That's what our booth looks like constantly.
Eve's picture taken against her will.
Eve's getting upset because we continue to take her picture.
Our 'personal' soldier. We do not know Hindi and he does not know a word of English. But his stare puts visitors at bay and from breaking our glass displays.
Yours truly in an animated discussion with a potential distributor.
Eve and John next to our car. Getting about town without John being in the driver's seat would simply be impossible. The car in the background is my Indian favourite, the Hindustan Ambassador.
Today I experienced something I simply did not believe possible till now. 36,000 visitors in a single day at a watch show. There were so many people in the hall that the army officers and the police chief decreed that all visitors could only move in one direction. A makeshift exit was opened in no-time as the hall could no longer cope with the influx of people.
All 36,000 visitors walked plain over the carpet of our booth and gaped at our watches. The Indian way is moving in a zig-zag style from booth to booth. No booth is 'spared' their visit.
Our soldier was decidedly unhappy about the crowds milling around him. He finally succumbed to Eve's charm and allowed her to take a picture of him. Without his and the security guards help it would have been unbearable today. A bribe with Swiss chocolate did the job and we got two guards in addition to our soldier assigned to keep the crowds from crushing the showcases.
We had many interesting discussions with potential partners in India. Mihir proved a treat in introducing us to all the industry leaders personally. They come and go as much to our booth as we are wellcomed at their booths. I never ever in my 32 years of business life have come across such a helpful and friendly athmosphere as here in Bangalore at the fair. We all are competitors but we all are roving at the same speed in the same boat. You have no drinking water anymore. Titan will lend you a helping hand. Time Jet needs some notepads off they get them from us. Someone needs someone picked-up in town and his driver is busy no problem, the driver of someone else is dispatched to pick-up the party of the competitor!
Today we sold another two watches. One of them was bought off my wrist! People simply love our new fancy dials (Wait till you see Aaron's pictures of them). The green one I had pushed my designer to do captivates people every time they see it.
Tonight we had two dos to attend. Luckily for us it was at the same hotel. First there was the pre-inauguration of Cony Bands' new manufacturing unit in a far flung place in India. They make the metal bracelets for many watches made in India. Just for the record, they manufacture some 7,000,000 pieces of these bracelets and at a quality that is second to none. Mr. Pranay Gandhi, the owner of Cony Bands insisted on our coming to the event. We obliged with pleasure. At the same hotel we had the dinner party hosted by Titan Industry's boss, Sri Bhaskar Bhat (I learned today that his name is written with one 't' only). We had gorgeous Indian food and together with Mihir I finally tasted Indian red wine. It was quite tasty and a not the plonk I feared it would be, on the contrary. A perfectly balanced Merlot.
We decided to call it a day quite early today. Fatigue sets in slowly and tomorrow we have the toughest day of all four days. The expectations are on 50,000 visitors!
1 comment:
Wow what a a show you are having! Any chance you might add a picture of the watch with the green dial you wrote about in your last post? After reading what it was like with a crowd of 36,000 I can't help but wonder what a crowd of 50,000 will be like. Also I am amazed by the cooperation of all the various companies. It sounds like one big happy family in the industry there.
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