference. ITC wanted to provide Indian Consumer some novelty and excitement excited snacks. Hence they differentiated itself in market through its Hindustani Taste. Master Chef of ITC hotels came up to 16 flavours with twist like Spicy Masala Remix, Chatkila Nimbu Achar, Tandoori Paneer Tikka flavoured potato chips. This was totally adverse from Lays which was coming up with flavour like Spanish Tomato, American Style Cream and Onion. The new variant from Lays which are Indian flavors like Lay's Chaat Street, Mint Mischief and Wafer Style is a result of the tough competition from Bingo. ITC also came up with idea of using very famous Gujrati Khakra and created hugely successful Mad Angles.

                        ITC’s competitive advantage from day one has been procurement of commodities. The agri-business division of ITC connects with 5 million farmers in 170 districts of 16 states. The company leverages this to good advantage for all the commodities it requires for the food business: Wheat, sugar, edible oil, potatoes etc. Such commodities account for almost 60 per cent of the costs of the business. The other advantage has been ITC’s retail network for cigarettes i.e Pan Shops. About a third of the company’s food products apart from flour (snacks, biscuits and candies) are retailed through these Pan shops. If you ask me which is the most critical success factor of Bingo, I would put the distribution strength as the numero uno. Go to any supermarket or Kirana Shop, Bingo is highly visible. The Company distributed more than 400,000 large racks, to display the brand at all points of sale. The racks created so much impact that even competitors like market leader Lay's introduced its own version of wafer racks. This incredible leveraging of distribution system is credited by many as major cause of Bingo's success .In India there is no company that can match the distribution strength of ITC and this has helped this new launch very much in terms of Shelf Space and retailer support.

                The Company decided that youngsters in the age group of 16-30 are the most experimental and hence they would be the primary target audience. That’s why Bingo touched a chord with targeted consumers through humour and irreverent advertising. On television, the company booked 10 to 15 spots per channel per day on youth channels such as MTV and Star World, mass Hindi channels like Zee and Star TV, and news channels. It also had around 20 spots on a variety of radio channels and advertised in most leading national dailies. In the top-30 cities, over 1,000 outdoor hoardings advertised the product. It also created a website www.bingeonbingo.com with offers, online games, downloads and even mobile games. According to industry estimates, ITC spent close to Rs 100 crore on marketing. 

                  

            The importance of Bingo is evident from the fact that potato-based snacks are the largest product segment (85 per cent share) in the Indian snacks market.